David Bowie – John I’ m only dancing( 1972)
This non-album Single from the Great White Duke came out back in his Ziggy Stardust period and is a smart take on a bisexual relationship. The story is very straightforward, talking about a man at a party who dances with a woman he doesn’ t know. The male dancer has a problem though: his man John is worried about the fact that his lover could end up leaving him with the woman. The dancer makes him know about the fact that he is turned on by her but still, he’ s only dancing. The key element in this song is how it can always be interpreted as a bi-centered song, whether the narrator is a man or a woman. If a woman sang it, she would still be turned on by a woman while being in a straight relationship, and the fact that David came out as a bisexual during the same year the single was released emphasizes this. Despite the context of the song, the single was another hit from Bowie and wasn’ t censored( except for the music video which was considered too risqué due t o t h e a n d r o g y n o u s d a n c e r s
appearing in it), At the very end of the 70s, Bowie released a reworked version plainly called John I’ m only dancing( Again). Instead of the glam rock-ish sound of the original version, it features funk-disco oriented instrumentals as well as rewritten verses. However, the chorus remains the same, which means you can now tease your lover in a groovy way
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