"Somebody's Watching Me" became a major commercial success internationally, topping the charts in Belgium, France, and Spain, and reaching the Top 5 in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The song reached No. 6 in the United Kingdom, Rockwell's only Top 40 hit there.
Background and composition
Rockwell is a son of Motown CEO Berry Gordy. At the time of the recording, Rockwell was estranged from his father and living with Ray Singleton, his father's ex-wife and the mother of his older half-brother, Kerry Gordy. Singleton served as executive producer on the project and would occasionally play some demo tracks to Berry. The elder Gordy was less than enthusiastic about Rockwell's music until he heard the single with a familiar voice featuring prominently on background vocals. "Somebody's Watching Me" was written in the key of C-sharp minor in time with a tempo of 124 beats per minute. The vocals span from C#4 to C#5. Produced by Curtis Anthony Nolen, the song featured backing vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson, with Alan Murray on percussion.
Music video
The Frances Delia-directed music video to "Somebody's Watching Me" underscores the song's paranoid tone with a haunted house-inspired theme, including imagery of floating heads, ravens, graveyards, and shower scenes referencing Psycho.
Plot
The video opens with Rockwell coming home to discover that a newspaper in Chinese has been delivered to his doorstep. As he greets his pet dog and takes a quick shower, he begins to have strange visions of himself being pursued around his house by assorted ghoulish apparitions, of the looming figure of a cadaverous-looking man, and of finding a tombstone engraved with his own name. His shower is interrupted when he hears something outside and goes out on his balcony to investigate. He is shocked to see the man from his visions standing at his gate, but as he struggles to get a better look in spite of the sun in his face he is greatly relieved to see that he is merely a mailman, coming to deliver the correct newspaper. As the mailman walks up the path towards the front porch, however, a brief close-up of his arm reveals that he is, in fact, a zombie. Rockwell emerges onto the porch to receive the paper, which the mailman genially hands over. As the mailman brings his other arm around in an attempt to strike, Rockwell has just enough time to notice that he is not human. Due in part to the popularity of the music video, the song is sometimes used for Halloween celebrations, with cover versions found in various collections of Halloween music.
based his 1992 single "Somebody Dance with Me" on "Somebody's Watching Me" with new lyrics and rap. The DJ BoBo single reached No. 1 in Sweden and Switzerland, and the Top 5 in Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. In 2012, a remix of the hit was made by Remady titled "Somebody Dance With Me " by DJ BoBo featuring Manu-L. Released early in 2013, it charted on the Swiss Hitparade, reaching No. 4. The mix was made on the 20th anniversary of the initial hit by DJ BoBo in November 1992.
In 2006, Dutch dance group Beatfreakz recorded a pseudo-cover of the song which sampled the chorus but omitted the verses. This version was a Top 10 hit in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
