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Everybody Dance now...

Bryan Burnett | 20:01 UK time, Monday, 17 October 2011

As someone who has awkwardly thrown himself around a dance floor to most things I will find Tuesday's show a bit of a golden opportunity. The theme is 'songs that are impossible to dance to' and for me that's just about everything.

I have the style of Mr Bean,the gracefulness of a rugby forward and I am as self conscious as a grumpy and confused teenager. You name me a tune and I will have messed up my moves trying to get to grips with it. I can't even line-dance which should give you an idea of my hopelessness.

What are the tunes that fox you on the dancefloor? Is it exotic rhythms, odd backbeats or just those tracks that stop dead for an awkward interlude. Get in touch and share all....

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    TUESDAY



    Ian Anderson claims that this song is impossible to dance to, unless you have three legs. It's in 5/4 time, (whatever that means), same as Brubeck's Take Five.


    Living in the Past - Jethro Tull


    I see the goalposts have been moved. Very wise.

  • Comment number 2.

    TUESDAY


    This would be good for a giggle...

    Don't Leave Your Records in the Sun - John Hartford


    :o)

  • Comment number 3.

    Any of the pink floyd songs

    DC in Turkey

  • Comment number 4.

    #3

    DC,

    That's no' the songs, son. It's jist you.


    >8-D

  • Comment number 5.

    Caption


    "Tonight, we'll be dancing to 'Me and My Shadow Ö÷²¥´óÐã Secretary'"

  • Comment number 6.

    For a song that (when it's not talking about smelly cheese) is pretty much all about dancing, this isn't too easy a song to dance to...

    'Dance This Mess Around' - B52s

  • Comment number 7.

    Caption



    "IN - OUT - IN - OUT - SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT!"

  • Comment number 8.

    Caption


    "Izzat a hanky in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"

    "It's a hanky."

  • Comment number 9.

    Caption


    "My dicky is too tight!"

    "Just keep smiling."

  • Comment number 10.

    'Tear Da Roof Off' ~~ Busta Rhymes

    ... unless you've got two left feet ...

  • Comment number 11.

    I went to school with a girl called Sheila McCurragh who could dance to Living In The Past.But she was the only one - though it was a kind of hippy way of moving which isn't really dancing - more a kind of alternative movement/free expression thing. I once accidentally attended a 'class' on this but it was just a whole load of arty farty types rolling about on the floor.Bonkers. They hadn't even taken anything.

    That was the thing, then - they would play stuff because it was cool hip and trendy whether it was danceable or not.

    Generally, the guys would stand at the bar drinking and attempting to look intreguing in a monosyllabic kind of way. The girls would stay in the toilet for ages before eventually emerging en masse and dance round their handbags.

    Once a sufficient volume of booze had been consumed, the blokes would eventually wander on and make quite poor attempts at dancing, no better than Bryan now, I expect - though I thought the street dance wasn't that bad.

    One that used to do my nut in was Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream (too slow) which was the coolest hippest track of the decade and was therefore presumed to be ordained to dance to - but it just doesn't work.

    I Hear You Knockin - Dave Edmunds wasn't much better.

    Hot Love - T Rex suffered form the same thing, odd pace.

    Incredibly, the local DJ of these parts used to close his set with 'And You and I' by Yes. Nobody had clue what to do except be amazed by Rick Wakeman's synth solo in the middle. This is worth hearing in its own right.

    And You And I - Yes (just play the synth bit - it runs from 3:47 - 5:47 - two mins out of ten) and always inspired an outbreak of winshin' as it was then called - which let's face it, is why we were all there. It can,therefore, qualify as a disco classic, albeit dancing was completely out of the question.

    Please play this Bryan, you will be amazed at the number of people who can relate to it.

    This theme is one of the best ways of blowing a hole in the idea that everything was better in the past. As anyone who has witnessed Leftfield or the Chemical Brothers live will know, modern dance music is fantatstic.

    Eventually, Sunshine Of Your Love got remixed: This is music to dance to!

    Sunshine Of YOur Love - Cream v The Hoxtons

    The Verve label also had the good sense to have many of its classic recordings remixed for 'dance' and they truly are great fun.

    It would be interesting to play a bit of the original and cut to The Hoxton's version, which gives an aural exposition of how things have changed - for the better!

    regardez youse

    henri

    PS If Cream vs The Hoxtons isn't in the library, I'll pay for the download - it's that good.

  • Comment number 12.

    'Lipstick Vogue' ~~ Elvis Costello & The Attractions



    ... you're welcome to try ...

  • Comment number 13.

    I cannot dance. End of.

    Strikes me that unless you are very inventive dancing to this great tune woulod be difficult:

    Talking Heads - Once In A Life Time

  • Comment number 14.

    ps I have set up the Boss Workout as a playlist on my phone, I will report back. In the meantime I am impressed at being able to perform this minor miracle!

  • Comment number 15.

    - Bon Iver recommended!

    Pinkle Ponkle - Gong

    Stone Monkey - Bert Jansch

    Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Leo Kottke

    Une Annèe Sans Lumière - Arcade Fire

    Ghost Woman Blues - The Low Anthem

    The Mad Hatter's Song - The Incredible String Band

    these are all brilliant tunes for not dancing to

  • Comment number 16.

    In this world - Moby
    Spanish stroll - Mink de Ville
    Hospital food - David Gray
    Human - the Killers
    If you see her say hello - Dylan
    Desire - Ryan Adams
    Trouble - Ray LaMontagne

    Joe
    Linlithgow

  • Comment number 17.

