Wouldn't It Be Good
| Wouldn't It Be Good | |
|---|---|
| Nik Kershaw | |
| publication | January 21, 1984 |
| length | 4:29 |
| Genre (s) | Synth pop , new wave |
| Author (s) | Nik Kershaw |
| Label | MCA Records |
| album | Human racing |
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Wouldn't It Be Good is a pop song by Nik Kershaw from 1984. Text and music are by Nik Kershaw, the title was produced by Peter Collins .
content
The song has two stanzas and a chorus .
In the first verse, the song's protagonist complains about how badly he is doing. Above all, the (probably metaphorical ) cold gives him trouble, his soul is frozen to the core. In comparison, the life of the person addressed seems simple to him. In the refrain, the first-person narrator expands on this thought by imagining how good it would be to lead the other person's life. The title line of the chorus “Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?” Expresses this thought and recalls the phrase “to walk a mile in someone else's shoes ". This is an expression of the advice that it is appropriate to take the other person's perspective carefully before criticizing them or asking something of them. At the end of the chorus there is another saying: "the grass is always greener over there" (in English: the grass is always greener on the other side [of the fence]), which already points to the futility of changing roles: out the distance an alternative to the current state (the grass on our side) always looks better than when one has arrived on the other side.
In the second stanza there is a change of perspective. Now the other person answers the protagonist from the first stanza. He rejects his exchange request and explains that he does not know how it is really going. His own life is even worse and it would therefore be foolish to trade with him (“… You must be joking, you don't know a thing about it […] I got it harder, you couldn't dream how hard I got it […] Stay out of my shoes, if you know what's good for you… "). The heat that he would have to endure burn him from within. He doesn't want to go on with his life either. Then the refrain follows again. Through the previous juxtaposition of agonizing cold in the first and suffocating heat in the second stanza, the differences between the external and internal perspectives on a person's suffering are now completely clear.
After the chorus, the beginning of the first verse is repeated in the fadeout ; by omitting the specific complaints (heat, cold), the wish for an exchange could now apply to both protagonists.
The song was accompanied by a synthesizer called PPG Wave 2.2 and a Yamaha DX7 .
Video
In the video for Wouldn't It Be Good, Nik Kershaw is seen as an alien who is perceived as a happy being by those around him. As soon as he is alone, however, he reveals his true state of health; he feels weak and complains about his existence in human society, from which he feels misunderstood and completely isolated. This can be seen in the color of his suit, which is initially bright white and now darkens and reflects the impressions sung about. Kershaw contacts his homeland to be able to leave the earth again. When the signal he had hoped for finally comes, he hastily leaves his home. He is surrounded by numerous people on the street; these make him understand that they too have to endure a lot of suffering, but cannot simply flee from it. Ultimately, Kershaw manages to get a parabolic antenna ; his body dissolves and is sent to his home planet in the form of a radio beam .
Publication and Success
Wouldn't It Be Good was released as the second single from Kershaw's debut album Human Racing . In addition to the normal version as a 7 "single, a 12" maxi was also released with the special extended mix of the title. The song Monkey Business was published on the B-side.
The song was able to place in the top ten in several European countries. In Germany it rose to number 2, in Great Britain it reached position 4. In terms of sales figures, chart prices and level of awareness, Wouldn't It Be Good is Nik Kershaw's biggest hit.
In 1991 and 1998 the title was published again.
use
A remix of the song produced by British film composer Simon Boswell in 1984 is included on the retro: Active 4: Rare & Remixed sampler . The song is part of the program content of the fictional radio station Flash FM in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories . Wouldn't It Be Good starred in an episode of the UK sitcom Extras and the comedy Pretty in Pink . The song was also the theme song for Jörg Pilawa's daily talk show on Sat.1 (1998-2000).
Awards for music sales
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
 silver
|
250,000 |
| All in all |
1 × silver |
250,000 |
Cover versions
- 1984: Juliane Werding ( sun on your skin )
- 1997: Soulwax
- 2001: Down Low fet. La Mazz
- 2003: Maybebop
- 2004: April Moon
- 2006: Sasha
- 2007: Cascada
- 2009: placebo
- 2011: ASP
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ^ JA Simpson, Jennifer Speake: The Concise Oxford dictionary of proverbs , 3rd edition. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 288.
- ^ Dictionary of Proverbs . Wordsworth Editions, 2006, ISBN 1840223111 , p. 251 (Wordsworth Reference Series)
- ↑ Lyrics in German translation
- ↑ http://www.nikkershaw.co.uk/drum-talk.asp ( Memento from August 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ discogs.com , accessed March 3, 2010.
- ↑ BPI Awards. bpi.co.uk, accessed July 22, 2018 .