Song Spotlight: Rockwell - Somebody’s Watching Me

Kooky, eerie, and creepy, Rockwell’s ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ always has us feeling like we’re in The Twilight Zone! But how did this Halloween party classic come to be?

Image byKingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA via Wikimedia Commons

At eighteen years old, Kennedy Gordy (Rockwell) was disappointed after showing his estranged father, Motown record label founder Berry Gordy, his pop-funk demo tape (the initial demo of ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’). He recounted to Rolling Stone in 2016 that his father told him something along the lines of, “Don’t give up your day job, young man. Keep writing and you’ll come up with something one day”. Frustrated, having previously written tracks he described as “mediocre at best”, Rockwell prayed for the “creativity to write a song that’ll go to the top of the charts and tickle the taste buds of the music connoisseur”. Over the next two days, he developed and wrote ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’, recording the majority of the studio version's vocals in one take a couple of days later. The song’s lyrics draw inspiration from both Rockwell’s memories growing up in the limelight, such as his neighbour trying to peek into their apartment, as well as pranks he would play on a girl he lived with during the time he wrote the song - specifically inspiring the lyrics:

When I’m in the shower

I’m afraid to wash my hair

’Cause I might open my eyes

And find someone standing there

With a boombox and demo cassette, Rockwell performed the song to his long-time childhood friend, Michael Jackson, who liked it so much that he requested for him to sing it multiple times, inviting more Jackson family members into the room each time to hear it. Michael asked Rockwell who was going to sing backing vocals for the track, with Rockwell asking him to, and later enlisting Jermaine Jackson - who was married to Rockwell’s half-sister, Hazel Gordy, at the time - to also sing on the final recording.

To avoid accusations of nepotism, he secretly submitted the song to Motown under the name Rockwell, believing that he ‘rocked well’, securing a deal without his father’s knowledge. The song was released in January 1984, ahead of his debut album of the same name, going on to spend 19 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number two, and selling over 500,000 copies three months after its release.

Over 40 years later, this 80s bop and its haunted-house themed music video holds its legacy as both a decade-defining hit, and an enduring seasonal classic that’s guaranteed to have us rocking the dancefloor of any Halloween event.

Image by bandita via Flickr

If you loved this spooky song spotlight, then our ‘Song Spotlight: Bobby “Boris” Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers – Monster Mash’ is a riveting read!

Thumbnail Image/ Featured Image by bandita via Flickr