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"And We Danced"
Single by the Hooters
from the album Nervous Night
B-side"Blood from a Stone"
ReleasedMay 6, 1985 [1]
Genre Power pop [2]
Length3:48
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Rick Chertoff
The Hooters singles chronology
" All You Zombies"
(1982)
"And We Danced"
(1985)
"Day by Day"
(1985)
Music video
"And We Danced" on YouTube

"And We Danced" is a song by the American rock band the Hooters, released as the first single from their second album, Nervous Night. "And We Danced" was released in 1985 and became the band's first major hit, just missing the top 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at #21), but reaching #3 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It became the band's second consecutive Top 10 hit in Australia, reaching #6. [3]

The band performed the song at the Live Aid benefit concert in Philadelphia, on July 13, 1985.

The music video for the song, featuring live footage of the band filmed at the now-demolished Exton Drive-In in Exton, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1985, was nominated for the Best New Artist in a Video award at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. One of the members is shown playing a Hohner melodica (the "hooter" from whence the band got their name), a reed instrument played by mouth with keyboard notes which can be fingered to produce a harmonica-like sound.

Background

Singer Eric Bazilian said,

We wrote the first draft of “And We Danced” in the Poconos during the summer of 1984. I think we knew immediately that we had the germ of something special though there were a lot of versions between that one and the one we now know. I honestly don’t know where the lyrics came from… the verses were written last, when we were already mixing the rest of the album and were down to the wire. I think we just liked the way “she was a be bop baby” sounded. [4]

Reception

Cash Box said that the song shows the "band’s flair vocally and instrumentally" and has "an appealing Springsteen-like purely American sound." [5]

Cover versions

Canadian duo Sons of Maxwell covered the song on their 1998 album The Neighbourhood. Their version was released as a single in 1999 and peaked at number 54 on RPM's Country Tracks. [6]

Fellow Philadelphia artist Atom and His Package incorporated a cover of the chorus into the end of his 1997 song "Goalie" off the A Society of People Named Elihu album. [7]

British/Australian folk duo The April Maze released a cover of the song on their 2012 album Two. [8]

Accolades

"And We Danced" was ranked as the 88th greatest song of the 80's on internet radio station WDDF Radio's "The 88 Greatest Songs of the 80's" second annual Independence Day countdown [9] in 2017.

Charts

References

  1. ^ Lyrics to "And We Danced" by The Hooters on Genius
  2. ^ Murray, Noel (October 11, 2012). "A beginners' guide to the heyday of power-pop, 1972-1986". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  3. ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1985". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  4. ^ "Interview with Eric Bazilian of the Hooters". Kickin' it Old School. February 13, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  5. ^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. August 10, 1985. p. 9. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "RPM Country Tracks". RPM. May 31, 1999. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
  7. ^ "Goalie-Atom and His Package". YouTube. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  8. ^ "And We Danced - The April Maze". YouTube. October 19, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  9. ^ "WDDF Radio". Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  10. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN  0-646-11917-6.
  11. ^ "offiziellecharts.de Hooters – "And We Danced"" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  12. ^ "charts.nz Hooters – "And We Danced"" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  13. ^ "Billboard: The Hot 100, 26 October 1985". Billboard. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  14. ^ "Kent Music Report No 599 – 30 December 1985 > National Top 100 Singles for 1985". Kent Music Report. Retrieved January 23, 2023 – via Imgur.