(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"
Hit Number 1: January 15, 1977
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Ray Parker Jr. might be one of the most underappreciated musicians ever. Today we think of him only as the Ghostbusters guy (a story that will eventually be talked about more in-depth in this series) but to tell you the truth, the guy did a lot more than that...and sometimes he doesn't even get credited for it. Like he sometimes, literally does not get credit for it. Leo Sayer, Parker and another musician named Jeff Porcaro were all messing around in a studio one day when Sayer brought up a song called "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Shirley and Company. (A song that made it to #12 on the Hot 100. It's a 6) Sayer and Porcaro loved the groove that song had, and while in the studio, Porcaro played the song while Sayer sang and Parker came up with a similar guitar riff. Richard Perry, a music producer at Warner Bros., loved what he heard and recorded this jam fest, telling Sayer that this was going to be a hit.
Of course a jam fest cover of "Shame, Shame, Shame" wasn't going to be the final product, but they had a blueprint to work with. There are some differing stories on who truly wrote the lyrics to "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing," but Ray Parker Jr. claimed it to be him. He said that he not only came up with the guitar riff, something Sayer would admit to later on, but he also came up with the lyrics, and basically everything else the song had. He gave the song to Sayer as a demo, but pretty soon after it was like everyone forgot who actually came up with everything. The official songwriters are credited as Sayer and Vini Poncia, a little-known songwriter and producer. Now, I'm not saying that Sayer and Poncia are being jerks for tossing Parker to the side (after all, there's no proof that Parker actually did everything he said he did) but he was the one that came up with the guitar riff, so it's a little annoying he's not credited as a songwriter just because of that. I'm just telling you everything that happened as far as the songwriting went. You can believe whatever you want to believe on what went down.
Anyway, at the time of songwriting, Sayer wasn't an international star just yet, but he was coming off of easily his biggest hit to date. (That would be "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)" which was a #9 hit in 1975. It's a 7) He was trending upward, but was still looking for that one song to put him over the top, one that would make him a true pop star. There was no better way of doing that in 1976/77 than writing a song about dancing, especially a lover that made you wanna do nothing but dance. That's essentially what "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" is about. This guy is head over heels over this girl, and she does nothing but make him wanna dance all the time. He's so happy that he can't even sleep at night, as the lyric "Quarter to four in the mornin'/I ain't feeling tired no, no, no, no, no" implies. Once again, it's another cheesy '70s song lyrically, except even this time, the music/instrumentation is also cheesy.
I guess "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" would technically be classified as a disco song, but to me, it's really just dinky pop. Sayer sings in a wild falsetto, and I can't figure out if it's kinda cute or just annoying as hell. Either way, it's in there, and it exists. All the rest of it is just kinda there for me. There's guitars, strings and an identifiable bass line, but at no point in the song do any of those take center stage. I think the producers involved only wanted Sayer and his backing vocalists to take the spotlight, which is a questionable move, but hey, I guess it worked. The best quality the song has, by far, is the chorus. It's another one of those catchy, addictive choruses that is impossible to wipe out of your mind. Even the buildup afterwards, the "I feel like dancing! Dancing! Dance the night away!" is fun in a very strange way. Everyone in 1977 felt like dancing, dancing, dancing the night away. You can't say the song couldn't resonate with anyone, and while it's pretty easy to mock some of what is going on, it's overall a harmless song. And that chorus deserves some brownie points. I guess if this song finds you at the right spot at the right time, it can prove to be a good time.
Though this isn't as good as "Long Tall Glasses" this was the song that turned Leo Sayer into a star. It was included on his album Endless Flight which summoned yet another #1 hit for Sayer down the line in 1977. Sayer was probably doing a lot of "dancing the night away" in '77. I'd say it proved to be a pretty good year for him.
GRADE: 5/10
IN POP CULTURE:
I guess this is all the evidence you need for "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" not to be taken seriously. The Wiggles did a cover of the song, and the cover even featured Leo Sayer himself. After watching this video, this song will never be anything more than a cutesy little song about dancing. Here's that clip:
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