Right (song)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Right"
Sigma Sound, Philadelphia
GenreBlue-eyed soul, funk
Length4:13[1]
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)David Bowie
Producer(s)Tony Visconti

"Right" is a song by the English musician

B-side of the single "Fame", released in August 1975.[1]

Music and lyrics

The repetition of the main lyrics—"Taking it all the right way / Never no turning back"—the prominence of the percussion and bass, and the emphasis on the backing singers made "Right" one of the album's "authentically soulful" songs, according to professor of music Ian Chapman. Chapman describes it as having "no hidden Bowie-esque irony, barb, or angst",

Alex Petridis calls it a "twitchy, agitated note-to-self".[4]

The backing vocalists included Luther Vandross and an old friend and co collaborator on some of Bowie's albums, Geoff MacCormack; it was the only track on Young Americans to feature MacCormack. The call and response between Bowie and the backing singers "lends an air of immaculate sophistication to the lyric's paean to positive thinking", according to Nicholas Pegg.[5] In 1975 Bowie called the song a mantra: "People forget what the sound of Man's instinct is—it's a drone, a mantra. And people say, 'Why are so many things popular that just drone on and on?' But that's the point really. It reaches a particular vibration, not necessarily a musical level."[5][6]

Toward the end of Alan Yentob's film about Bowie, Cracked Actor (1975), Bowie, Luther Vandross, Robin Clark, and Ava Cherry are seen rehearsing "Right" for the 1974 "Soul Tour", although in the end it was never performed live.[5][6]

Personnel

According to biographer Chris O'Leary:[2]

Technical

  • Tony Visconti – producer
  • Carl Paruolo – engineer

See also

References