About Private Dancer
The song was intended for Dire Straits’ fourth album Love over Gold. The instruments were recorded, but Mark Knopfler considered the lyrics unsuitable for a male singer, so the track was dropped from the project.[2][3] Legal restrictions prevented the original recording being used by Tina Turner, so two years later it was remade by members of Dire Straits. Terry Williams replaced the original drummer Pick Withers. Knopfler did not appear on the track and was replaced by Jeff Beck. Turner told DJ Roger Scott:
Roger [Turner’s manager] knows Knopfler’s manager Ed Bicknell, and Bicknell said, ‘I think Mark has a song that could fit Tina, that he never used because he thought it was a song for a girl.’ Mark produced the song and sang it, and after he did it he felt that it was not a song for a man, so it was just sitting on the shelf… He gave me the track and I copied it with Dire Straits people – most of them. At first I was going to try to just put my voice on Mark’s tapes, but there was a record company problem, so we got Mark’s musicians, Dire Straits, and went into the studio... Someone said, ‘Why did you select “Private Dancer”? It’s a song about a hooker. Is it because you’ve been a hooker?’ And I was shocked... I didn’t see her as a hooker... I can be naive about some of these things. But actually the answer is no. I took it because it was an unusual song. I’d never sung a song like it. And I wish you could hear Mark’s version of it. He’s got a very English-sounding voice... and it was really quite beautiful.... A very arty song... so I put the old soulful touch on it.[4]
Thx. Didn’t know that. Wish I could hear Knopfler sing it. :)