Monday April 18, 2022 “Do You Wanna Dance” Beach Boys

In past songs of the day we have been dancing in the streets, dancing in the moonlight, we have done the locomotion and there have been references to the twist and the hustle so head to the closet and find some vintage outfits and comfortable shoes and get ready to hit the floor because the question has been asked…do you wanna dance?

Today’s song was a number five Beach Boys hit but there are more than fifty covers of this song and most by artists you know like; Sonny & Cher, John Lennon, Neil Young, Dave Edmunds, Cliff Richards, The Ramones, T Rex, Del Shannon, The Four Seasons….well you get the picture.  “Do You Wanna Dance” was written by Bobby Freeman and his original 1958 version was also a number five hit.

In fact most of the subsequent versions of “Do You Wanna Dance” were hits as well so we can only hope that Bobby had a good lawyer to save his well deserved royalties. Bobby Freeman would have one additional hit when he introduced the world to a new dance, the swim with his top ten “C’mon and Swim”.

The Beach Boys 1965 version of “Do You Wanna Dance” was arranged by Brian Wilson and would be the first of their recordings to include the session musicians at Gold Star studio who would go on to become the legendary Wrecking Crew.  All of the Beach Boys subsequent recordings would have their instrumentation done by the Wrecking Crew with vocals done by the group.

Brian Wilson credits two other producers as having influenced him: "The first was Phil Spector, who taught me how to make tracks and craft what some might call 'baroque' backgrounds. The second was Bob Crewe, famous for his work with Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, who showed me how to utilize horns to sharpen and sculpt an overall sound."
Stay safe and well…and do you wanna dance is not a rhetorical question, it is actually that moment when someone has already posed the question to you and now you actually have to ‘just do it’.

 Have some fun with this three chord cheat:  A D A D A E A E

Do you, want to dance and hold my hand

Tell me baby I'm your lover man

Oh baby do you want to dance?

 Do you, want to dance under the moonlight

Hold me baby all through the night

Oh baby

Do you want to dance?

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

 Do you, want to dance under the moonlight

Kiss me baby all through the night

Oh baby

Do you, want to dance?

 Do you, want to dance under the moonlight

Squeeze me, squeeze me all through the night

Oh baby

Do you, want to dance?

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

 Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

 Do you, do you, do you,, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance

Do you, do you, do you, do you, want to dance