Let Me Entertain You

Album: Life Thru A Lens (1997)
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Songfacts®:

  • Robbie Williams' lyrics for "Let Me Entertain You" are mostly innuendoes and entendre. Literally it is Williams recounting an attempt to get a girl to cheat on her boyfriend with him. It doubles up as the self-preening singer winking at us about his camp, egotistic image. (In the US a compilation album was released the following year featuring all his hits to date. It was titled The Ego Has Landed.)
  • Williams and his then-writing partner Guy Chambers wrote this song after watching the Rolling Stones film Rock and Roll Circus. The singer recalled: "When we started writing the demo there was a furious jungle beat underneath it. It was so hardcore it got me very excited, and I still get excited listening to it now. It's not really heavy metal, it's more like camp rock opera!"
  • The piano part in "Let Me Entertain You" bears a striking resemblance to "Pinball Wizard" by The Who, who performed at Rock and Roll Circus alongside The Rolling Stones.
  • Directed by Vaughan Arnell, the video sees Robbie Williams performing in full makeup and dressed in a bejeweled jumpsuit reminiscent of the rock band Kiss. Williams said it was the best video he's ever done.
  • "Let Me Entertain You" has become Williams' signature concert opener for most of his shows. His performances of the song include at the Brit Awards' opening act in 1999, as the opening act for Queen Elizabeth II's 2012 Diamond Jubilee Concert, and at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park in 2005. He also performed the song in front of billions of viewers at the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony held in Moscow.
  • This was the fifth and final single released from Robbie Williams' debut solo album, Life Thru a Lens. The song peaked at #3 on the UK chart, becoming the album's third Top 5 hit after "Old Before I Die" and "Angels."

Comments: 1

  • Per from SwedenDo you really mean "Pinball Wizard" and not "Quadrophenia" by The Who? "Pinball Wizard" has basically no piano....
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