Karma Chameleon

"Karma Chameleon"
Single by Culture Club
from the album Colour by Numbers
B-side	"That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)"
Released	5 September 1983
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1983
Genre	Folk rock, new wave
Length	4:12 (album version) 3:51 (single edit)
Label	Virgin
Writer(s)	George O'Dowd, Jon Moss, Mikey Craig, Phil Pickett, Roy Hay
Producer	Steve Levine
Culture Club singles chronology
"Church of the Poison Mind" (1983) "Karma Chameleon" (1983) "Victims" (1983)

"Karma Chameleon" is a song by British New Wave band Culture Club, featured on the group's 1983 album Colour by Numbers.

A small 28 second sample of the song "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club

The song spent three weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 starting on 4 February 1984, becoming the group's biggest hit and only US #1 among their many top ten hits. "Karma Chameleon" was also a huge global hit, hitting #1 in sixteen countries worldwide, and top ten in several more.

In the group's home country of the United Kingdom, it became the second Culture Club single to reach the top of the UK Singles Chart (after "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"), where it stayed for six weeks in September and October 1983, and became the UK's biggest-selling single of the year 1983. It is widely regarded as Culture Club's signature song.

In an interview, Culture Club frontman Boy George explained: "The song is about the terrible fear of alienation that people have, the fear of standing up for one thing. It's about trying to suck up to everybody. Basically, if you aren't true, if you don't act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that's nature's way of paying you back."

The song won Best British Single at the 1984 Brit Awards. The group performed the song as a finale when they appeared in the 1986 episode "Cowboy George" of The A-Team.

Music video

The music video is set in Mississippi in 1870. It depicts a large group of black and white people in late 1800s dress, including some dressed in red, gold, and green (as George sings in the song). Boy George is dressed in what would be known as his signature look; colorful costume, fingerless gloves, long braids, and a black derby. A pickpocket and jewelry thief is seen wandering through the crowd, stealing from unsuspecting folks. The band and other people board a riverboat, "The Chameleon", as Boy George continues to sing. The thief is discovered cheating at cards, and is forced to return his ill-gotten gains and walk the plank at the points of ladies' parasols. As the video ends, the party continues on the boat as it cruises down the river. "Karma Chameleon" was filmed at Desborough Island in Weybridge during the summer of 1983. The boat used in the video belongs to Turk Launches of Kingston-upon-Thames, and it is still in use, mainly on the Kingston to Hampton Court route during the summer months.^{[citation needed]}

Chart positions

Country	Peak position
Australia	1
Austria	3
Belgium	1
Canada	1
Denmark	1
Europe	1
Germany	2
Ireland	1
Italy	4
Japan	1
Netherlands	1
New Zealand	1
Norway	1
Sweden	1
Switzerland	1
United Kingdom	1
United States	1

Other cover versions

• In 1998 Izam, star of the Japanese visual kei band Shazna, covered 'Karma Chameleon' among other Boy George songs on the album 'IZAM presents the Best Of Boy George & Culture Club'.
• In 1999, the song was re-recorded by Boy George at Abbey Road studios, London, for the homeless charity 'Message Home' as part of a fundraising and awareness campaign by BT, with the help of 100 competition winners providing backing vocals. Winners were selected from 18,000 entries in the 'Kiosk Karaoke' competition, which involved wannabe singers singing down the phone in BT call boxes, some of whom were then selected for auditions nationwide and finally wittled down to the last 100. The version was never commercially released and only the 100 competition winners hold copies of the pressed 1 track picture CD, the cover of which contains all of the names of those featured in the recording.
• In 2004, Westlife covered the song live.
• In 2007, Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song on their video game Alvin and the Chipmunks.
• In 2010, The Lost Fingers covered the song on their album Gypsy Kameleon

Trivia

The prominent harmonica part was played by Judd Lander, who had been a member of Merseybeat group The Hideaways in the 1960s. The song was originally to be called "Cameo Chameleon". The band was recorded in interviews in mid-1983 stating this was to be the title of their next single.

Likely because of the lyric "I'm a man without conviction," and the chorus, which includes the word chameleon, "Karma Chameleon" has been used by several politicians in political ads. In 2006, Britain's Labour Party used "Karma Chameleon" as the theme song for a series of political advertisements against Conservative party leader David Cameron in the 2006 UK local Elections.

Also, during the 2010 U.S. senate race in Pennsylvania, Republican Pat Toomey used the song as backing music for his video "Happy Anniversary Arlen Specter!" as a way to criticize a sitting Senator from Pennsylvania and recently turned Democrat Arlen Specter.

References

Preceded by "Red Red Wine" by UB40	UK Singles Chart number-one single 24 September 1983 - 29 October 1983	Succeeded by "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel
Preceded by "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single 4 February 1984 - 18 February 1984	Succeeded by "Jump" by Van Halen