After I posted Through The Medium Of Dance at the weekend it struck me that this might also be a good theme for one of these posts. The reaction to that piece has been very favourable, which confirmed the idea for me, and therefore today’s theme is dance. The more alert among you may have noticed that the title says ‘Part One.’ The reason for that is simple: when I did my usual thing of compiling a list of possible tunes to include I realised that I was mining a very rich seam. I stopped when the list reached twenty six songs, but only because I thought I had more than enough! But looking at those which I have had to omit to keep this to manageable proportions I already knew that there would need to be a follow up, and maybe even another if this goes well.

In that weekend post I admitted that I could never be considered a dancer – even Dad dancing is beyond me. So there could really only be one song I could begin this with, isn’t there:

I Can’t Dance was the almost-title track of Genesis’ fourteenth album, We Can’t Dance, released in October 1991 in the US and November in the UK. It took advantage of the longer times allowed by the CD format, coming in at a total length of 71 minutes, but was also a double album on vinyl. It was a phenomenal success, selling more than 12m copies (my purchase was one of those), topping the charts in the UK and several other European countries, and reaching #4 in the US. Six of its twelve tracks became singles: this was the second, in December 1991, and peaked at #7 in both the US and the UK. It seems a good place for me to begin by declaring my complete lack of dancing credentials! A great video, too.

Some of you would probably never forgive me for not including this next one. I almost didn’t, for the simple reason that I have played it before, but that was a long eight months ago – Tuesday Tunes 67 if you missed it – and it is just too good to leave out:

As I said when I played this before, Dancing In The Dark was on Bruce Springsteen’s album Born In The USA, released in June 1984. Needless to say, the album was #1 in both the US and the UK, and in many other countries too. This was the first of seven of the album’s twelve tracks to be released as a single, in May 1984, and it peaked at #2 in the US and #4 in the UK. And as I also said last time, in case you didn’t recognise her the young lass plucked ‘at random’ from the audience is actually Courtney Cox, who later had more than a few friends.

I’m going back a further twenty years or so prior to that for my next tune. This song was written and originally recorded by Bobby Freeman in 1958, giving him a #5 hit in the US. It was also recorded and a hit here in 1962 for Cliff Richard (it’s ok, I’ve washed my hands after typing that). But my favourite version is this one, from February 1965:

This was the opening track on the album The Beach Boys Today! which was released in March 1965, and got to #4 in the US and #6 in the UK. As you can see from the video, this came out as the album’s lead single the previous month, peaking at #12 in the US but it wasn’t a UK hit. That seems strange, and I wonder if it wasn’t a UK single as the album sales suggest that the band were popular here. The video is a little out of sync with the remastered sound version which has been bolted onto it, but I still think it’s a great piece of pop music history.

Another rousing one next, from a band I’ve always liked and have played before, though not this song:

And We Danced is the opening track on The Hooters’ second album, Nervous Night, released in April 1985 and peaking at #12 in both the US and Australia, though it wasn’t a hit in the UK. Like much of their music, the song was written by band members Rob Hyman (keyboards) and Eric Bazilian (lead guitar), who share lead vocal duties. It was a #21 US single, though it performed best in Australia, where it reached #6. I love this video, too: so much energy and great touches of humour. The band played this one in their set at the American part of the Live Aid concert (in Philadelphia) in July 1985.

Something from Ireland for you now, but it isn’t Riverdance this time, or anything like it. A good bit of Irish rock from the best rock band ever to come out of the country – far better in my view than that other lot:

Dancing In The Moonlight was a track on Thin Lizzy’s eight album, Bad Reputation, released in September 1977. It isn’t to be confused with another song of the same title by King Harvest, or the pathetic cover of that by Toploader, which somehow became a hit here. Thin Lizzy’s album reached #4 in the UK and #39 in the US, though Wikipedia doesn’t show any chart positions for any of their albums in Ireland, strangely. This track was released as a single a month or so before the album, and reached #14 in the UK and #4 in Ireland. I was lucky enough to see the band play live in their early days, and they were terrific: the late Phil Lynott had amazing stage presence and the band’s energy was incredible.

