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"Madonna's first single could have been like any other dance record of the day, but it disrupted the music industry because of her skill and marked the beginning of an impressive career that is still breaking records after 40 years."  – The Record Collector Magazine

Everybody
"Everybody"
Released October 6, 1982
Length 6:02 (Madonna album version)
6:43 (You Can Dance version)
Writer(s) Madonna
Producer(s) Mark Kamins

Madonnalogofirstalbum track listing

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"Everybody" is a song written and recorded by Madonna and produced by DJ Mark Kamins. It was released on October 6, 1982, as the debut single from Madonna's entire career. It also served as the lead single from her debut self-titled studio album Madonna.

Background[]

"Everybody" was originally composed in 1981 when Madonna and her Michigan ex-boyfriend Stephen Bray were in a band known at the time as Emmy & The Emmys. In 1982, after the band dissolved, Madonna was living with Bray and trying to establishing herself as a singer in downtown New York. Since funky dance music was in style on the radio and dance floor, they took three dance tracks they composed with the band, being "Everybody" one of them, and put all together into a tape. Madonna had no record label to back her up, so she began pitching the tape on her own, visiting local nightclubs trying to get DJs to play it. She managed to get Mark Kamins, the resident DJ at Danceteria nightclub, to play her demo of "Everybody", which was met with a positive reception from the crowd. Kamins promised Madonna that would help her get a record deal on the condition that he would get to produce the song.

Kamins took the tape to his boss Chris Blackwell from Island Records, but he was not impressed nor interested in signing Madonna. He then approached Sire Records president Seymour Stein, who at the time was recovering from a surgery. Stein had his secretary send the tape to the hospital, and after listening to it, he said "I liked the hook, I liked Madonna's voice, I liked the feel [...] I liked it all and played it again". Kamins' promise came true and Madonna was signed on for two 12" singles of which she would receive $15,000 for each one.

Recording[]

The song was professionally recorded at the Bob Blank’s Blank Tape Recording Studios on April 1982, in a span of three days. Personnel included Fred Zarr and Dean Gant on keyboards, Ed Walsh on synthesizers, along with Butch Jones and Zarr; Bobby Malach played tenor saxophone, while background vocals were provided by Gwen Guthrie, Brenda White, and Chrissy Faith. Barry Eastmond had been hired as arranger, but left the project after getting into an argument with Madonna; she felt his work was "too slick", and lacked the "edge of the club-land grooves she was hankering after". Rosenblatt made the decision to replace Eastmond's keyboard parts, and it was Arthur Baker, an assistant to Kamins, who brought in Fred Zarr to redo all the keyboards.

Composition[]

Musically, the song is described as a post-disco dance song with R&B elements. In Madonna's own words, the lyrics talk about "getting people to dance and lose their inhibitions". The singer's vocals, which were described by author Rikky Rooksby as being in "gum-chewing mode", were doubletracked. The song is written in the key of A minor, with the melody beginning in G and rising to the second scale degree on the syllable bo of Everybody, thus highlighting the refrain which follows in the chord progression of G–A–B–A. Just before the refrain, there is a "deft dab of reverb [that] sucks the listener in". A "funky Bernard Edwards-style bass" plays towards the song's breakdown, as Zarr's synthesisers whir around it.

Critical reception[]

Since its release, critical reviews towards "Everybody" have been generally positive. Billboard's Brian Chin referred to it as a "spare, bright cut [that] has a relaxing quality at home listening levels, but sounds much harder-edged in the club". Barbara O'Dair, one of the authors of Madonna: The Rolling Stones Files, called "Everybody" a "moody, hiccuping" song. On his biography of the singer, J. Randy Taraborrelli described it as a "rhythmic call-to-party", while Matthew Rettenmund deemed it "one of her enduring chestnuts" that "immediately established [her] as a Disco Queen". Santiago Fouz-Hernández, one of the authors of Madonna's Drowned Worlds, wrote that "Everybody", alongside "Music" (2000), are the two singles that define Madonna's artistic credo – that music has the power to overcome divisions of race, gender, and sexuality. From Rolling Stone, Don Shewey commented: "At first, ['Everybody'] doesn't sound like much at all. Then you notice its one distinguishing feature, a girlish hiccup that [Madonna] uses over and over until it's irritating as hell. Finally, you get hooked, and you start looking forward to that silly little catch in her voice".

