"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", also written "Da' Ya' Think I'm Sexy", is a song by British singer Rod Stewart from his ninth studio album, ''

Blondes Have More Fun ''Blondes Have More Fun'' is Rod Stewart's ninth album, released in November 1978. As was the popular musical trend at the time, it is Stewart's foray into disco music. The album was commercially successful, reaching number 3 in the UK and numbe ...

'' (1978). It was written by Stewart,

Carmine Appice Carmine Appice ( , born December 15, 1946) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is also Vinny Appice's ...

and Duane Hitchings, though it incorporates the melody from the song "Taj Mahal" by Jorge Ben Jor and the string arrangement from the song "(If You Want My Love) Put Something Down On It" by

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing gui ...

.Stewart, Rod. ''Rod: The Autobiography'' (2012)
225-226
/ref> The song was released as the first single from ''Blondes Have More Fun'' in November 1978. It spent one week atop 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 ...

in December 1978 and four weeks atop the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in February 1979. ''Billboard'' ranked it number four on its Top Singles of 1979 year-end chart. It also topped the charts in Canada for four weeks and in Australia for two weeks. Royalties from the song were donated to the United Nations Children's Fund (

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

) and Stewart performed the song at the

Music for UNICEF Concert The Music for UNICEF Concert: A Gift of Song was a benefit concert of popular music held in the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on January 9, 1979. It was intended to raise money for UNICEF world hunger programs and to mark the b ...

at the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

in January 1979. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' ranked the song at number 308 in its 2004 list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

Background and writing

, who played drums on this song told Songfacts: "This was a story of a guy meeting a chick in a club. At that time, that was a cool saying. If you listen to the lyrics, 'She sits alone, waiting for suggestions, he's so nervous...' it's the feelings of what was going on in a dance club. The guy sees a chick he digs, she's nervous and he's nervous and she's alone and doesn't know what's going on, then they end up at his place having sex, and then she's gone." In a 2007 interview, co-writer Duane Hitchings noted that "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" was It has been noted that Stewart created parts of the song through musical plagiarism. A copyright infringement lawsuit by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor claimed the chorus of the song had been derived from his song "Taj Mahal". The case was "settled amicably" according to Jorge Ben Jor, in Ben Jor's favor.Interview with Ben Jor
Expatica.com Stewart admitted in his 2012 autobiography to "unconscious plagiarism" of the Ben Jor song, which he had heard while attending the Rio Carnival in 1978. He also admitted that he had consciously lifted the song's signature synthesizer riff from the string arrangement on

's "(If You Want My Love) Put Something Down On It". Stewart contends that it is legal to lift a line from any song's arrangement as long as the core melody line is not copied.

Reception

The song was criticised by many in the rock press as a betrayal of Stewart's blues-oriented rock roots, due to its disco-like arrangement, but Stewart and others were quick to point out that other widely respected artists, such as

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

, had also released disco-flavoured songs. However, the song has since experienced some retrospective acclaim as ''

'' placed the song at number 308 in its 2004 list of the

. '' Cash Box'' said it has "a clipping bass line y_Phil_Chen.html" ;"title="Phil_Chen.html" ;"title="y Phil Chen">y Phil Chen">Phil_Chen.html" ;"title="y Phil Chen">y Phil Chen steady kick drum and soaring synthesized strings" as well as "alternately gentle and dashing rhythm guitar work and a commanding saxophone, sax solo."

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Revolting Cocks version

Industrial supergroup

Revolting Cocks Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, are an American-Belgian industrial rock band, and sometimes supergroup, that began as a musical side project for Richard23 of Front 242, Luc van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry. History 1984: Or ...

