Karma Chameleon

"Karma Chameleon"
Song
B-side	"That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)"

"Karma Chameleon" is a song from British band Culture Club. The song spent three weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 (see 1984 in music), becoming the group's biggest hit and only U.S. number one. The song hit number one in sixteen countries worldwide. In their home country, the single became Culture Club's second song to top the UK singles chart, staying there for six weeks in September and October 1983 and becoming the biggest selling single of 1983. The single came from their 1983 Colour by Numbers album. It was ranked #83 in the best selling singles of all time and was given a Q Classic Song Award at the Q Awards in 2006.

The song was originally to be called "Cameo Chameleon". The band were recorded in interviews in late 1983 stating this was to be the title of their next single. The B-side of Karma Chameleon is "That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)" (in an alternate and shorter version). In an interview 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 prominent harmonica part was played by Judd Lander, who had been a member of Merseybeat group The Hideaways in the 1960s. He had also played the harmonica part on Church of the Poison Mind.

Music video

The "Karma Chameleon" music video is set in Mississippi in 1870, according to caption. It depicts people in colourful costumes, including dancers in "red, gold and green", waiting on a riverbank. Boy George is dressed in even more colourful and flamboyant costume and is depicted singing the title song. A pickpocket is seen wandering through the crowd. A riverboat, The Chameleon, arrives and people board. A game of cards takes place, with Boy George still singing in the background. The pickpocket is discovered cheating and is forced to walk the plank. Throughout the video, black and white people are depicted singing and dancing together. It was filmed at Despra Island in Weybridge during the summer of 1983.

Chart performance

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

Song references

Puns on the song's title have appeared in pop culture, often based on misheard lyrics of the song, as the word "Karma" is repeated quickly in the chorus.

• A parody of the title was used as a Dragon Ball chapter title "Kame Kame Kame Kame Kame Chameleon" regarding the kamehameha attack.
• Bomfunk MCs's 2000 hit "Freestyler" mentions the song
• Darkwing Duck also parodied the title with an episode titled "Calm a Chameleon".
• Jack Johnson's song "Mud Football" features the line "Karma, karma, karma chameleon".
• "Karma Chameleon" was also the title of the third episode of the TV Series Wonderfalls.
• "Karma Chameleon" was used as the title for episode 204 of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
• The game Kingdom of Loathing has a familiar called the Comma Chameleon.
• A character named Khameleon, in the Mortal Kombat video game series, is in reference to the song. If you fail one of the levels using a character named Nitara, you will receive the following message; "You must successfully learn the Kama. Khameleon would have mastered it with ease had her culture not been clubbed by Shao Kahn ages ago," "culture" being "clubbed" referring to the Culture Club
• The track Constant Motion from Dream Theater has the working title of "Korma Chameleon".
• In the February 2000 edition of BBC Top Gear magazine, "Korma Chameleon" was the title of an article that featured the new Nissan Almera, relating to the fact that the car came with a curry hook.
• The 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 Elections.