Pop-rock singer/songwriter Nik Kershaw has had a long-running career, and he made his mark early with five Top-10 and two Top-20 hits in the UK from his first two albums, Human Racing and The Riddle, both of which went Top 10 there. He combined elements of synth-pop, new wave, and rock into his own distinct mix. Originally unemployed and writing and demoing in a rented farm cottage in Essex, England, Kershaw found a manager named Mickey Modern who landed him a deal with MCA Records.
There is one Kershaw song that, above all the others, has endured quite strongly and was even a Top-50 hit in America: “Wouldn’t It Be Good.” That song appeared on his debut album Human Racing in 1984.
World Domination
“’Wouldn’t It Be Good’ was written in the knowledge I had a record contract, things were starting to happen and I was heading for world domination,” Kershaw told The Guardian in 2022. “Why was it so melancholic? You’d have to ask my analyst. I had so much confidence, which hadn’t been beaten out of me yet. I spent time on the lyrics but didn’t question where they came from. It’s about envy from two people’s perspectives.”
Wouldn’t it be good to be in your shoes
Even if it was for just one day?
Wouldn’t it be good if we could wish ourselves away?
Wouldn’t it be good to be on your side?
The grass is always greener over there
Wouldn’t it be good if we could live without a care?
“The song came together in the studio,” Kershaw told The Guardian. “I knew I wanted it to sound aggressive but the distorted guitar chords caused a lot of clashes—it wasn’t a very pleasant sound. I’d been listening to Queen for years—Brian May had been using guitars like that but not as a complete bed to a song or chorus, which gave it a unique quality.”
A lot of Kershaw’s music is synth- and guitar-based, whereas this track and two or three others on those first two albums were more rock guitar-driven. “Wouldn’t It Be Good” is a slower track with churning guitar chords that immediately make an impression on the listener. It also layers the main chorus melody on keyboards to bring in a pop sheen.
The late producer Peter Collins said Kershaw was the first singer/songwriter he had ever produced. Collins later became best known for his work with Rush and Queensrÿche. Given his more commercial proclivities, the producer tried to give Kershaw’s music a little sonic boost to be more radio-friendly.
A Complex Production
“The original title was ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’,” Collins told The Guardian. “’Nice’ felt meaningless to me, and I persuaded Nik to change it. We decided to use real rather than programmed drums, which proved a major breakthrough. The engineer, Julian Mendelsohn, also recommended doubling the guitar solo with horns. Jerry Hey, who worked with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, recorded them in Los Angeles. It was a complex production with an unusual structure, which was a major part of its appeal. I remember trying to get Nik to put it into a more conventional pop format and he wouldn’t, which I totally accepted. I had no doubt it was going to be a monster. Nik was so committed and dynamic in his performance. The way he delivered the main lyric was unique for the time.”
Collins might have thought that Kershaw was not as commercially driven, but the combination of their efforts was a track rich with a big hook, emotional resonance, and solid production without compromising the singer/songwriter’s vision for the tune.
Storm Thorgerson’s video tapped into the song’s angst. It featured Kershaw as an alien on Earth who shields his unusual body beneath a bright white suit. Back in his apartment, he lets go of an object that masks what his body does—it features imagery of people whose personalities he has assumed during his time on Earth. But when his own race signals he can come home, the alien leaves his temporary residence to race to a giant deep space antenna. (In real life, it’s the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory in Cambridge, England.) Along the way, he trips in the street and is surrounded by curious onlookers who do not understand who or what he is. Soon after, he is teleported home.
While Kershaw confessed he does not know if his lyrics fit in with aliens, he loved the clip and knew it would get airplay. One can see how the video plays with the song’s themes—an alien has come to Earth to study but not immerse himself with the populace, and when he leaves, curious onlookers are intrigued by him because he is so different from them. The idea of people wanting to be free of themselves, even for a short time, and experience being someone different still resonates. In the video, it seems like the longing is better than the reality.
There is an intimacy to the song and its lyrics that resonated with many people, and Kershaw performed it before 72,000 people in Wembley Stadium during Live Aid on July 13, 1985. “Wouldn’t It Be Good” got the crowd going. It was a special and nerve-wracking experience for the performer.
“I remember standing in the quadrangle feeling really nervous and getting calmed down by having a chat with Sting, which was pretty surreal in itself,” Kershaw told Classic Pop in 2022. “I also recall standing at the side of the stage being absolutely terrified. The only bit about the actual gig that I remember was forgetting the words to ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’ and then having to improvise quickly. That was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, and then coming off and just the relief of having got away with it. Then, of course, I’m sitting there watching Queen, knowing at the time that there’s something rather special happening.” (To be fair, he only forgot some of the words near the end of the second verse, so he repeated some from the first.)
His Biggest Song
“Wouldn’t It Be Good” is Kershaw’s biggest song (with “The Riddle” a close second), hitting No. 4 in the UK, No. 10 in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, and Canada, and No. 46 in the U.S. It has 95 million Spotify plays and 1.5 million YouTube views. The album Human Racing went to No. 5 in the UK and No. 70 in America.
When asked by Vevivos.com in 2015 which song is his favorite to perform, Kershaw actually said “Wouldn’t It Be Good.”
“I have chopped and changed the others over the years but now they are pretty much back where they were,” Kershaw explained. “They have all gone through various metamorphoses, but ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’ hasn’t. It just stayed as it was and I have never felt the need to tamper with it. As a guitar player it is also so much fun bashing out those first few chords.”
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Photo by Rogers/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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