"Shake It" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Ian Matthews | ||||
from the album Stealin' Home | ||||
B-side | "Stealin' Home" | |||
Released | December 1978 | |||
Recorded | 1978 | |||
Studio | Chipping Norton Recording Studios | |||
Genre | Soft rock [1] | |||
Length | 3:10 | |||
Label | Rockburgh/Mushroom | |||
Songwriter(s) | Terence Boylan | |||
Producer(s) | Sandy Roberton & Ian Matthews | |||
Ian Matthews singles chronology | ||||
|
"Shake It" was written and recorded by Terence Boylan in 1977. It was covered the following year by Ian Matthews for his album Stealin' Home and became a top 20 hit single in February 1979.
Concurrent with his top 40 success with "Shake It", Ian Matthews would tell Rolling Stone : "I don’t think I did anything different [to record a hit single]. I guess it's my reward. After all, I've been doing exactly what I want for 14 or 15 years." [2] However, Matthews would later acknowledge that on the single's parent album: Stealin' Home, "I tried to add just a couple of songs that had Top 40 potential, without compromising the rest of the material [and the album] did precisely what it was supposed to do: it raised my profile, without lowering my credibility." [3] (Matthews, who had reached #23 on the Hot 100 in 1972 fronting the Matthews Southern Comfort single "Woodstock", had as a solo act had one prior Hot 100 entry with "Da Doo Ron Ron" also in 1972.) Also Matthews would give credit for the success of "Shake It" to Mushroom Records, who picked up the Stealin' Home album for U.S. and Canadian release: (Ian Matthews quote) "I've had potential hit singles on [earlier] albums...but there's never been the enthusiasm I've had from this record company. It [gave] me a hit single." [4]
"Shake It" had first been recorded by its composer Terence Boylan, being introduced on Boylan's 1977 self-titled album on which Timothy B. Schmit –who would join the Eagles that same year –sang background on eight of the nine tracks including "Shake It", which track also featured guitarist Al Kooper. [5] Not chosen for US single release, Boylan's "Shake It" was given a 4 November 1977 single release in Ian Matthews's native UK; however, Matthews had been living in the US since 1973, and it was on an FM radio station in Seattle that he first heard Boylan's "Shake It". After Matthews phoned the radio station for info on the track the disc jockey sent him a copy of the Terence Boylan album from which Matthews would "cover" two songs: "Shake It" and "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes", for his album Stealin' Home [6] recorded in the summer of 1978. [7]
One of two tracks on Stealin' Home to feature Mel Collins on sax, "Shake It" was issued as the album's lead single to become Matthews's first top 40 hit, reaching a Hot 100 peak of #13 within a 19-week Hot 100 tenure. [8] "Shake It" was especially popular in New England, reaching #2 in Springfield, Massachusetts (WAQY) and #3 in Bangor, Maine (WLBZ). [9] The year-end tally for Hot 100 hits of 1979 would rank "Shake It" at #73. "Shake It" would remain Matthews's only top 40 hit as a solo act: the second single from the Stealin' Home album, the Robert Palmer composition "Give Me an Inch", peaked at #67 as Matthews's final Hot 100 entry. (The Boylan composition "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes", the third single release off Stealin' Home afforded Matthews his final appearance on a Billboard chart, peaking at #42 on the magazine's Easy Listening hit ranking, where "Shake It" had reached #21 and "Give Me an Inch" #43.) [10]
Although "Woodstock" had afforded Matthews' Southern Comfort a three-week tenure at #1 in the UK in 1970, Matthews would never appear on the UK chart as a solo act despite a string of UK single releases, including "Shake It" released in February 1979 after three previous tracks off Stealin' Home had failed as singles. "Shake It" would afford Matthews a top ten hit in Canada, peaking at #6: [11] the track had been especially popular in New Brunswick, reaching #1 on CIHI in Fredericton. [9] "Shake It" would also become a top 20 hit in New Zealand, [12] and would chart in Australia with a #65 peak.
Sales of 800,000 units were cited for Matthews's "Shake It" single in May 1979. [13]
"Shake It" is heard at the beginning of the 1980 film Little Darlings : (Ian Matthews quote) "The first I knew about the song being in the movie was when it came out and a friend called to ask if I’d heard it." [6] The song can also be heard on the radio in the game The Warriors from Rockstar Games.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
"Lost in Love" is a song recorded by the British/Australian soft rock duo Air Supply. The song was written by group member Graham Russell. The original version of the song appeared on the Life Support album in 1979 and was released as a single in Australia, reaching number 13 on the Kent Music Report. The group re-recorded the song for the album of the same name in 1980 and this version was released as a single in the US, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Woodstock" is a song written by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. At least four notable versions of the song were released in the same year, 1970. Mitchell's own version was first performed live in 1969 and appeared in April 1970 on her album Ladies of the Canyon and as the B-side to her single "Big Yellow Taxi". This publication was preceded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's version, which appeared on their March 1970 album Déjà Vu and became a staple of classic rock radio and the best-known version in the United States. A third version, by the British band Matthews Southern Comfort became the best known version in the United Kingdom, and was the highest charting version of the song, reaching the top of the UK Singles Chart in 1970. A fourth version by studio project the Assembled Multitude also became a chart hit.
Iain Matthews is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock". In 1979, his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts.
