Winter Dance Party 2012

Fuck You Cee Lo Green
You Can't Hurry Love Diana Ross and the Supremes
Hey Ya! Outkast
My Evil Twin They Might Be Giants
Come and Get Your Love Redbone
Dust My Broom Elmore James
Yakety Yak The Coasters
All the Single Ladies Beyoncé

Telephone Lady Gaga with Beyoncé

Valerie Amy Winehouse
Groove Is In The Heart Deee-Lite
I Ain't Got A Home Clarence "Frogman" Henry

1960s Summer Dance Party 2011.

You Can't Hurry Love Diana Ross & the Supremes
Stupid Girl Garbage
Patricia Pérez Prado
This Old Heart of Mine Tammi Terrell
Just One Look Doris Troy
I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) The Four Tops
Time Is Tight Booker T. & the MGs
Picture Book Fresh Young Fellows
My Baby Just Cares For Me Nina Simone
Shop Around Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Too Experienced The Bodysnatchers
Don't Bring Me Down Electric Light Orchestra

Bonus track: 54-46 Was My Number Toots & the Maytals

This season's dance party is for really old folks. It starts with the Supremes and then the DJ tries to sneak in a song less than twenty years old. Some unhappy customer complains about the hippie disco stuff, so the DJ goes even older school with the great Pérez Prado.

The average age of these songs is collecting Social Security, but I still love them all. Maybe because I'm an old coot myself.

Give it to me... one time. (HUH!)

Give it to me... two times. (HUH!HUH!)

Give it to me... three times! (HUH!HUH!HUH!)

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme gimme...

C'mon, put your replacement hip to good use. Get up and dance!

Spring Dance Party Random 12

If tomorrow is the end and I have to get my affairs in order, I realized that I hadn't posted a Spring Dance Party yet, so here it is.

Soul Finger The Bar-Kays
Poker Face Lady GaGa
The Sweet Escape ft. Akon Gwen Stefani
Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Clash
54-46 Was My Number Toots & the Maytals
Police and Thieves Junior Murvin
Subliminal They Might Be Giants
007 (Shanty Town) Desmond Dekker
Hey Ya! Outkast
Secret Agent Man Johnny Rivers
Would I Lie To You? Eurythmics
Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile) Van Morrison

We start with the big horns, we end with the big horns, we make several stops in Funky Kingston and a few trips to the 21st Century, just to keep the young people on the floor.

As just in case tomorrow isn't the End of the World, and that's how the smart money is betting, here's to all my friends and readers who have that special someone that makes them sing along with Van Morrison when he says,

I'm in Heaven
I'm in Heaven
I'm in Heaven
When you smile.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Winter Dance Party Random 12+1 (sort of)

My Baby Just Cares For Me Nina Simone
Red Red Wine UB40
Strange Overtones David Byrne and Brian Eno
Patricia Perez Prado
Shop Around Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
I Got My Mind Set On You George Harrison
Jackie Wilson (I'm In Heaven When You Smile) Van Morrison
Ranking Full Stop The (English) Beat
This Old Heart of Mine Terri Terrell
Waterloo ABBA
Would I Lie to You? Eurythmics
Bad Romance Lady Gaga

Extra bonus track:
Knock on Wood Eddie Floyd

It's New Year's Eve, so it has to be the right day for this season's Dance Party. I'll admit I edited the list a little and moved things around to make the set a baker's dozen of DYN-O-MITE! The set starts of just playing with you a little, a little slap and tickle, but from Perez Prado on, you've got to get up and the music pushes you on.

It's really hard to top Lady Gaga's hit, but I end with the fantastic first version of Eddie Floyd's masterpiece Knock on Wood. A great piece of trivia about this song is that when Eddie and guitarist Steve Cropper wrote this, they fully expected it to be given to Otis Redding to record. This version was just a demo, but Stax decided to release it "as is" and it went to number one.

A demo and they ripped it up! One of the greatest songs of the rock era.

There's a lesson here for the young people. Always give it your best.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Random 12, 11/27/10

Taxman The Beatles
No Woman No Cry Bob Marley & the Wailers
Dinah Fats Waller
In The Backroom Brian Eno & John Cale
Fuck You Cee-Lo Green
Love Shack The B-52s
Love Junkyard Rickie Lee Jones
Pressure Drop Toots & the Maytals
Moonlight Bob Dylan
These Arms Of Mine Otis Redding
Fool That I Am Etta James
Knickbocker Fujiya & Miyagi

I decided to make a Random 12 instead of a Random 10 so there would be ten links to the You Tubes. There are three songs from this century, something both Padre Mickey and I think about, probably too much. I like that Love Shack is followed by Love Junkyard. Reminds me of Fred Sanford and his Elizabeth. While both Etta James and Otis Redding are deservedly famous now, they didn't get a lot crossover play on the rock'n'roll stations when I was a kid. I remember listening to the Best of Otis Redding album when I was a teenager after he died and wondering, "Damn! Why wasn't this guy as famous as James Brown or Marvin Gaye?"

No disrespect to James or Marvin. You gotta know Otis was strong. He's one of those artists who are admired more after they are gone, like Bach and Van Gogh and My Favorite Lenny, Leonard Euler.

Autumn Dance Party Random 12

Choo Choo Ch'Boogie Louis Jordan
Pump It Up Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Everybody Plays The Fool The Main Ingredient
Patricia Pérez Prado
Get The Party Started Pink
F**k You Cee-Lo Green
I Think We're Alone Now Lene Lovich
Linus and Lucy Vince Guaraldi Trio
Yakety Yak The Coasters
Police and Thieves Junior Murvin
Stupid Girl Garbage
Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) Rozalla

Here's the dance mix for this season. Click on something you like and get up on the floor. There's pretty much something for everybody.

Random 12+1, 8/6/10: Summer Dance Party

Waterloo (English Version) ABBA
Ranking Full Stop The English Beat
American Squirm Nick Lowe
Get Up Offa That Thing James Brown
Ignition (Remix) R. Kelly
Doo Wop (That Thing) Lauryn Hill
Knickerbocker Fujiya & Miyagi
Reet Petite Jackie Wilson
One Mint Julep Ray Charles
Only You Yaz
Red Red Wine UB40
Little Floater NRBQ
Bonus track:
Sign of the Times The Belle Stars

For a little change of pace, I put together a dance mix on my iTunes this week, about 100 songs out of the 1,200 stored on my computer. Then I set the shuffle on this subset and here we go!

I could have invoked the Padre Mickey rule after Mister James Brown does Get Up Offa That Thing, but this is a party, not a critic's session. Pull up another tune and keep the dance floor full. Besides, as little as I might think of R. Kelly as a human being, you gotta love the remix to Ignition. The dozen songs bounce all over the place, but since it seemed intent to end on a note of drinking (Red Red Wine) and driving (Little Floater), I decided to put in one more track, which happened to be from the great New Wave girl group The Belle Stars, who recorded for the wonderful Stiff Records. It is therefore only appropriate to remember one of the many slogans of Stiff.

F*%k art, let's dance!