Wham! Featuring George Michael “Careless Whisper” 1984. Yet another pop culture icon gone in 2016, this time it’s George Michael at age 53 on Christmas Day. “Careless Whisper,” from Wham!’s Make It Big album and co-written by Andrew Ridgeley, hit #1 in 25 countries, spending 3 weeks at the top in the UK in late summer ‘84 and #1 in the US in late winter ‘85, from February 16th to March 2nd.  The b-side to this 45 is an instrumental version of “Careless Whisper,” the ubiquitous 80′s wailing saxophone solo (performed by Steve Gregory) out front and center.

While 1984 was amazing for pop music, the ‘84-’85 school year was a particularly rough one (not that dissimilar to 2016, though thankfully my schooldays are looonnggg gone) and “Careless Whisper” transports me back to a time of true misery, its inclusion on the junior high dance soundtrack when I sat at the cafeteria table watching the boy I crushed on and a good friend sway in time to the music = the cherry on the top of the shit sundae that was 8th grade. Preceding that moment of first heartbreak were months of relentless bullying by a mean girl and her little gaggle of acolytes because of my hair (new wave Simon LeBon-insipired) and attitude (fuck you, mean girl). I grew up in a really small town in rural Wisconsin. So small that my 8th grade class had a total of like 30 kids and our junior high consisted of half the upstairs hallway in the high school building, 3 classrooms for math, science, English and social studies. No escape or place to hide. (I eventually escaped completely by transferring at the end of the year to the big city school where life got infinitely better and I found myself being able to dance again.)

I feel so unsure
As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor
As the music dies, something in your eyes
Calls to mind the silver screen
And all its sad good-byes

I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool

Should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you

Time can never mend
The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind
Ignorance is kind
There’s no comfort in the truth
Pain is all you’ll find

I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool

I should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you

Never without your love

Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it’s better this way
We’d hurt each other with the things we’d want to say

We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But no one’s gonna dance with me
Please stay

And I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool

Should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you

(Now that you’re gone) Now that you’re gone
(Now that you’re gone) What I did’s so wrong, so wrong
That you had to leave me alone