Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Do Ya Do Ya Do Ya Do Ya Wanna Dance?

I don't need to hug or hold you tight
I just wanna dance with you all night
In this world there's nothing I would rather do
'Cause I'm happy just to dance with you
- The Beatles

Dance with me, I want to be your partner
Can't you see the music is just starting...
- Orleans

Dancin' in the moonlight
Everybody's feelin' warm and right
It's such a fine and natural sight
Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight
- King Harvest

She stares, and she watches. They’re more than just glancin’.
I swear those beotches are hot for my dancin'.
- local rap “artist” Mini K


I’m not a bad dancer. Some might say that I can really “slice a carpet".

I just love it when I’m on a dance floor and I spy a couple that have obviously spent some hard-earned cash on dance lessons from Arthur Murray or some other dance studio. You can almost see their mouths move as they count out the steps. They’re usually so stiff and expressionless; looking like a couple of androids programmed to dance by aliens from the planet Xargak in order to "blend in". (Hey, now I have a subject for the letter X)

Then there are the others who look like they’ve never heard a music beat let alone danced to one before. But at least they seem like they’re having fun most of the time.

Wah, wah, a-watusi...
-The Orlons

Ah the ‘60s. A time of innocence. A time of great music. A time of goofy dances. Remember these?:

The twist, the frug (that one sounds downright rude), the swim, the mashed potato, the pony, the hitchhike, the monkey, the jerk, the boogaloo, the skate, the philly.

The last three were mentioned in an Isley Brothers song famously covered in 1968 by the Human Beinz. This is going to be tough, but let’s see if I can remember the first few lines from that song:

No no no no no no no no no
No no no no no no no no
No no no no no no no no
No no no no no

Indeed. I may have left out a “no” or two, but that’s pretty well it. The song is about a guy who can dance the pants off of anyone else. I’m surprised he didn’t brag about his skills as a lyricist.

Mashed Potato, Ya a weem o wep a weem o wep,
Mashed Potato, ya, ya, ya, ya,
It's the latest, aw baby,
It's the greatest, come on honey,
Ya, ya ya, ya,
- Dee Dee Sharp

Wait a minute! Weren’t those weem o weps taken from The Lion Sleeps Tonight?

I don’t think you’re going to find any deep messages within the words of a dance song.

Keep on dancin' and a-prancin' (ah)
Keep on dancin' and a-prancin' (ah)
Keep on dancin' and a-prancin' (ah)
- The Gentrys

But I do like songs about dancing. So I’ll put one on now and shake my booty on my way to my next blog entry.

I think I'll do the Xargakian shuffle.

12 comments:

  1. Born a little too late to have appreciated 50s/60s music in its natural habitat, I do so love it now! While I haven't had any lessons, apart from how not to step on my dad's toes, I love cutting up the rug when a great tune plays. My favourite "dance" lyrics - do you do you do you do you wanna dance?

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    1. Learning how not to step on toes is perhaps the most important of all dance lessons.

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  2. My husband and I, along with some friends, all took dancing lessons a couple of years ago. It involved some ballroom, some salsa, and I believe we even did the jitterbug (I think that is what it was called!). My husband and I, along with a few other couples, spent most of the time arguing about which of us was getting the steps wrong. Bottom line - if you're in the mood for a good row with your wife I highly recommend dance lessons!

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    1. LOL! I've also been known to do the jitterbug after downing a bitter jug.

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  3. Oh, what a fun post! Yes, I remember all those dances, and all those songs. When I was quite young, (a zygote, actually) I won a jitterbug contest. Not because I'm all that good a dancer, because I'm not, but my dance partner was awesome. He was such a strong lead, ANYONE could have followed him. But it sure was fun!

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    1. A jitterbug champ? I'm impressed. Way to go Susan.

      Wasn't the zygote another dance craze from the '60s?

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  4. Such a fun post! I love dance songs :)

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  5. I allways like "Land of a 1,000 Dances". My favorite version was by the J. Giles Band.

    I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.
    Looking forward to seeing what you do all month!

    Tim
    The Other Side
    The Freedom of Nonbelief

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    1. Thanks Tim. Learning how to do 1,000 dances — now that would be a real challenge. I like that song too. Also, in keeping with most dance songs, it has great lyrics, "Na na-na-na-na na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na na-na-na-na..."

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