We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off

"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" was written by Narada Michael Walden and Preston Glass. Walden is a well-known American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter. Stewart recorded it during 1985 and it was released across the world the following summer, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and also peaking within the top ten of the charts in Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

The single seemed to reflect more modesty when it came to sex in light of the AIDS pandemic at the time. In 1988, Stewart was interviewed by Donnie Simpson where Stewart spoke of the lyrical message within the song. "I think it made a lot of peoples' minds open up a little bit. We didn't only want to just talk about clothes, we wanted to extend that. We wanted to use the song as a theme to be able to say you don't have to do all the negative things that society forces on you. You don't have to drink and drive. You don't have to take drugs early. The girls don't have to get pregnant early. So the clothes bit of it was to get people's attention, which it did and I'm glad it was a positive message."[1][2]

The song reignited Stewart's popularity, as his previous single, "I Like It" had failed to make much impact as a follow-up to Stewart's moderately successful debut single, "The Word Is Out" ("I Like It" did not chart in either the US or the United Kingdom).

A popular promotional video, directed by David Fincher, was created for the single as well as numerous TV performances to promote the single, including stints on Soul Train and American Bandstand.

In 2011, the song was used in a Cadbury's TV commercial in the United Kingdom, called The Charity Shop.[3] This exposed the song to a new generation who downloaded the track and returned it to the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 29. The song also appeared in Kevin Smith's film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the episode "My Dirty Secret" of the television show Scrubs and the first episode of the second series of the comedy show Peter Kay's Car Share.

The song has been covered a number of times and versions have been released by British girl group Clea, Lil' Chris, Maria José Samper and Ella Eyre, while it also provided the hook for Gym Class Heroes' fifth single "Clothes Off!!" and was sampled by rapper Mase on his album Welcome Back.

The B-side for the European single "Brilliance" appeared on Stewart's 1984 debut album The Word Is Out as the final track. "Brilliance" was written by Stewart and Julian Lindsay.[4] Lindsay had previously performed piano on the 1983 Culture Club album Colour by Numbers, which also featured Stewart on backing vocals.

The American b-side was "Give Your Love to Me" which was used as the closing track on the album Frantic Romantic. It was written by Jakko J. and Jermaine Stewart.

For the single, various remixes of "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" were released. These remixes were created by Lewis A. Martineé, who would soon go on to success as svengali for the Latin freestyle group, Exposé. A special UK/Australian 12" single was released titled "We Don't Have To..." which featured different artwork.

7" single (American release)

1. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" – 3:57
2. "Give Your Love to Me" – 4:20

7" single (Canadian release)

1. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (short version) – 4:05
2. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (dub mix) – 6:40

7" single (European release)

1. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" – 4:05
2. "Brilliance" – 4:43

7" single (UK and Australian release)

1. "We Don't Have To..." – 4:05
2. "Brilliance" – 4:43

12" single (American and Canadian release)

1. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (dance remix) – 5:45
2. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (dub) – 6:40
3. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (short version) – 4:05

12" single (European release)

1. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (extended) – 5:45
2. "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" – 4:05
3. "Brilliance" – 4:43

12" single (UK release)

1. "We Don't Have To..." (extended version) – 5:45
2. "We Don't Have To..." – 4:05
3. "Brilliance" – 4:43

"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off"
Single by Clea vs. Da Playaz
from the album Trinity
Released	September 2005 (UK) 2006 (Europe)
Genre	Dance-pop disco
Label	Upside Records
Songwriter(s)	Narada Michael Walden Preston Glass
Clea vs. Da Playaz singles chronology
"Stuck in the Middle" (2004) "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (2005) "Lucky Like That" (2006)

The song was covered by Clea and was released as their third single. It was released in the UK in September 2005 and giving them their third Top 40 hit, charting at number 35. The song appears on their UK debut album, Trinity.

"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off"
Single by Lil' Chris
from the album What's It All About
Released	October 2007 (UK)
Genre	Pop
Label	RCA
Songwriter(s)	Narada Michael Walden Preston Glass
Lil' Chris singles chronology
"Figure It Out" (2007) "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (2007)

Lil' Chris covered the song and released it as the only single from his second album, What's It All About?, on 19 October 2007. It peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart. This was his last single before his death in 2015.

• Calum Scott, a competitor in Britain's Got Talent performed the song in the 2017 semi-finals of the show.[19]