About
Swings Both Ways is the title track of Swings Both Ways and features a duet with singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Written by Robbie Williams, Guy Chambers and Wainwright, it was the first song Williams and Chambers wrote together after reuniting in early 2013. The collaboration combines classic swing instrumentation with playful, risqué humour, reflecting both artists’ flair for theatricality and wordplay.
The song was conceived after a dinner between Williams, Chambers and Wainwright at the Château Marmont in Los Angeles. The next day, they wrote Swings Both Ways in a single afternoon, with Williams providing the title and melody for the pre-chorus, while Wainwright and Chambers developed the verse and arrangement. “He’s so smart and so quick it’s kind of scary,” Williams said of Wainwright. “You have to keep up.” Wainwright later joked that working with Williams was “a dream come true” and described him as “the real deal — a total mensch.”
Lyrically, Swings Both Ways plays on double meanings and innuendo, embracing the camp wit and cabaret spirit that define the album. Its tongue-in-cheek references to sexuality, fame and self-image are underpinned by orchestral grandeur, making it both comic and sophisticated. Lines such as “If you want to get ahead in Tinseltown” and “Up the Khyber Pass” exemplify its blend of cheeky humour and swing-era elegance.
“My two favourite songs on the album are Swings Both Ways and No One Likes a Fat Pop Star. I love the tongue-firmly-in-cheekness of this one. It’s old-fashioned provocative, like those naughty postcards from British seaside towns.”Robbie Williams
Williams and Wainwright performed the song together at the London Palladium in 2013, emerging from glittering pink closets in matching suits for a show-stopping rendition that highlighted its theatrical camp. Critics praised its humour and charm, noting that it perfectly captured the mischievous energy that defines Williams’s swing persona. Equal parts parody and homage, Swings Both Ways epitomises the album’s blend of showmanship, irony and vintage style.
Lyrics
You'll get covered in dog doo
I'm gonna get off this sea saw
Say goodbye to your mama
Oh yea
Let's get high on some Pop Rock
Pop Rock and Coke
I'll blow your sock off
teach how to laugh at daddy's dirty jokes
Don't hedge your bets, double down
if you want to get ahead in Tinsel Town
Turn that smile upside down
Happy people don't have sex
Now Robbie, everybody swings both ways
From the butchest, the bandits, the fairest
the faggots and singers with everything they need
Everybody swings both ways
Face it Robbie, you're a little bit gay
Shall we dance
I'm getting hot on the pavement
Can you find me some grass
I have a certain arrangement
Up the Khyber Pass
Oh ya, let's get high with some fruit cake
Fruit cake and tea
And after I've done her
Well you can do me
Oh boy
Don't hedge your bets, double down
if you want to get ahead in Tinsel Town
Just follow me you enormous clown
Clever people don't have sex
Now Rufus, everybody swings both ways
The bully, the bigot, the giant
the midget and singers with everything they need
Everybody swings both ways
Face it Rufus, you're a tad gay
Oh yea
Face it Robbie
Uh huh
You're a little bit gay
Credits
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Vocalist
Robbie Williams -
Songwriter
Robbie Williams, Guy Chambers, Rufus Wainwright