My next selection is from one of my favourites. I’ve featured him before and wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to do so again:

Dance Naked was the title track of an album by John Mellencamp released in June 1994. The album peaked at #13 in the US but did best in Australia, where it reached #6. It didn’t make the UK charts – many of his albums have been moderate hits here – his best placing was #25 both for Big Daddy and the first of his three compilation albums – but this one wasn’t. As a single this track made #41 in the US and #7 in Canada. As invitations to dance go, this is pretty original – I wonder if he has ever had any success with the approach? I’ve loved everything he has ever done, right up to his latest album, which came out a couple of months ago and included three duets with Bruce Springsteen, which are all fabulous. The two have often been compared, given their blue collar themes, and it is great to see them together. The video for one of those songs – Wasted Days – is particularly worth a viewing. That album was his twenty third, and I have them all, even the earliest ones going all the way back to 1976 and his ‘Johnny Cougar’ days.

I’ve remarked before that I’m not a big fan of disco music, but there are one or two songs for which I make an exception. This is one such:

I think I’m on very safe ground in saying that this is the first time I’ve featured a song by a band that took its name from the practice of tribadism (look it up – it’ll broaden your mind!). Scissor Sisters were formed in New York in 2001, though their initial breakthrough came here in the UK rather than in their homeland. They are fronted by vocalists Jake Shears and Ana Matronic, who has continued her love of the start given to her career by the UK: she has a regular weekly show on BBC Radio 2, and often covers for other presenters when they are away, as well as other presenting and stage appearances. The band’s eponymous debut album, released in July 2004, was a major success here in the UK, reaching #1 and spawning five top twenty singles. By contrast, it only made it to #102 in the US. I Don’t Feel Like Dancing was the opening track on their second album, Ta-Dah, released in September 2006, and making #1 in the UK, Australia and Ireland and top ten across much of Europe. It improved things for them in the US, too, peaking at #19. As a single this was a monster, topping the charts in the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Sweden, getting to #2 in Ireland and the Netherlands, and to #4 in Italy. In the US? Nada. Strange how that happens sometimes, isn’t it – it was everywhere here for a time! One of its three co-writers was Elton John, who played piano on the record but isn’t in the video.

Normally I like to leave you with a bit of a blast but today I’m going out with something more restrained. This is an audio-only clip, but it is a bona fide pop classic, though:

Save The Last Dance For Me was the title track of an album by The Drifters, released in 1962, but had originally been a single by them which came out in August 1960, reaching #1 in the US, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, and #2 in the UK. Ben E. King is on lead vocal, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more complete song in just over two minutes: pop perfection. The song was written by Doc Roman and Mort Shuman, both known as singers and songwriters in their own right, and has since been recorded many times: you can find it sung by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Michael Bublé, Paul Anka, Cliff Richard (Oh no, not him again!), The Beatles (yes, really, in 1969 as part of the Let It Be sessions, though it only saw the light of day when it was included on the 50th anniversary reissue of the album), Bruce Willis, Daniel O’Donnell (the Irish equivalent of Cliff Richard, and just as bad), Manhattan Transfer, and The Troggs, among many others. None that I’ve heard comes remotely close to the original.

So there you have it: that’s all for my first set of dance songs. As I said, I have a long list of great songs still to share on this theme, and could probably find loads of others if I gave it a little more thought, so there will definitely be a part two. Maybe I’ll do it next week, maybe not – I can be such a tease sometimes 🤣

I hope you have a good week, and above all I hope for an improvement in the situation in Ukraine. I am very aware that this post is a little frivolous given all that those poor people are being subjected to, but I hope it brings a little light relief for you from what you are seeing and hearing every day in news broadcasts and reading about in the paper. Take care 🇺🇦