Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Songs about dancing (4): Everybody Dance - Chic



Everybody dance it says on the tin, and on the many occasions when I have heard this song in clubs, parties, weddings that's generally what everybody does. If the lyrics urge 'Everybody dance, do-do-do, Clap your hands, clap your hands' they are hardly necessary - the bass alone is surely enough to generate the required response. The dancefloor as the place where the indignities and humiliations of daily life can be put aside: 'Music never lets you down / Puts a smile on your face / Any time, anyplace / Dancing helps relieve the pain / Soothes your mind, makes you happy again / Listen to those dancing feet / Close your eyes and let go'.

This was originally released in 1977 - it is impossible to overestimate the significance of Chic in this period. Just think for instance how many times Good Times was sampled in early hip hop (e.g. Rappers Delight by the Sugarhill Gang or The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel).

See also Disco was the only time we were equal
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous25 September 2008 at 10:34

    It might just be me, but the vid doesn't seem to be working ..

    One thing I particularly liked about Chic, besides the music of course, was the fact that the guys in the band all dressed in really sharp business suits. I wasn't really a suit kinda person then, and I'm still not, but I really liked their style.

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  2. Rachel27 September 2008 at 14:32

    I love this and your earlier Disco is the only time we were equal post. I had to lift them for Pop Feminist (credited, of course).

    Thanks for your consistent high quality postings and analyzes.

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  3. .27 September 2008 at 14:42

    Thanks PF, by the way did you see Birdseed's Tunedown's appreciation of your counter-culture/counter-public post?

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