"Don't You (Forget About Me)" is a song by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released as a single in 1985. It was written and composed by the producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff, a guitarist and songwriter from the Nina Hagen band. Forsey and Schiff wrote it for Simple Minds, and offered it to several acts before Simple Minds agreed to record it. The song was inspired by and used in the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. It was also later used in the 2010 film Easy A.
The song became a number-one hit in the US in May 1985 and in Canada in June 1985. It is also the band's only number-one hit on the US Top Rock Tracks chart, staying atop that chart for three weeks. While only reaching number seven in the UK, it stayed on the charts from 1985 to 1987, one of the longest timespans for any single in the history of the chart
Looking back at the song’s success Kerr acknowledges that “[p]rior to the release of ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me),’ Simple Minds had achieved a fair amount of critical success. However, there is little point denying that this is the song that kicked the door to ‘the big league’ wide open for us.”
Forsey also states that “Don’t You” was his greatest achievement. In 2018 he said, “It changed my life, and it seemed to me like I’d finally written a really good song. I loved everything about it. The basic groove was based on a song by the ska band Fun Boy Three’s version of ‘Our Lips Are Sealed.’… And then Simple Minds took the demo so much further—it had that great drum fill and Jim Kerr’s ‘Hey, hey, hey!’ vocal. That will probably be on my tombstone when I die.”
Lyrics:
[Refrain]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh, woah
[Verse 1]
Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love's strange, so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby
[Chorus]
Don't you forget about me
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't you forget about me
[Post-Chorus]
Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down
Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down
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[Refrain]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh, whoa
[Verse 2]
Don't you try and pretend
It's my feeling we'll win in the end
I won't harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity and security, ah
Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Goin' to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, baby
[Chorus]
Don't you forget about me
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't you forget about me
[Bridge]
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
When you walk away
Or will you walk away?
Will you walk on by?
Come on, call my name
Will you call my name?
[Outro]
I say, la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
When you walk on by
And you call my name
When you walk on by
