Who Sings Let's Get Physical

I'm proverb all the things that I know you'll similar / Making good conversation / I gotta handle you just right sings Olivia Newton-John on her 1981 hit "Physical." Though the music video for the song was visualized by a gym total of men (and Newton-John) working out, the significant of the song was never about "that kind of" conditioning.

Dressed in an electric blue, white, and pink leotard get-upwardly, the video, directed by Brian Grant, finds Newton-John working out, and lusting after, a gym full of men with the visuals come across-sawing between the cute and comical scenes to sexier ones complementing the lyrics.

Let's Get "Physical"

Written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, "Physical" was initially written with a male singer in mind and was get-go offered to Rod Stewart and and then to Tina Turner earlier Newton-John got the runway.

Though there was more of a double entendre in the video for the track, there was no question what the lyrics were talking about: sexual activity.

The risqué lyrics talk near watching a "suggestive picture" and talking less, 'less its horizontally.

I'1000 maxim all the things that I know you'll like
Making adept chat
I gotta handle you just right
You know what I mean
I took you to an intimate restaurant
Then to a suggestive movie
In that location'due south nada left to talk about
'Less information technology'south horizontally

The Perfect Hit

The championship track off Newton-John's 11th album, "Physical" reached No. 1 on the charts, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for x weeks, and the pop anthem was a breakout song for the Australian artist, who died on Baronial viii, 2022, at the age of 73, post-obit a 30-year boxing with breast cancer.

"They phone call information technology reinventing yourself," said Newton-John in a 2021 interview. "I wasn't doing it on purpose. Information technology just was the vocal that I was attracted to and the anthology. But I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to record it."

Banned in Many States

Though it was a big striking for Newton-John, the song, and video—1 scene even alluding to ii men getting "concrete" with i some other—were considered too raunchy in 1981 and the vocal was even banned from radio in some markets at the time, including Utah.

At first, the singer and songwriter didn't find the significant of the song salacious. "I don't call up I was really aware of how raunchy it was when I was recording it until subsequently, and that's when I freaked out," said Newton-John. "But looking back now I become, 'That was great.' It got attention. And also, compared to what I'thou listening to on the radio now, information technology'south more like a lullaby."

Once recorded, Newton-John called her manager Roger Davies, who also went on to manage Tina Turner and P!nk, and told him she had "gone too far" and that the vocal was "too raunchy."

I been patient, I been good
Tried to go along my hands on the table
It's gettin' hard, this holdin' dorsum
You know what I mean
I'm sure you'll understand my point of view
We know each other mentally
Yous gotta know that you lot're bringin' out
The animal in me

The Other Side of "Sandy"

The controversy effectually the "Physical" and the suggestive significant of the lyrics helped Newton-John shift from her predominantly clean-cut prototype—much similar her goody-two-shoes Grease character, Sandy Olsson—to a woman more powerful, and sexy.

Oh, let's get
Physical, physical, I wanna get
Physical, let'southward get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Permit me hear your torso talk, let's get
Animal, fauna, I wanna get
Animal, let'southward get into animal
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your torso ta-ah-ah

"Physical" also helped Newton-John transition into her subsequent hits of love and longing like "Soul Kiss," "Make a Motion on Me" and "Twist of Fate."

40 Years of "Concrete"

In 2021, Newton-John celebrated the 40th anniversary of the song and the album with a deluxe edition of Physical. To commemorate the anniversary of the album and hit, the singer launched a TikTok "Concrete" challenge, in partnership with Crunch Fitness, for the record number of people doing the "Physical" video leg lift, to assist heighten awareness and funding for cancer treatment research and draw attention to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund.

"Of course it was ane of the biggest songs I ever had," said Newton-John of her iconic pop striking. "So, sometimes you've got to permit go of the fear and simply become with it."