‘Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime’: the big misinterpretation about the best one-hit wonder of the 1980s
A sense of spiritual philosophy in the 1980s was practically non-existent. Or, at the very least, the spirits were more focused on the mantras of partying and fashion than they ever were about religion.
It’s a flippant comment to make – there’s no denying that fact – but more and more as time goes by, it becomes clear that this was one of the most hedonistic and culturally powerful decades that ever existed in history. Given the throngs of stars living decadent lifestyles seen all around the zeitgeist, it was no wonder that people’s minds somewhat went down the gutter.
After all, The Korgis really only wanted to send a very innocent message. They thought they were doing just that when they released their 1980 single ‘Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime’, but amid a society with seemingly very corroded ideals, the truth of the matter didn’t particularly seem to make it through.
In fairness, there wasn’t really a lot of lyrical profundity for people to get their ideas from. The refrain “Change your heart, look around you/ Change your heart, it will astound you/ I need your lovin’ like the sunshine,” repeats throughout the song, while the title phrase of “Everybody’s got to learn sometime” constitutes the only part of the chorus.
It has to be said: it’s quite easy to see why the song could be construed as about sex. Yet in the same vein as so many seemingly smutty sentiments that have come before, the frontman of The Korgis, James Warren, was adamant about pleading the fifth. According to him, it was only about peace and love, and absolutely nothing else.
Later, the songwriter attempted to justify himself by saying: “At that time I was into new wave philosophies about working on yourself, meditation and that sort of stuff. The whole lyric comes out of that. It wasn’t a romantic song at all.” It’s all very 2026, when you think about it – self-care and protecting your peace are greater buzzwords now than they’ve ever been.
“For me, it was all about an individual changing and being a different sort of person – trying to find out the root of your inner confusion, dealing with it and becoming a better person,” Warren whimsily mused. “So it was literally a philosophical lyric.” If it was to be considered as that, it could probably also be found in a textbook about philosophy for dummies.
But nevertheless, for one reason or another, whether it was for sex or meditation, the music-consuming masses of 1980 seemed to take ‘Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime’ and its pulsing synth sound to their hearts, subsequently shooting it to number five in the UK charts and number 18 in the Billboard Hot 100.
Sadly, the same heroic legacy could not be said for The Korgis themselves, who blazed bright with the song but ultimately squandered the rest of their momentum, thus becoming one of the treasured one-hit wonders of the era. At the end of the day, there was only so much new wave meditation one could manifest in order to make you a star.
