Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 hit, Murder on the Dancefloor, has had a huge resurgence since its prominent use in 2023 film Saltburn.
In fact, the singer performed the hit just a couple of weeks ago at the BAFTAs ― 23 years after its release.
“How lovely for me, I mean, look, I’ve been singing ‘Murder’ for over 20 years and it’s so nice that it still has the power to surprise me,” the singer said of its post-Barry Keoghan boom.
Well, it turns out that the rest of us stand to be surprised by the song, too ― recently, the original lyrics of the song were shared with The Guardian, and they’re not 100% the words we know today.
How was the song written?
Gregg Alexander, a former member of the band New Radicals, wrote the song when he was unable to go on a night out in Detroit, he told Dave Simpson.
Stuck in his car, he says he pulled out his acoustic guitar and started singing the refrain we all love ― “it’s murder on the dancefloor, but you’d better not kill the groove,” he crooned.
“My [New Radicals] bandmate Danielle [Brisebois] and I thought why not share a snippet of that cassette ruff track we sent Sophie containing New Radicals’ nearly ‘lost hit’,” he said of giving the nearly-discarded track to Sophie.
Calling the tune “A song which may have gone unheard, and the world never known, were it not for Sophie’s belief in the song and her pop brilliance,” he revealed that original lyrics almost included “hit The Hague! Then hit the bong!”
Woah. Anything else?
Yep! The song almost contained the lines “I won’t make us hit the hay / once you hit the bong.”
The OG tune was also a little heavier on the strings, and the vocals were a little more strained than Sophie’s cool, smooth delivery.
You can hear the original recording on The Guardian’s page.