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Physical (Olivia Newton-John song)

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"Physical"
Song
B-side"The Promise (The Dolphin Song)"

"Physical" is a song by British-born Australian recording artist Olivia Newton-John for her twelfth studio album Physical. It was released in September 1981, by MCA Records as the lead single from the project. The song was written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, who originally intended to offer it to British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart, while production was handled by John Farrar.[2]

The song was an immediate success, shipping 2 million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum, and spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately becoming Newton-John's biggest American hit. The song reached number 7 on the UK chart in November.[3] The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and won the Billboard Award for Top Pop Single.

Reception

Recorded in early 1981, it first rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in America in November 1981 and stayed there for 10 weeks, until near the end of January 1982. In terms of chart placement, it was the most popular single of her career in the U.S., as well as her final number-one (to date). Billboard ranked it as the number one pop single of 1982 (since the chart year for 1982 actually began in November 1981), and it was also the most successful song on the Hot 100 during the 1980s in terms of the number of weeks spent at number one.[4] The guitar solo was performed by Steve Lukather.

"Physical" was both preceded and followed in the #1 chart position by recordings of the duo Hall & Oates. "Private Eyes" yielded its top spot to "Physical" in November 1981, and "Physical" yielded to "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" the following January. "Physical" held "Waiting for a Girl Like You" by Foreigner at #2, off the top of the Hot 100 for nine weeks, and "I Can't Go For That" held Foreigner's hit at #2 for the tenth and final week.

The single, slightly edgier than she had been known for in the past (such as her songs from Grease and her country-pop ballad "I Honestly Love You"), proved to be immensely popular both in America and in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that the song was censored and even banned by some radio stations; due to its sexual content, for example the line: "There's nothing left to talk about unless it's horizontally", in spite of Newton-John's status as the reigning queen of soft-rock music at the time, "Physical" peaked at only number twenty-nine on the AC chart (its follow-up, the slightly softer-edged "Make a Move on Me," found more acceptance at AC radio and went to number six AC as well as number five pop). The song was a big dance hit, crossed over to the Billboard R&B chart peaking at #28 there, and spawned a music video.

In the United Kingdom the single was not nearly as massive a success as in America, but still became a big hit, reaching #7. It also certified Silver.[5]

Music video

The music video was directed by Brian Grant.

Synopsis

The controversial music video that was released to promote the song featured Newton-John in a gym with well-built men in the last half. Some of the scenes have sexual subtext, such as the shower scene or when Olivia rubs herself on the men.

The video features Newton-John, dressed in a tight leotard, as trying to make several overweight men healthy. She repeatedly tries to make the men lose weight, but they fail comically and she leaves the room to take a shower. When the men work out on their own, they suddenly transform into muscular, attractive men. A stylistic shot shows one muscular man glancing at his overweight self in a mirror. Newton-John is shocked when she returns to this, and starts to flirt with them. Two of the men secretly go out, holding hands, implying they are gay. This surprises Olivia, as does the sight of two more of the men leaving with their arms around each other. Finally, she finds that the last of the overweight men is straight and they go off to play tennis together.

Reception

The Olivia Physical video (where "Physical" music video was included) won a Grammy Award for Video of the Year in 1983. The video was featured on Pop-Up Video on VH1 and was the first video to air on Beavis and Butt-head, on which they changed the channel to "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones.

Legacy

Billboard ranked the song at #6 on its All Time Top 100[6] and #1 on Top 50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time.[7][8]

The revamped bossa nova version of the song was released on the 2002 Olivia duet album (2) as a bonus track; this version replaces the original in latest tours of Newton-John. A Newton-John duet with Jane Lynch was displayed in the episode "Bad Reputation" of the television series Glee.

The instrumental version of the song featured in a 1984 advert for the Talbot Samba car on British television.[9]

Cover versions

Charts and certifications

Chart succession

Preceded by US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
November 28, 1981 - January 23, 1982 (10 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" by Daryl Hall and John Oates

See also

References

  1. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Physical - Olivia Newton-John - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  2. ^ Juke Magazine, 13 March 1982.
  3. ^ "American single certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Physical". Recording Industry Association of America.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (6th ed.). Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 810. ISBN 0-8230-7632-6.
  5. ^ "British single certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Physical". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Type Physical in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  6. ^ [1] Archived 1 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "The 50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time Page 5". Billboard. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  8. ^ Video on YouTube
  9. ^ Video on YouTube
  10. ^ Anderson, Rick. "Review Poplife Presents: Poplife Sucks". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  11. ^ "Olivia Newton-John – Physical" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  12. ^ Bronson, Fred (2 August 2013). "Hot 100 55th Anniversary: The All-Time Top 100 Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  13. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Physical". Music Canada. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  14. ^ "British single certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Physical". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 April 2012. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Physical in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  15. ^ "American single certifications – Newton-John, Olivia – Physical". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
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