(featuring

Richard 23 Richard Jonckheere (born 20 January 1963), better known by his stage names Richard23 and Richard JK, is a Belgian musician. He has been a member of Front 242 (which he joined in 1983) and was a founding member of Revolting Cocks (which he left ...

of Front 242, Luc van Acker, and

Al Jourgensen Alain David Jourgensen (born Alejandro Ramírez Casas; October 9, 1958) is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is b ...

of Ministry) recorded a version of Da Ya Think I'm Sexy for their album Linger Ficken' Good. The song was released as a single in September 1993 with the songs "Sergio Guitar" and "Wrong Sexy Mix" as B-sides. This version includes slightly altered lyrics (the lyric "Give me a dime so I can call my mother" is replaced with "Give me a buck so I can buy a rubber" and "He says, I'm sorry, but I'm out of milk and coffee." is replaced with "He says, I'm sorry, but I'm out of KY Jelly.")http://www.songlyrics.com/revolting-cocks/do-ya-think-i-m-sexy-lyrics/

N-Trance featuring Rod Stewart version

In 1997, the song was remixed by English electronic dance music group

N-Trance N-Trance () are a British electronic music group who were formed by Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth in 1991. The group is known for their European hit songs " Set You Free" and " Electronic Pleasure", and their covers of the 1970s disco songs ...

for their second album, '' Happy Hour'' (1998), and features lyrics from the

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American R&B and soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies sold. Jackson's songs o ...

version (as performed by vocalist Kelly Llorenna). It was featured in the film '' A Night at the Roxbury'' the following year. This version became a hit in late 1997, topping both the New Zealand Singles Chart for three weeks and the Czech Republic singles chart. Additionally, the song peaked at number seven on the

and earning a double-platinum sales certification in Australia, where it charted at number three.

Critical reception

Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' described the song as "another slice of flashback fever". He noted that "with its recognizable hook, booty-shakin' baseline, guest rap by Ricardo da Force, diva wailings by Kelly Llorenna, and Stewart himself, this updated remake could very well become the surprise radio hit of the summer. Of course, it could also become this month's novelty record." British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated N-Trance's version four out of five in their review.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

2017 DNCE remix version

On August 25, 2017, Rod Stewart released a remix version featuring a guest appearance from American band

DNCE DNCE is an American dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a part of the band from when it started in 2015 to when it went on hiatus in 2018. ...

. He sings along with the lead singer of the band, Joe Jonas.

Live performances

They performed the song at

2017 MTV Video Music Awards The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 27, 2017 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, honoring music videos released between June 25, 2016 and June 23, 2017. It was hosted by Katy Perry. The 34th annual award show aired live from ...

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

2021 Carmine Appice/Fernando Perdomo Project version

In 2021, Appice and Fernando Perdomo released an instrumental rock album, ''Energy Overload'', that includes what Eric Harabadian of

Music Connection ''Music Connection'' is a United States-based monthly music-trade magazine, which began publication in 1977. It caters to career-minded musicians, songwriters, recording artists and assorted music-industry support personnel. The magazine began ...

Magazine describes as a "harmonic and rhythmic renovation" of Do Ya Think I'm Sexy.

Parodies

*In 1979,

Steve Dahl Steven Robert Dahl (born November 20, 1954) is an American radio personality. He is the owner and operator of the Steve Dahl Network, a subscription-based podcasting network. Dahl gained a measure of national attention after organizing and hostin ...

along with his band Teenage Radiation released a parody titled "Do You Think I'm Disco?"

References

{{Authority control 1978 singles 1978 songs 1979 singles 2017 singles All Around the World Productions singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles British disco songs Cashbox number-one singles DNCE songs Gene Summers songs Music videos directed by Bruce Gowers N-Trance songs Number-one singles in Israel Reprise Records singles Republic Records singles Rod Stewart songs Sabrina Salerno songs Paris Hilton songs Sire Records singles Song recordings produced by Tom Dowd Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs involved in royalties controversies Songs written by Carmine Appice Songs written by Duane Hitchings Songs written by Rami Yacoub Songs written by Rod Stewart UK Singles Chart number-one singles Warner Records singles