I can’t believe I never figured this out before.
The recent post about “Electric Youth” got me thinking and listening, and on the way home from work yesterday, it hit me: “Foolish Beat” by Debbie Gibson IS the bubblegum rewrite of Wham’s “Careless Whisper“.
It’s all there. The raspy blues-ish alto sax, the sappy “I lost you and I’ll never get over it” message, the minor key. Not only are the song titles similar, each is uttered only once as part of the second verse of its respective song.
I wonder if Debbie was a big George Michael fan? 🙂