"Why" is a song written by

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...

and

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bass player and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco music with guitarist Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the ...

and performed by American singer-songwriter

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

. Recorded for the film '' Soup for One'' in 1982, the film was a commercial flop but the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

was a success. One of many film-inspired singles by Simon, the song became a top 10 hit in the UK, and was successful throughout Europe.

Background

The song, like the rest of the soundtrack, was produced by

and

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English diction ...

. This was a move away from the usual guitar-based hits of Simon's past. The bittersweet reggae-tinged ballad became a hit in Europe, hitting No. 10 in the UK, and staying on the British charts for 18 weeks. The song peaked at No. 74 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and remained on the chart for 6 weeks. The song has been included on several of Simon's

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s, including the three-disc ''

Clouds in My Coffee ''Clouds in My Coffee: 1965-1995'' is a three-disc box set by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released by Arista Records, on November 7, 1995. A full career retrospective at the time of its release, it contains 58 songs spanning Simon's ...

'' (1995), the single-disc '' The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better'' (1999), and the two-disc ''

Anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

'' (2002).

Music video

Simon released a music video for the song, which was filmed on the streets of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1982. Simon's daughter, Sally Taylor, also appears in the video, seen pouring a bottle of wine over a man's head.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "Simon's vocal and Chic’s

polyrhythm Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhyth ...

street groove proves just the right formula."

Later significance

In 1989, the song re-surfaced on the

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

"Hacienda" scene, and cemented its status as a Balearic classic. Known for its bass-line and funky drums, it was then that the growing hip-hop scene in the US began to pick it up seven years after its original release. The song re-entered the UK charts the same year, reaching No. 56. In 1990,

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

would heavily sample the song for a remix of their hit single, "

Bonita Applebum (12" Why? Version) "Bonita Applebum" is the second single from A Tribe Called Quest's debut album '' People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm''. The song contains samples of "Daylight" by RAMP, "Memory Band" by Rotary Connection, "Jagger the Dagger" by E ...

". In 1999, British

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

musician

Glamma Kid Iyael Lyases Tafari Constable (born 14 March 1978, London Borough of Hackney, Hackney, London, England), better known as Glamma Kid, is a Deejay (Jamaican), toaster and former Royal Air Force trainee of part-Jamaican descent. He had two top 10 hi ...

heavily interpolated the song in "

Why Why may refer to: * Causality, a consequential relationship between two events * Reason (argument), a premise in support of an argument, for what reason or purpose * Grounding (metaphysics), a topic in metaphysics regarding how things exist in v ...

", which was also a top 10 UK hit.

Track listings and formats

;7" single *"Why" – 3:33 *"Why" (performed by Chic) – 3:33 ;12" single *"Why" (Extended Version) – 8:11 *"Why" (Instrumental) – 7:06

Charts

References

External links

Carly Simon's official websiteNile Rodgers' official website
{{Authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles Dance-pop songs Carly Simon songs Songs written by Bernard Edwards Songs written by Nile Rodgers Songs written for films Song recordings produced by Bernard Edwards Song recordings produced by Nile Rodgers Mirage Records singles Warner Music Group singles