"MacArthur Park" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb that was recorded first by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris in 1968. Harris's version peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number four on the UK Singles Chart. "MacArthur Park" was subsequently covered by numerous artists, including a 1970 Grammy-winning version by country music singer Waylon Jennings and a number one Billboard Hot 100 disco arrangement by Donna Summer in 1978. Webb won the 1969 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the Richard Harris version.
"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is a 1968 single released by American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, on the Tamla label in 1968. The B-side of the single is "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" from the duo's United LP. The first release off the duo's second album: You're All I Need, the song—written and produced by regular Gaye/Terrell collaborators Ashford & Simpson—became a hit within weeks of release eventually peaking at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart, the first of the duo's two number-one R&B hits. In the UK "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" reached number 34.
"Love You Inside Out" is a 1979 hit single by the Bee Gees from their album, Spirits Having Flown. It was their last chart-topping single on the Billboard Hot 100, interrupting Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff", becoming the third single from the album to do so. In the UK, the single peaked at No. 13 for two weeks. It was the ninth and final number-one hit for the Bee Gees in the US, and the twelfth and final number-one hit in Canada as well. The trio would not return to the top 10 for ten years, with the song, "One".
"Take Me Home" is a song recorded by American singer and actress Cher for her fifteenth studio album. The album, released in 1979, bore the same name as the single. "Take Me Home" is a disco song conceived after Cher was recommended to venture into said genre after the commercial failure of her previous albums. The lyrics center around the request of a woman to be taken home by her lover. It was released as the lead single from the Take Me Home album in January 1979 through Casablanca Records, pressed as a 12-inch single.
"Evergreen" is the theme song from the 1976 film A Star Is Born. It was composed and performed by American singer, songwriter, actress and director Barbra Streisand with lyrics by Paul Williams, and arranged by Ian Freebairn-Smith. The song was released on the soundtrack album to A Star Is Born.
"Save the Last Dance for Me" is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, first recorded in 1960 by American musical group the Drifters with Ben E. King on lead vocals. It has since been covered by several artists, including Dalida, the DeFranco Family, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Michael Bublé.
"I Don't Want to Talk About It" is a song written by American guitarist Danny Whitten. It was first recorded by American rock band Crazy Horse and issued as the final track on side one of their 1971 eponymous album. It was Whitten's signature tune, but gained more fame via its numerous cover versions, especially that by Rod Stewart. Cash Box magazine has described it as "a magnificent ballad outing."
"Every Time I Think of You" is a song written by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy and released in December 1978 as the lead single from The Babys' third studio album Head First; John Waite provided lead vocals, featuring female vocals by Myrna Matthews. The track was a worldwide hit, and became their last top 20 in the United States.
"Song Sung Blue" is a 1972 hit song written and recorded by Neil Diamond, inspired by the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto #21. It was released on Diamond's album Moods, and later appeared on many of Diamond's live and compilation albums. The song was a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States for one week, the week of July 1, and it spent twelve weeks in the Top 40. It also reached #14 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Fool (If You Think It's Over)" is a popular song originally released in 1978 by the British singer-songwriter Chris Rea. Rea also wrote the lyrics and composed the music of the song, which appears on his 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?. It peaked number 12 in the US, becoming his highest charting single there. The single's charting success in the US earned him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1979.
"What You Won't Do for Love" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bobby Caldwell. It was released in September 1978 as the lead single from his eponymous debut album (1978). It was written by Caldwell and Alfons Kettner, and produced by Ann Holloway. The song has been covered and sampled numerous times, including by Tupac Shakur in the posthumous 1998 hit "Do for Love".
"Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady" is a 1974 written and first recorded by American singer-songwriter Harriet Schock. It was covered by various other artists, and saw its greatest success when it was covered by Helen Reddy, whose 1975 rendition became a top 10 hit.
"What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'" is a song by American singer and songwriter Stephanie Mills, released in July 1979 as the first single from the album of the same name (1979). It became a hit, reaching No. 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was also a top 10 hit on the Billboard R&B chart, as well as a minor hit in Canada.
"Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancin')", initially titled "Slow Dancing", is a song written by Jack Tempchin. Under the title "Slow Dancing", the song originally was a minor US hit in 1976 for the band Funky Kings (of which Tempchin was a member). The song became much better known as "Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancin')" in a 1977 cover version by Johnny Rivers, which became a top ten US hit. It was Rivers' last Top 40 hit in the United States, and became his second Gold record.
"Take It Easy on Me" is a song by Australian soft rock band Little River Band, released in March 1982 as the third and final single from the album Time Exposure. The song reached No. 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming their sixth and last top 10 hit on the chart and also reached No. 14 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song was written by band member Graham Goble and produced by British record producer George Martin.
Stealin' Home is the title of the ninth solo album by British singer/songwriter Ian Matthews. It was the first of four solo albums made for Rockburgh Records, the record label formed in 1977 by Sandy Roberton who had produced the album In Search Of Amelia Earhart by Matthews’s 1972 band, Plainsong [the others would be Siamese Friends (1979), Spot Of Interference (1983) and Shook (1984)].
"Give Me an Inch" is a song by English singer Robert Palmer, which was released in 1976 as the lead single from his second studio album Pressure Drop (1975). The song was written by Palmer and produced by Steve Smith. "Give Me an Inch" reached No. 6 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart and No. 88 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)