This song, recorded by Whitney Houston and released in 1987, was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, of the band Boy Meets Girl, who had previously written the number-one Whitney Houston hit How Will I Know.

According to Ms. Rubicam …

I pictured somebody single wishing that they could find that special person for themselves. It wasn’t, ‘I wanna go down the disco and dance,’ really. It was, ‘I wanna do that dance of life with somebody.’ That was the thought behind the song. So we sent our demo version off to Clive Davis and he loved it.

But, the song did not impress the producer Narada Michael Walden, who had produced How Will I Know. He took a little more persuading with regard to the song’s potential, and at first was not too keen on having Houston record it, as he felt it was too “country and western sounding.” He said of it …

[It] reminded me of a rodeo song with Olivia Newton-John singing. I love Olivia Newton-John, but for Whitney Houston it didn’t seem right. I felt the song needed a much more funkier feel. I slept, dreaming about it, woke up in the morning thinking about it, wondering what am I gonna do with this dance song. So, we just jumped in the water and lo and behold a magic record was born, Houston just knocked it out and then I knew we had a good record.

An interesting aside … George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam met when they both performed at the wedding of Seattle socialite Susan Boeing (yes, of the infamous aircraft Boeing family) and began playing clubs in the Northwest US. In 1985, they released an album as Boy Meets Girl and wrote Houston’s hit How Will I Know. A year after this was released, they had a hit with Waiting For A Star To Fall.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Whitney Houston

Clock strikes upon the hour
And the sun begins to fade
Still enough time to figure out
How to chase my blues away
I’ve done alright up to now
It’s the light of day that shows me how
And when the night falls, loneliness calls

Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me

I’ve been in love and lost my senses
Spinning through the town
Sooner or later, the fever ends
And I wind up feeling down
I need a man who’ll take a chance
On a love that burns hot enough to last
So when the night falls
My lonely heart calls

Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me

Somebody oo Somebody oo
Somebody who loves me yeah
Somebody oo Somebody oo
To hold me in his arms oh
I need a man who’ll take a chance
On a love that burns hot enough to last
So when the night falls
My lonely heart calls

Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me

Don’tcha wanna dance with me baby
Dontcha wanna dance with me boy
Hey Don’tcha wanna dance with me baby
With somebody who loves me

Don’tcha wanna dance say you wanna dance
Don’tcha wanna dance
Don’tcha wanna dance say you wanna dance
Don’tcha wanna dance
Don’tcha wanna dance say you wanna dance
With somebody who loves me
Dance

Songwriters: George Robert Merrill / Shannon Rubicam
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group