“This City Never Sleeps” – (Eurythmics)
Walls so thin I can almost hear them breathing
And if I listen in I hear my own heart beating
Solitude is always hard to fight, and the anonymous embrace of a big metropolis often broaden this uneasy feeling, making people vanish into their own existences, without even realize the presence of others: “You know there’s so many people living in this house and I don’t even know their names”.
But maybe it’s just an illusion… echoed by the noises of underground trains.
Inspired by Annie’s tough times living alone in a bedsit, “This City Never Sleeps” is the last track on “Sweet Dreams”, the groundbreaking LP released by Eurythmics in early 1983. (Michele Aversa)
The song was used in the soundtrack to the Mickey Rourke and Kim Bassinger film 9 1/2 Weeks An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play.
Here’s a video of the song being performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1983