“Let Me Entertain You” by Robbie Williams

"Let Me Entertain You" was the fifth and last single lifted from Life Thru a Lens, Robbie Williams' 1997 solo debut, and it's where he stopped asking to be liked and started strutting. He wrote it with Guy Chambers after the two of them watched the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus film and decided they wanted something with a Who-style swagger; Williams said the early demo sat on a frantic jungle rhythm and reckoned the result was less heavy metal than camp rock opera.

Chambers arranged it and co-produced with Steve Power, Chris Sharrock pounds the drums, and trumpets from Steve Sidwell and Derek Watkins blare over backing singers Claudia Fontaine, Beverley Skeete and Carroll Thompson. Under the glam stomp, the lyric is one long, winking come-on to somebody who's already spoken for. It reached number 3 in Britain in March 1998.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.