A-side "Wheel Me Out" (UK) Format 7", 12" | Released September 1981 (US) Genre Post-disco, dance-rock | |
B-side "It's an Attack!" (France) Recorded The Sound Suite, January–March 1981 | ||
"Where Did Your Heart Go?" is a song written by American musicians David Was and Don Was. The song was first recorded and released by the writers' disco-dance-rock ensemble Was (Not Was) as a single in the UK as a double-A-side single with "Wheel Me Out" in September 1981. The single did not chart. It was featured as the second track on the ensemble's début album Was (Not Was) in August 1981. French editions of the single included the album "It's An Attack!" as the b-side.
Contents
A live recording of "Where Did Your Heart Go?" was included as a b-side to "Somewhere In America (There's A Street Named After My Dad)" single in 1992.
Track listing
All tracks written by D. Was and D. Was.
All tracks written by D. Was and D. Was.
Wham! version
"Where Did Your Heart Go?" was covered by the British pop duo Wham! on 14 October 1986 as one of the three B-sides to "The Edge of Heaven" in the UK, where it reached number 1. The song was also released separately as Wham!'s final single in several territories most notably in the US where it peaked at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1986. It was produced and re-arranged by George Michael with engineering by Chris Porter. In common with several Wham! songs, Andrew Ridgeley's contribution is notable by its absence, though he receives a co-writing credit for its B-side: "Wham Rap '86". "Where Did Your Heart Go?" was also included on The Final and Music from the Edge of Heaven albums.
Arrangement
George Michael's arrangement of "Where Did Your Heart Go?" is relatively faithful to the original Was (Not Was) version making only subtle changes to the song's instrumentation and structure. Michael alters the song by dropping the opening chorus in favour of an instrumental introduction of the chorus melody. The subdued ending is protracted in the Wham! recording, where the Was (Not Was) original quickly fades out after the completion of the final chorus; Michael's arrangement continues for an additional half a minute.
Wham!'s recording of "Where Did Your Heart Go?", while structurally similar to the Was (Not Was) original, leans toward to a soft rock ballad due to changes to the tempo and vocal inflection. Michael's arrangement is more spare and reliant on synthesizers and saxophone to convey the melody. Michael's vocals are less immersed in the backing arrangement in which the bass guitar and drums are markedly quieter in the mix. His vocal is more low-key than Sweet Pea Atkinson's, except for the final line of the third verse, "and drifted out of sight", which is accentuated.
Music video
The official music video for the Wham! version of the song was directed by George Michael and Andy Morahan.