    #3

    Ah, but the Floyd have a compilation album explicitly titled as an album of Dance Songs.

    #1
    On a similar note:
    * Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
    which has a sneakily odd number of beats in the bar. Just pay attention to the way the main melody/instrumental bit aligns with the bass drum...
    * Stranglers - Golden Brown
    Another slightly temporally *odd* track

    Other toughies:
    * They Might Be Giants - A Shoehorn with Teeth
    * Fairport Convention - Meet on the Ledge
    * Neil Young - Harvest Moon
    * The Imperial March from Star Wars
    and - ironically -
    * The Divine Comedy - At the Indie Disco

  • Comment number 18.

    You can dance to anything, the question is can you dance well to it?

    Was thinking that Hazel O'Connor and Will you is hard to dance to, unless you are drunkenly dangled around someone of the opposite gender.

    Paul (working away in China)

  • Comment number 19.

    Klactoveesedstein - Blue Rondo A La Turk

  • Comment number 20.

    Caption comp:

    "Who is your dresser Anne, Dear?"... "Why it's Stevie Wonder, don't you know"!

    Presumably this theme is my chance for a 'folk fest'.......

    Fire and Rain: James Taylor
    A Case of You: Joni Mitchell
    I Drink: Mary Gauthier
    Summerfield Avenue: Chris Wood
    The Auld Triangle: The Pogues

  • Comment number 21.

    songs you can't to

    - Led Zep

    Electricity - Captain Beefheart

    Ice-cream Cakes - Jeff Beck

    Joy of a Toy - Soft Machine

    Tightrope - The Unwinding Hours

    Scissors - The Twilight Sad

    The First Big Weekend - Arab Strap

  • Comment number 22.

    Theme suggestion: ~

    Basic music concepts that the GIO team actually understand

  • Comment number 23.

    Memorabilia by Soft Cell get it on plus as fate would have it on Sunday 'the big day' the hotel's resident band fronted by a Roxette lookie likie with fantastic pins an' scarlet Jimmy Choos had us up dancing to Video Killed The Radio Star - Buggles!

  • Comment number 24.

    Am I misunderstanding the theme: I thought it was tunes that were played in dance situations that didn't really work?

    If it's just things that you can't dance to (because that's not what they are for) I'll go back to the begining.... let's see, Nitin Sawhney... the Leisure Society...TV On The Radio...:-))

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 25.

    'I Can't Dance' .... Genesis

    or can they/you?

  • Comment number 26.

    TUESDAY


    One for our beloved presenter. Only a fool would attempt to dance to this...

    Dancin' Fool - Frank Zappa

  • Comment number 27.

    Anybody new covered?...

    Weedy conveyor band…

    Aw! Everybody conned…

  • Comment number 28.

    Lionel Ritchie - Dancin On The Ceiling

    will not work unless you have those incredible suctio boots like Wallace and Gromit

  • Comment number 29.

    "Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio"

    Joy Division - Transmission

    Perfect tea time record for a wee jig round the kitchen ☺

  • Comment number 30.

    Very un-dance friendly:

    Devo - Jocko Homo

  • Comment number 31.

    #28

  • Comment number 32.

    Every Day Hurts - Sad Cafe
    Angie Baby - Helen Reddy

  • Comment number 33.

    I remember being at a disco, think it might have been a student do but can hardly remember. What I do remember was this was put on and everybody just kinda stood about looking at each other then started trying to copy anyone else who made any kind of move.

    Nightclubbing (Me and My Girl) - David Essex

    Al.

  • Comment number 34.

    Another I'm sure my two left feet struggled with was

    I Got You / Split Enz

    Al.

  • Comment number 35.

    I will definitely not be dancing as I'm making spinach & ricotta cannelloni tonight but I may be listening to:

    Magazine - Shot By Both Sides

  • Comment number 36.

    #11

    I should add that I think the additional feature of Rick Wakeman's synth solo on 'And You And I' is that is the perfect accompaniment for being drunk, which added to the sensation that it was appropriate for these occasions since generally people were much more interested in getting drunk than they were in dancing.

    regardez - youse

    henri

  • Comment number 37.

    #28
    Even then it would be pretty tough unless the dancing didn't include any fancy footwork, which for most of us would probably be the case.
    "Dad dancing", of course, is a necessary art as it aids evolution. Apprently it exists to repel the advances / interest of the younger female.

  • Comment number 38.

    @ ya 29. 1st class shout as usual Billy.

    @ ya 37. I'm comfortable with my Dad dancing & so are the ladies I dance with... or so I believe >8-0

  • Comment number 39.

    #29

    "After six hours of school I've had enough for the day
    I hit the radio dial and turn it up all the way
    I gotta dance (dance dance dance)..."

    This is a pretty dull theme, isn't it?

  • Comment number 40.

    BTW @ 24. Don't be hard on yourself, you were 100% accurate @ 13 & Best Of The Week. Guess we wuz topped by Gold ;-)

  • Comment number 41.

    #37




    See whit happens when ye postulate theories aboot theories?



    ;o)

  • Comment number 42.

    Try dancin to the ski Sunday theme tune

    DC stuffed in turkey

  • Comment number 43.

    Ìý
    On the piste?

  • Comment number 44.

    Caption

    Widdi turns up at the Westminster Christmas Party with her boyfriend: the cardboard cutout from Piccadilly Burtons

  • Comment number 45.

    43

    Moi?

  • Comment number 46.

    #45

    Naw. Yir skiin' doo.


    ;o)

  • Comment number 47.

    99 Red Balloons?

Ìý

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