One Final Serenade: Songs of Billy Joel
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All You Wanna Do Is Dance
(Turnstiles) (1976) |
This is a video I made for "All You Wanna Do Is Dance" featuring clips of popular dances from before the 1970s when "you never heard the words of your favorite song through a three-inch speaker" (or earbuds for that matter).
 Download "All You Wanna Do Is Dance"
You don't want to deal with the future You don't want to make any plans Oh, baby, all you wanna do is dance Reggae was all the rage during the mid-1970s in the United States and the UK as Bob Marley became even more popular, and other artists like Eric Clapton and The Police incorporated reggae into their music. "All You Wanna Do Is Dance" was Billy's attempt at reggae (see also the demo version of "Only The Good Die Young"). It is a nice little piece of nostalgia. In fact, the song is about someone who does not want to deal with anything serious, but just wants to dance and live in the past carefree days of the 50s and early 60s. The singer seems to admonish this person who wants to bury her head in the sand and "crawl back into yesterday."
Years later, Billy would take his own trip down nostalgia lane with the album An Innocent Man. But he also warns there that "the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems" on "Keeping The Faith" from that album. * * * * *
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Oh, baby, you don't get turned on by the radio
Oh, baby, you got nothing to play on your stereo "Why don't the Beatles get back together?" "Why don't nobody sing of romance?" Oh, baby, all you wanna do is dance Oh, baby, I think you are lost in the Seventies Oh, baby, "The music she ain't what she used to be" You don't understand what they're saying, You've given it every chance Oh, baby, all you wanna do is dance Well you wish you were back in the good old days When tomatoes were cheaper And you never heard the words of your favorite songs Through a three inch speaker And you never messed around with dangerous drugs You were all getting sick on beer And you didn't get any unless you went steady and made out for a yea Well you can hide away honey in your rock 'n roll dreams And you can stand by your blue suede shoes But the party is over and I'm getting tired of waiting for you Oh, baby, "Where are the oldies they used to play?" Oh, baby, you want to crawl back into yesterday You don't want to deal with the future You don't want to make any plans Oh, baby, all you wanna do is dance Oh, baby, all you wanna do is dance Live version from Billy's 1976 concert at The Bottom Line (audio only), from the YouTube channel, The Billy Joel Concert Archive.
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