Private Dancer

Private Dancer
[Instrumental breakdown] [Chorus] I'm your private dancer A dancer for money Do what you want me to do Just a private dancer A dancer for money And any old music will do [Verse] All the men come in these places And the men are all the same You don't look at their faces And you don't ask their names You don't think of them as human You don't think of them at all You keep your mind on the money Keeping your eyes on the wall [Chorus] I'm your private dancer A dancer for money I'll do what you want me to do I'm your private dancer A dancer for money And any old music will do I'm your private dancer A dancer for money I'll do what you want me to do I'm your private dancer A dancer for money And any old music will do
I'm your private dancer, a dancer for money I'm your private dancer, a dancer for money I'm your private dancer, a dancer for money Just a private dancer, a dancer for money
Songs That Interpolate Private Dancer
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Private Dancer was the fifth single from Tina Turner ’s fifth album Private Dancer .
The song was first recorded by Dire Straits and was written by the band’s lead singer Mark Knopfler. It was supposed to appear on their album Love Over Gold and the song was recorded, but the vocals were not added to it.
Mark thought that the vocals weren’t suitable for a male to sing, so the song ended up being cut from the final mix. Due to legal restrictions, Dire Straits couldn’t re-record the song until two years later. The song was remade by the band for Tina Turner to use.
The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart between 1984 and 1985. It also managed to peak at #26 on the U.K. Singles chart.

This song is about either a prostitute or stripper who prefers to consider herself a "private dancer," describing how empty she feels inside. It was an unlikely title track to Turner's wildly successful comeback album, as the subject matter didn't relate to her life or her return to fame. Tina wrote some songs in the '70s when she performed with her husband, Ike Turner, notably " Nutbush City Limits ," which describes life where she grew up in Tennessee. But after leaving Ike and going solo, she recorded songs written by others based on their hit potential or inspirational qualities. She used other media to tell her own remarkable story: her autobiography, I, Tina , was a bestseller, and the movie based on her life, What's Love Got To Do With It , was a hit at the box office. In a nutshell, Tina's marriage to Ike quickly turned abusive, but it was years before she could find the strength to leave him. To get the divorce settled, she ceded to Ike's demands, walking away with just her name (born Anna Mae Bullock, Ike named her "Tina Turner" when they started performing, and claimed rights to that name). She was 42 when she started her comeback in an industry that prizes youth, especially among female performers. Through hard work, talent and determination, she overcame the odds, landing a #1 album with Private Dancer at age 44.
Mark Knopfler wrote this song for his band Dire Straits, but realized that it didn't work with a guy singing it, so he pitched it to Turner, who was beginning her comeback. In a 2004 interview with her fan club, Tina Turner described her reaction when Knopfler played her the song: "Mark said this song is not for a man, it's a girl's song. He recorded it but won't use it so when he put the demo on, he sung 'I'm a private dancer, dancer for money, do what you want me to do,' I told him, 'I think you're right, it's not a song for a guy. I liked it a lot. I wasn't sure whether the girl was a hooker or a very classical private dancer but I thought I'd take it."
Turner didn't realize until after this song was released that is was perceived as being about a prostitute. Early in her career, she did private shows (the musical kind) in Texas, so she saw the "private dancer" as someone who performs very innocently at these events. "I can be naive about some of these things," she said in the book Classic Albums . "I took it because it was an unusual song. I'd never sung a song like it."
Members of Dire Straits played on this track, including their bass player John Illsley and drummer Terry Williams. Jeff Beck played the guitar solo, as Mark Knopfler did not perform on it.
Turner chose this song as the title track from the album after the photo was taken for the cover. In that shot, she sits in a chair wearing a classy dress while a black cat stands in front of her, staring into the camera. She felt the photo suited the "Private Dancer" character better - it's also a more compact title than " What's Love Got To Do With It ."
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One of the '80s most heartwarming success stories, a grandmother (yes, even then) more than holding her own against much younger women on the charts and sticking a massive finger up to the husband that abused and then left her with nothing years earlier.

David Bowie has a history of helping out talents in need and that was the case again with Tina Turner, s… Read More

Don Bryant / Donald Bryant / Bernard Miller / Ann Peebles

Al Green / Al Jackson, Jr. / Willie Mitchell

Mark Chapman / Mike Chapman / Nicky Chinn / Holly Knight

D. Briggs / Eric Burdon / Daniel McCulloch / John Weider

What's Love Got to Do with It [Extended Version]

Terry Britten / Mike Chapman / Nicky Chinn / Holly Knight / Graham Lyle

Better Be Good to Me [Extended Version]

Mark Chapman / Mike Chapman / Nicky Chinn / Holly Knight

I Can't Stand the Rain [Extended Version]

Don Bryant / Donald Bryant / Bernard Miller / Ann Peebles

Release Date
November 16, 1984

Contemporary R&B Contemporary Pop/Rock Adult Contemporary R&B Dance-Rock

Recording Location

Abbey Raod, London, England

CBS S

CBS Studios, London, England

EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England

Farmyard, England

Good Earth Studios, England

Mayfair Studios, London, England

Wessex, England

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Sexy

Slick

Yearning

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Passionate

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Refined

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Empowerment

Everyday Life

Dance Party

Seduction

City Life

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In 1984, a 45-year-old Tina Turner made one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of American popular music. A few years earlier, it was hard to imagine the veteran soul/rock belter reinventing herself and returning to the top of the pop charts, but she did exactly that with the outstanding Private Dancer. And Turner did so without sacrificing her musical integrity. To be sure, this pop/rock/R&B pearl is decidedly slicker than such raw, earthy, hard-edged Ike & Tina classics as "Proud Mary," "Sexy Ida," and "I Wanna Take You Higher." But she still has a tough, throaty, passionate delivery that serves her beautifully on everything from the melancholy, reggae-influenced "What's Love Got to Do With It" to the gutsy "Better Be Good to Me" to heartfelt remakes of the Beatles ' "Help," Al Green 's "Let's Stay Together," and David Bowie 's "1984." A reflection on the emptiness of a stripper's life, the dusky title song is as poignant as it is depressing. Without question, this was Turner's finest hour as a solo artist.

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