Don’t You Want Me (1981) – The Human League

Don’t You Want Me by The Human League was the epitome of cool and sexy in my youth. For decades, it had slipped from my consciousness, only to magically appear to my senses recently like an old flame. The song is a shimmering time capsule of the early ’80s, where glossy synths and glam – infused production reigned supreme. Sure, that era often gets a bad rap for its excess – synth stabs, reverb, drum machines, but here, the overproduction doesn’t just work; it fits Don’t You Want Me like a glove. I also like the vocal interplay between Phil Oakey’s and Susanne Sulley’s which creates this cool, yet infectious tension.

Don’t You Want Me was released in the UK on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from The Human League’s third album, Dare. The song had initially been intended for Philip Oakey to sing solo, but, inspired by the film A Star Is Born (1976), Oakey decided to turn it into a duet with Susan Ann Sulley, one of the band’s two female singers. For the lyrics, Oakey was inspired by a comic he read in a teen magazine. Oakey says that Don’t You Want Me is not really a love song, but “an unpleasant song about the politics of sexual power.”

Don’t You Want Me was the biggest selling single in England in 1981, reaching number one at Christmas, staying there for five weeks, and has since sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK, making it the 23rd most successful single in British singles history. In the United States, Don’t You Want Me topped the Billboard Hot 100 on July 3, 1982, staying there for three consecutive weeks. In November 1983, Rolling Stone magazine called the single a “breakthrough song.” In 2015, the song was voted the nation’s seventh favourite song by the British public.

[Verse 1: Philip Oakey]
You were workin’ as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked you out, I shook you up, and turned you around
Turned you into someone new
Now five years later on, you’ve got the world at your feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don’t forget, it’s me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too

[Pre-Chorus: Philip Oakey]
Don’t, don’t you want me?
You know I can’t believe it when I hear that you won’t see me
Don’t, don’t you want me?
You know I don’t believe you when you say that you don’t need me
It’s much too late to find
You think you’ve changed your mind
You’d better change it back or we will both be sorry

[Chorus: Philip Oakey]
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh

[Verse 2: Susan Ann Sulley]
I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
That much is true
But even then, I knew I’d find a much better place
Either with or without you
The five years we have had have been such good times
I still love you
But now I think it’s time I live my life on my own
I guess it’s just what I must do

References:
1. Curiosidades Musicales: Don’t You Want Me (The Human League) – 22 minutes con

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand