“Murder On The Dancefloor” was originally supposed to have different lyrics. Co-author Gregg Alexander has now revealed the original lyrics to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s hit.
In the New Radicals version a bong played a role
At the beginning it was “I’m gonna make us hit the Hague / Once you hit the bong,” said the songwriter, who became known as the frontman of the New Radicals in the nineties. “Murder On The Dancefloor” was actually a song for his group. However, it was replaced as a debut single with the hit “You Get What You Give” (1998). When the song was passed on to Sophie Ellis-Bextor a few years later, she only replaced that one line. The drug reference has been deleted, and instead the lyrics now read “I’ll take you all the way / Stay another song”.
Here is the music video for “Murder On The Dancefloor”
Gregg Alexander releases demo recording
Gregg Alexander recently had one Demo recording of the song from the New Radicals era published. “The record company desperately wanted results and we didn’t have the time or money to finish both songs,” the musician compared “Murder On The Dancefloor” and “You Get What You Give”. “I thought ‘Murder’ was a monster, but ‘You Get What You Give’ was a masterpiece. It had everything I always wanted to say in five minutes.” The song appeared on the New Radicals’ only studio album, “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too” (1998), and remained their most successful song. After the group broke up again in 1999, they reunited in 2021 to play the hit at Joe Biden’s inauguration as President of the USA.
New Radicals chose “You Get What You Give” as their debut
“Murder On The Dancefloor,” however, appeared on Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s debut album “Read My Lips” (2001). This song was also successful. It then re-entered the charts more than twenty years later when it found new popularity as part of the soundtrack to the film Saltburn (2023).