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Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)
The title track of her third solo album, 1981’s What Cha' Gonna Do For Me" was written by Ned Doheny and Hamish Stuart of the Average White Band. They had recorded the song a year earlier and released it on their LP Shine, produced by David Foster, but it was Hyde Park’s Very Own that took this song to another world.
Released on Warner Bros. Records and produced with Arif Mardin, Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me” has been a top “port of call” of my personal affinity for the early 80s post-disco electric funk. The Queen Of Everything put this song on the map as the first single off the album that would seal her stardom with other iconic tunes, such as "I Know You, I Live You”, and the Stardust-sampled, “Fate”.
Even beyond my Reprise-styled stripped-down take on this, I also continued to lust after this harmonic motion through an original track—Change Request | Ravaged Romance—that was directly inspired by the chordal arrangements that Doheny and Stuart set forth in their original composition. Have a listen to the evolution of this song—through these four versions—including my two interpretations of this all-time classic.
Average White Band | Whatcha' Gonna Do For Me (1980): bit.ly/31bcD2v
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (1981): bit.ly/31cRZ28
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)(2018): bit.ly/2VbGcgH
Change Request | Ravaged Romance (2020): bit.ly/2VcVQs2
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By Andrew EmilChaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)
The title track of her third solo album, 1981’s What Cha' Gonna Do For Me" was written by Ned Doheny and Hamish Stuart of the Average White Band. They had recorded the song a year earlier and released it on their LP Shine, produced by David Foster, but it was Hyde Park’s Very Own that took this song to another world.
Released on Warner Bros. Records and produced with Arif Mardin, Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me” has been a top “port of call” of my personal affinity for the early 80s post-disco electric funk. The Queen Of Everything put this song on the map as the first single off the album that would seal her stardom with other iconic tunes, such as "I Know You, I Live You”, and the Stardust-sampled, “Fate”.
Even beyond my Reprise-styled stripped-down take on this, I also continued to lust after this harmonic motion through an original track—Change Request | Ravaged Romance—that was directly inspired by the chordal arrangements that Doheny and Stuart set forth in their original composition. Have a listen to the evolution of this song—through these four versions—including my two interpretations of this all-time classic.
Average White Band | Whatcha' Gonna Do For Me (1980): bit.ly/31bcD2v
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (1981): bit.ly/31cRZ28
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)(2018): bit.ly/2VbGcgH
Change Request | Ravaged Romance (2020): bit.ly/2VcVQs2