Official versions[]

Version Notes Original release Length
Album The closing track on Madonna (1983) and the reissue The First Album (1985).
July 27, 1983

August 20, 1985 (re-release)

4:55
'81 Demo Original demo from 1981. Released as the seventh track in Pre-Madonna (1997). June 10, 1997 4:49
Remixes
Extended remix Side A on 12" vinyls from the US original single release. On streaming platforms it can be found by the name of "original version".[1] October 6, 1982 5:56/6:02
Dub (US version) Side B on vinyls from the US 12" single release. October 6, 1982 9:23
7" Edit Side A on vinyls from the US 7" single release. Later released in 2022 on streaming platforms for the single's 40th anniversary. 1982 3:54
7" Instrumental Side B on vinyls from the US 7" single release. Later released in 2022 on streaming platforms for the single's 40th anniversary. 1982 0:00


Lyrics[]

I know you've been waiting, yeah
I've been watching you, yeah
I know you wanna get up, yeah, come on

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Let the music take control
Find a groove and let yourself go
When the room begins to sway
You know what I'm trying to say

Come on, take a chance get up and start the dance
Let the DJ shake you, let the music take you

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Let your body take a ride
Feel the beat and step inside
Music makes the world go 'round
You can turn your troubles upside down

Gonna have to change your mind
Gonna leave your troubles behind
Your body gets the notion
When your feet can make the motion

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Dance and sing, get up and do your thing
Dance and sing, get up and do your thing
Dance and sing, get up and do your thing
Dance and sing, get up and do your thing

{I know you've been waiting, yeah, yeah, I see you sitting there
I've been watching you across the room, yeah, yeah
I've been watching you, I see you sitting there by yourself
Yeah, yeah, come on, come on, come on}

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Let the music take control
Find a groove and let yourself go
When the room begins to sway
You know what I'm trying to say

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing
Everybody, come on, dance and sing
Everybody, get up and do your thing

Artwork[]

Lou Beach designed the single's artwork, which did not show Madonna but rather a "hip hop–style NYC street scene". Beach cut out the images from different magazines and put them together forming a collage. Rosenblatt revealed that he did not want the cover to show the singer's face, as he felt it "could get a lot of R&B play [...] because a lot of people thought she was black". Matthew Lindsay from The Quietus found it ironic that the record sleeve did not depict Madonna on the cover, as she would go on to become "the face of the 80s".

Releases[]

The single was released as a 12″ maxi vinyl in the USA, Canada, Europe and the Philippines with slight variations in the cover design. In the UK it was released as a promo with exclusive remixes for that country made by Rusty Egans. In simple 7″ format it was only released in some European countries such as France, Belgium or Spain. In 1995 it was re-released in CD5″ format as part of “The Yellow Discs Series” released by Warner Germany for worldwide import. Finally, in 2022, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its release, it was released as a digital single version with new cover.

Everybody Label: Sire Records
Format: 12" vinyl
Released: October 6, 1982
Catalog #: 0-29899 / 9 29899-0 A
Design: Lou Beach, Christine Sauers
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
No. Title Length
1. "Everybody" 5:56
2. "Everybody" (Dub Version) 9:23

Music video[]

Main article: Everybody/Music video

Trivia[]

  • This is one of the five songs from Madonna, the album, where she has a sole writing credit. The others are "Lucky Star", "Burning Up", "I Know It" and "Think of Me".
  • The song was the Madonna's first entry on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play charts.
  • The music video's release helped clear up the false assumption that Madonna was an African-American artist, which her Sire label was pushing by not showing her on the cover art.
  • In 2015, the song was placed at number 41 in "The 50 Best Songs of Madonna's Career" by "Rolling Stone" magazine.

Credits[]

Credits adapted from the album and twelve-inch single liner notes.

  • Madonna – vocals, writer
  • Mark Kamins – producer
  • Butch Jones – synthesizer, engineering
  • Reggie Lucas – guitar, drum programming
  • Fred Zarr – synthesizer, electric and acoustic piano
  • Dean Gant – electric and acoustic piano
  • Bobby Malach – tenor saxophone
  • Ed Walsh – synthesizer
  • Gwen Guthrie – background vocals
  • Brenda White – background vocals
  • Chrissy Faith – background vocals
  • Christine Sauers – art direction, design
  • Lou Beach – artwork

Charts[]

Weekly charts[edit][]

1982 chart performance for "Everybody"
Chart (1982) Peak

position

US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard) 7
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard) 3
2022–2023 chart performance for "Everybody"
Chart (2022–2023) Peak

position

Croatia (HDU) 4
Greece (IFPI Greece) 38
Hungary (Single Top 40) 2
UK Physical Singles (OCC) 5
UK Singles Sales (OCC) 22
UK Vinyl Singles (OCC) 2
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