don't you want me

The Human League had their greatest success with the synthesized soap operatic sour grapes of this duet that was released against their wishes. The band had splintered over disagreements on whether to pursue a more commercial sound, with original members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh leaving to form Heaven 17. Philip Oakey hired Ian Burden to play synthesizer and found teenage friends Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley dancing in a Sheffield nightclub and invited them to come on tour. Virgin Records suggested this new band work with veteran producer Martin Rushent who moved sessions to Genetic Studios in Reading to get them away from the tension at Monumental Studios in Sheffield which they had shared with Heaven 17. Another synth player Jo Callis was also brought in to fill out the sound while their visual art director Philip Adrian Wright learned to play some synthesizer and contributed to the songwriting. Callis, Oakey, and Wright co-wrote 'Don't You Want Me' Inspired by A Star Is Born, Oakey wove a dark tabloid story into this "nasty song about sexual power politics"; making it a duet with Sulley, while Callis and Wright composed the synthesized instrumentation. Rushent and Callis did the very commercial final mix, which the rest of the band thought went too far from the moody vibe of the rest of 'Dare'. It was left at the end of the record.

Virgin A&R Simon Draper was insistent that they release it as a single. According to Sulley, the band was reluctant: "We'd already had three singles from 'Dare': 'Sound of the Crowd', 'Love Action' and 'Open Your Heart'. We genuinely thought people would be bored of us and wouldn't buy another single. Also 'Don't You Want Me' was our Des O'Connor record, not really representative of the rest of the album." Oakey says, "It was the radio. They took the album to these clever people working in radio stations round the country. They all came back and said, 'You've got to put that out as a single.'"

They were all surprised when it raced to the top of the British charts selling almost a million and a half copies. Six months later it hit number one in the US and went Gold.

You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met you.

I picked you out, I shook you up

And turned you around, turned you into someone new.

Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet.

Success has been so easy for you.

But don't forget it's me who put you where you are now,

And I can put you back there too.

Don't, don't you want me?

You know I can't believe it

When I hear that you won't see me.

Don't, don't you want me?

You know I don't believe you

When you say that you don't need me.

It's much to late to find

When you think you've changed your mind.

You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry.

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar,

That much is true.

But even then I knew I'd find a much better place

Either with or without you.

The five years we have had have been such good times,

I still love you.

But now I think it's time I live my life on my own.

I guess it's just what I must do.

Don't, don't you want me?

You know I can't believe it

When I hear that you won't see me.

Don't, don't you want me?

You know I don't believe you

When you say that you don't need me.

It's much to late to find

When you think you've changed your mind.

You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry.

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

Don't you want me, baby?

Don't you want me, oh?

B-side 'Seconds' was written about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.