Wouldn't It Be Good
Would not It Be Good is a pop song by Nik Kershaw from the year 1984. Text and music were produced by Nik Kershaw, the title of Peter Collins.
Content
The song has two verses and a chorus. In the first stanza laments the protagonist of the song, how bad he is doing. Especially the (probably metaphorical ) cold is getting to him, his soul is frozen to the core. In comparison, his life of the addressed opposite seems simple. The chorus of the first-person narrator expands this idea by imagining how good it would be to live the life of the other person. The title bar of the refrain " Would not it be good to be in your shoes? " ( Engl.: Would not it be good to take your place? ) Expresses this idea and reminds us of the phrase "to walk a mile in someone else's shoes ". In it, the Council finds expression, that it is appropriate thoroughly take the perspective of the opponent, before you criticize this or demands something from him. At the end of the chorus there is another proverb: "the grass is always greener over there " ( Engl.: The grass is always greener on the other side [ of the fence ]. ), Which already points to the futility of role switching: from the distance sees an alternative to the present situation ( the grass on our side) always better than when you arrived on the other side. In the second stanza about a change takes place. Now the other person responds to the protagonists of the first stanza. He rejects the exchange request and explained that this would not know how it really was made to him. His own life was even worse and it would be foolish to change places with him ("... You must be joking, you do not know a thing about it [ ... ] I got it harder, you could not dream how hard I got it [ ... ] Stay out of my shoes, if you know what 's good for you ... "). The heat he would have to endure, burning him from the inside. He also wanted his life not continue like this. Then again follows the chorus. Due to the previous comparison of agonizing cold in the first and suffocating heat in the second stanza, the differences between external and internal perspective on the suffering of a human being now completely clear. After the chorus is repeated in the fade-out of the beginning of the first verse, through the omission of specific symptoms (hot, cold), the desire for exchange could now apply for both protagonists.
The song was accompanied by a synthesizer called PPG Wave 2.2 and a Yamaha DX7.
Video
In the video, Nik Kershaw embodies a humanoid -looking aliens, is perceived by its environment as happy being. However, once he is alone, he is to realize his true being; he feels weak and complains of his existence in human society, of which he feels misunderstood and completely isolated. This is reflected in the color of his outfit, which is initially bright white and now darkened and the sung impressions maps. Kershaw contacted his home in order to leave the earth again can. When at last comes the hoped- signal, he hurries his stay. On the road it is surrounded by numerous people; these give him to understand that they too must endure much suffering, but can not easily escape from it. Finally, it is possible Kershaw to reach a satellite dish; his body dissolves and is sent in the form of a radio beam to his home planet.
Publication and success
Would not It Be Good was released as a second single from Kershaw's debut album Human Racing. In addition to the normal version as 7 "single still appeared a 12" Maxi with the Special Extended Mix of the title. Here, the song Monkey Business was published on each of the B-side.
The song was able to place in the top ten in several European countries. In Germany it peaked at # 2 in the UK, he was ranked fourth Measured by sales, chart listings and awareness is Would not It Be Good Nik Kershaw of the biggest hit.
In the years 1991 and 1998 the title was again published.
Use
One of the British film composer Simon Boswell 1984 produced remix of the song is on the sampler Retro: Rare & Remixed contain: Active 4.
The song belongs to the program content of the fictional radio station Flash FM in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
Would not It Be Good was played in an episode of the British sitcom Extras.
The song was also the theme song for Daily talkshow by Jörg Pilawa on Sat.1 ( 1998-2000).