"Switch It On" is a song by English singer

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 Pop Idol (series 1), inaugural series of the ITV (TV network), ITV talent contest ''Pop Idol'', making him the f ...

. It was written by Young,

Stephen Lipson Stephen J. Lipson (born 16 March 1954) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter. As a record producer, he has worked with many artists including Annie Lennox, Propaganda, Act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Will Youn ...

, Ronnie Peterson,

Karen Poole Karen Ann Poole (born 8 January 1971) is an English singer and songwriter. Poole has had over 35 Top 20 UK hits as a songwriter. Biography Karen was born in Chadwell Heath, London, England, and is the daughter of 1960s vocalist Brian Poole, le ...

and

Steven Wolf Steven Wolf (aka Wolf) is a drummer, programmer, songwriter and music producer. His discography includes numerous gold, platinum, and Grammy winning records. He has worked with a range of artists including Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, ...

, and produced by Lipson for third studio album, ''

Keep On ''Keep On'' is the third studio album by English singer Will Young. It was released on 21 November 2005, debuting at number 2 on the albums chart in the United Kingdom, as the album sold 107,318 copies in its first week. However, its biggest sal ...

'' (2005). The song was released as the album's first single on 14 November 2005, a week before the album. The single reached number five in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The music itself is based on a guitar

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

riff similar to The Count 5's

Psychotic Reaction "Psychotic Reaction" is a song by the American garage rock band Count Five, released in June 1966 on their Psychotic Reaction (album), debut studio album of the same name. Background "Psychotic Reaction" was born out of an instrumental that Count ...

Music video

The video for "Switch It On" was directed by

Vaughan Arnell Vaughan Arnell (born 31 May 1961, in Chertsey, Surrey) is a British music video and television commercial director. Although having done films for high-profile clients in the TV commercial field, including Nestlé and Levi's, he is best known for ...

and filmed at

Thunder City Thunder City is an aircraft operating and maintenance company based at the Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa. It was well known for owning the largest civilian collection of former military jet aircraft in the world. Thes ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is based on the 1986 American action drama ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an a ...

''. The video opens with the titles "Will Young in Hot Gun", and features Young in the

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

fighter pilot role, playing

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

and

serenading In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian ...

a woman in a bar. In a 2005 interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Young commented: "The video was the director Vaughan Arnell's idea – I'd had something different, a performance video, in mind. But he convinced me it was such a universal idea that covered so many areas – blokes love it, women like it. It's not in-your-face homoerotic. Homoeroticism should be subtle. It's not about dancing in leather pants. Mixed with humour, homoeroticism is fantastic."

Track listings

Notes * denotes remix producer *"Switch It On" is based on the composition "Ho Diddley" as performed by Chitlin Circuitry.

Credits and personnel

*Neil Conti – drums *Mark Feltham – harmonica *Luis Jardim – percussion *

– producer, programming, writer * Heff Moraes – engineer *Ronnie Peterson – writer *

– backing vocals, writer * Mike Ross-Trevor – engineer *

– programming, writer *Will Young – vocals, writer

Charts

Release history

References

External links

"Switch It On" lyrics
Will Young songs 19 Recordings singles 2005 singles Avant-pop songs Music videos directed by Vaughan Arnell Song recordings produced by Stephen Lipson Songs written by Karen Poole Songs written by Stephen Lipson Songs written by Will Young Sony BMG singles {{2000s-pop-single-stub