"Let Your Body Go Downtown" is a song co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran, [1] [2] [3] and recorded by the Martyn Ford Orchestra as a single on 18 March 1977 on the Mountain record label. A 12-inch single was also released. [4] In an interview in 2024, Ford revealed he had asked close friends De Paul and Moran to write the song for him. [5]
The single was also released in France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands on Vertigo Records. [6] It was a BBC Radio 1 "Record of the Week" and playlist by a number of UK regional radio stations. [7] As noted by Record World magazine, it took the single three months to enter the UK Singles Chart. [8] However, the song reached No. 38 on that chart, [9] [10] No. 34 on the NME singles chart, [11] No. 37 on the EveryHit Retrocharts [12] and No. 11 on the UK Disco Chart, published by Record Mirror . [13] It was also released as a track on the album Ronnie Jones Presents Let-Your-Body-Go-With-The-Disco released on the Phillips record label in Italy [14] and it received numerous radio plays there as listed in "Radiocorrier". [15] A live performance of the song featuring Ford, his orchestra and backing singers was shown on the 12 May 1977 edition of Top of the Pops . [16]
The song was followed by another de Paul/Moran penned release, "Going to a Disco", [17] in a similar vein, [18] also released on the Mountain record label in 1977 as a 7 inch and 12 inch single [19] [20] but did not chart although it received a positive review from the British DJ James Hamilton, [21] [22] as well as in the British mainstream press. [23] It is also mentioned alongside "Let Your Body Go Downtown" in the books The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music [24] and Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2006. [25]
"Let Your Body Go Downtown" is still played on the radio, [26] [27] most recently on the Ana Matronic Disco Devotion radio show on BBC Radio 2, [28] on Funky Tuesday [29] and on Disco Magic. [30]