John, I'm Only Dancing

This song is about a bisexual man who is seen dancing with a woman by his gay lover. While he admits the woman turns him on, he assures his lover that he is "only dancing".

Here's the lowdown of what this song is about. A gay caballero loves a bi caballero. The bi caballero dances with Annie, a pretty senorita with a really neat-o personality and a reputation for being great at swallowing caballeros' swords. The gay caballero is way cheesed off to see his both-ways-swinging target of desire dancing with the pretty senorita and thinks she's had occasion to swallow HIS sword. The bi caballero has to explain to the gay caballero that Annie is beautiful and sexy, but he's only dancing with her and she never did anything to or with his sword, and much, much, more importantly, his heart, in any way, shape , or manner.

I came up with a theory about this song. Basically, it is about a guy who is running around at a party stealing people's coffee. The first verse details a time when he takes Annie out to breakfast in order to steal her coffee. When he takes a sip, he declares, "Joe is awful strong!" and is annoyed with what he feels to be a trick against him (ie the coffee is too strong for his tastes). Then we find him on the dance floor at John's party. He is dancing and simultaneously stealing the dancers' coffee (don't ask me why the partygoers are drinking coffee there, though. Maybe it's a special kind of party). John sees him stealing coffee and the guy declares that he is "only dancing." "You're everyone that ever cared" is the coffee stealer boldly telling John that it doesn't matter if he steals people's coffee; he'll do it whenever he pleases. The line "Dancing, won't someone dance with me?" is when the other dancers realize what the coffee-thief is doing and they all refuse to dance with him. He pleas for sympathy, but to no avail.

In fact, a couple months ago, I sent an email to David Bowie which was a line-by-line analyzation of the song that demonstrated the theory.

I always thought this was about a gay couple at a club or maybe at home and they are arguing about a girl that one was seen dancing with. There's some hints of allegation, but the one is trying convince John that he didn't do anything with her and that they were only dancing. So the accuser is pretty cynical ("You're everyone that ever cared").

thinwhiteduchess has got it spot on, absolutely

think about it,

it's one of bowie's most camp songs for a start..

and the line "John, I'm only dancing She turns me on, but I'm only dancing"

why the hell would he admit to his friend that his gf turns him on? ridiculous notion, but if it makes your tiny little homophobic minds any less horrified, then so be it.

he he. It does seem like homophobia to refuse to see what this song is actually about. Bowie was claiming to be gay at the time, and he has gone on record about what this song is about. It is about a gay couple, one of whom dances with a girl, and then hads to placate his boyfriend "John, I'm only dancing." nothing to do with cockney slang either :)

"if it makes your tiny little homophobic minds any less horrified, then so be it."

this is the kind of thing i hate on the internet. someone has a different opinion so you insult them.

CuteSparkina's explanation made my day. It could only have been more amusing if it was made through interpretive dance. Incidentally, it's correct. I have to add smth, though: "I saw you watching from the stairs, you're everyone that ever cared Oh lordy, oh lordy, you know I need some loving I'm moving, touch me!" - The bi caballero wanted to dance with the gay caballero, but the gay caballero was reluctant. Perhaps Annie was bait, armcandy to be seen from the stairs by John, a double provocation in that she was a woman. It didn't work, apparently, because the bi caballero goes on to flirt with the room at large - "Dancing, won't someone dance with me? Touch me!"

"Well, Annie's pretty neat, she always eats her meat Joe is awful strong, bet your life he's putting us on" (Joe is secretly bisexual but puts on a tough guy act to throw people off, but hey, he's at this party, this chick Annie is kinda neat, so he will play the part and dance with her)

"John, I'm only dancing She turns me on, but I'm only dancing" (Joe wants John, who is his secret lover, to know that he is only dancing with Annie, although she does turn him on because he is bisexual and he has heard she is a sure thing because she ALWAYS eats her meat)

"Oh shadow love was quick and clean, life's a well-thumbed machine I saw you watching from the stairs, you're everyone that ever cared" (Joe explains how their love-making has to be in the shadows and kept a secret, and that they have to be quick and clean about it, leaving no evidence of their meetings. Well-thumbed means frequent handling so this tells me that they make love frequently and have gotten very good at keeping their secret. Joe sees John watching him dance with Annie from the stairs and reassures Joe that he values their relationship above all others as he feels John is the only one to have really ever cared for him.)

I agree with those who say it is a gay/bi couple. The gay one sees the bi one dancing with a girl, and so on.