Sade: Smooth Operator

Remarks:

Through some gross oversight, I have neglected to post this song. The record company did not think it would ever sell – it was too different. They wanted her to sing stuff more like “Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears. But Sade stuck to her guns, did not change it one bit. It came out in 1984 in the UK, where it went to #19. A year later it came out in the US, where it went to #5 on both the pop and R&B charts and became a staple on smooth jazz radio stations (fl. 1987-2007).

Burned into my brain:

Coast to coast, LA to Key Largo

Which, I find out, is not what she actually sings, but it makes more sense geographically.

See also:

• songs: the 1980s
• Sade
  • WWSD – What Would Sade Do?

Lyrics:

He’s laughing with another girl
And playing with another heart
Placing high stakes, making hearts ache
He’s loved in seven languages
Diamond nights and ruby lights, high in the sky
Heaven help him, when he falls

Diamond life, lover boy
He move in space with minimum waste and maximum joy
City lights and business nights
When you require streetcar desire for higher heights

No place for beginners or sensitive hearts
When sentiment is left to chance
No place to be ending but somewhere to start

No need to ask
He’s a smooth operator
Smooth operator, smooth operator
Smooth operator

Coast to coast, LA to Chicago, western male
Across the north and south, to Key Largo, love for sale

Face to face, each classic case
We shadow box and double cross
Yet need the chase

A license to love, insurance to hold
Melts all your memories and change into gold
His eyes are like angels but his heart is cold

No need to ask
He’s a smooth operator
Smooth operator, smooth operator
Smooth operator

Coast to coast, LA to Chicago, western male
Across the north and south, to Key Largo, love for sale

Smooth operator, smooth operator
Smooth operator, smooth operator
Smooth operator, smooth operator
Smooth operator, smooth operator
Smooth operator, smooth operator

Source: AZ Lyrics.