Let's Dance

I was trying to find a song, preferably from the 80s and 90s, that had the refrain of "dance" or "dancing" in it.  turns out there are lots of them, but not all in my wheelhouse.  I'm not a fan of boy bands.  Not a fan of country songs about dance.  Too sentimental for such an energetic exercise.  So it has to be rock, rockabilly, or New Age Rock.  

So we start with Van Halen's "Let's Dance the Night Away," 1979.

David Bowie's "Let's Dance," 1983.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Mary Jane's Last Dance," 1993, isn't bad.  Lyrics don't really capture the free expression of dance.  I guess it's just memorable from my younger days of the 80s and 90s.

Don Henley's "All She Wants to Do Is Dance," 1984, is pretty good.

Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music," 1967, is decent.  Maybe a little too funky for me.    

Madness's "One Step Beyond," 1979, may not have the word "dance" in it, but "One Step Beyond" is a reference to a dance of sorts.  And to be honest, I can't imagine dancing to too many other songs.  

Definitely not dance songs, but songs I grew up with in the 80s, while working nights at UPS in Baldwin Park, 1980-1983.  Used to hear and love the song, "Pulling Mussels from a Shell," 1980, by Squeeze. 

And Squeeze's 1981 tune, "Tempted."   

Ah, yes, Kim Carnes, 1981, "Bette Davis Eyes."   

And, of course, the Psychedelic Furs', 1982, "Love My Way."  Odd that now, today, this song actually hurts me.  So sad, so stuck in loneliness and helplessness.  Glad those years are over.  I forgot that they wrote and sang the song for the 1981 movie, "Pretty in Pink." 

And then, of course, there was The Flock of Seagulls that everybody loved.  The 1980s were a heady time music-wise.  But perhaps the best of that era was Duran Duran with songs like "Hungry Like a Wolf," 1982.  Below is Duran Duran's "Rio," 1982.

What is it with the British that they think they can dress up with unbuttoned shirts, flip tables, and run through streets as if they own the place?  

But my favorite of theirs is "Ordinary World," 1992.

The Jam, "Town Called Malice," 1982.

Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives," 1977.  

Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," 1981.  The British make some creepy music videos.  I think that's done on purpose because those ruling over the music industry in Britain are a bit strange to the point that makes Benny Hill look like a normal working guy.

And who didn't love Blondie's Debbie Harry singing "Heart of Glass," 1979?  I'd read once that she helped nurse back to health the lead guitarist.  Kind of a decent woman.

The Cars, "Drive," 1984.  With Benjamin Orr (1947-2000) singing lead.  And "Just What I Needed," 1978.

Ric Ocasek (1944-2019) sings lead on this one, "Shake It Up," 1981.

I am amazed that I can remember any of this.  But here is Bananarama's 1983 single hit, "Cruel Summer."  

The Bangles were another favorite, 

The Clash's "Charlie Don't Surf," 1980, is named after a line in the 1979 antiwar, Vietnam war movie, Apocalypse Now.  

"London Calling," 1979.  "Rock the Casbah," 1982.

Cyndi Lauper, "Time After Time," 1982.