Won't Somebody Dance with Me

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"Won't Somebody Dance with Me"
Single by Lynsey de Paul
Released1973 (1973)
Genre Europop
Length3:31
Label MAM Records
Songwriter(s) Lynsey de Paul
Producer(s) Lynsey de Paul
Lynsey de Paul singles chronology
"All Night"
(1973)		"Won't Somebody Dance with Me"
(1973)		"Ooh I Do"
(1974)

"Won't Somebody Dance with Me" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul in 1973, [1] which was awarded an Ivor Novello Award in 1974. [2] Her original version of the ballad made the UK, Irish and Dutch Top 20s, and the song was featured in Michael Winner's remake of the film The Big Sleep , The Muppet Show , and the 1970s version of the New Mickey Mouse Club (performed on that show by Lisa Whelchel).

Contents

History

This autobiographical song, inspired by an event from de Paul's teenage years, included some spoken dialogue by a male voice; on the original single it was by the BBC Radio 1 DJ Ed Stewart. [3] It was her last single released on the MAM Records label. The recording was produced by de Paul and the strings were arranged by Christopher Gunning. [1] It received positive reviews from the music press with favourable reviews from the likes of John Peel [4] and British music critic Ian MacDonald of the NME writing "a perfect pop record and a certain smash hit". [5] US music industry magazines also praised the song, with Cash Box magazine listing it under its "Pick for the Week" section and stating "Her tender vocal, when coupled with a perfectly fitting string section, gives this one greater hit potential than any disk she has had released since her tremendous "Sugar Me" a year ago". [6] "Record World" gave the release a recommendation in its "Spins and Sales" listing. [7]

The single reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1973, where it spent seven weeks on the chart, [8] number 9 in the Irish Singles Chart, [9] number 4 on the Israeli chart, number 17 on the Netherlands singles chart, [10] and number 3 on the Radio Northsea International Top 30. [11] The song was re-released as the B-side to "Sugar Me" on the MAM record label in 1977, [12] presumably to tie in with de Paul's "Rock Bottom" which was her entry for that year's Eurovision Song Contest and was in the UK Singles Chart at the same time.

Other recordings

An alternative recording of the song by de Paul was featured as the second track on the album The Wicked Die Young. It was compiled by the film director Nicolas Winding Refn and chosen as one of songs that inspired his horror film The Neon Demon . Rob Wacey reviewed the album for AllMusic and rated the track as one of the highlights of the album. [13] De Paul also re-recorded the song for her 1994 CD album, Just a Little Time . This version reflected maturity and featured additional text about waiting for love and destiny, [14] with strings being replaced by a saxophone. [15]

The track has been covered by Bruce Johnston, Petula Clark, Alan Tew Orchestra, Sounds Orchestral, Peter North (aka Piet Noordijk), Jeannie, Denis King, Lena Zavaroni, Tina Charles (singer) and S. Sebber. [16] A French version ("Je voudrais tant danser") with lyrics by Charles Level [17] was recorded by Martine Tourreil featuring male vocals by Sacha Distel. [18] Tourreil performed the song with Distel on his television show on 12 November 1977. [19] [20] A Danish version "Hvem danser en dans med mig" was released by Maria Stenz with Jesper Klein in 1974 and reached number 8 in the official Danish hit list chart. [21] A comedic version with different lyrics was released by George Jones and Tommy Thomas on their 1982 album, Up Ulster. [22]

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"So Good to You" is a song that was written by Lynsey de Paul, and first released by Zakatek as the B-side to his 1973 single, "I Gotcha Now", which also penned by de Paul. The single was released on 2 March 1973 and both songs were produced and arranged by de Paul. Her own version appeared in October 1973 as the B-side to her award-winning single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me", which was arranged by Christopher Gunning and produced by de Paul. In Japan and some South American countries, however, "So Good to You" was released as the A-side of the single release with "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" being relegated to the B-side on its release in 1974. AllMusic lists "So Good to You" as one of De Paul's song highlights. It was also a radio hit in Italy and ranks as one of de Paul's biggest songs there according to Radiocorriere magazine. It is still played on radio stations around the world.

"I Gotcha Now" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and released as a single by Zakatek on the Bell Records label on 2 March 1973. The release of the single received interest from the British music press. The song features a pounding piano, fuzz guitar and "I Am the Walrus"-esque strings. De Paul's own demo of the song, with the title "Got You Here Now" and recorded at Orange Studios, London, by David Humphries in early 1973 resurfaced in 2022 and features a xylophone in place of the piano break in the middle of the song. The B-side is also a de Paul song, "So Good To You", and both songs were recorded at 10cc's Strawberry Studios with Eric Stewart, the lead guitarist and singer of The Mindbenders and later a member of 10cc, being the co-engineer. De Paul recorded her own version of "So Good To You" and released it in October 1973 as the flip side to her single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me". In Japan, this was the A-side of the release. Both songs were however, originally written by de Paul for Zakatek, after she co-discovered him together with the actor Dudley Moore, her boyfriend at the time. However, some years later de Paul revealed that she had offered "I Gotcha Now" to Slade. Lenny Zakatek discussed recording the song in an interview given to Black Music & Jazz Review.

<i>Love Bomb</i> (Lynsey de Paul album) 1975 studio album by Lynsey de Paul

Love Bomb is the fourth album released in 1975 by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, and her second album released on Jet Records in the UK and Polydor in Germany, Australia and Japan. In the US and Canada, it was released in January 1976 on Mercury Records. The album was recorded at the Marquee Studios, London, England, produced by de Paul and arranged by Tony Hymas, with Terry Cox playing drums, John Dean percussion, Chris Rea guitar and Frank McDonald bass. The striking sleeve cover photo of de Paul in U.S. military style clothing was taken by Brian Aris.

Just a Little Time is an album by Lynsey de Paul. It was originally released on 30 September 1994 on the Music Deluxe label but has since been released on the Tring International PLC label and on Arc Records/The Magic Collection. All of the songs on the album are written or co-written by de Paul.

"All Night" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. De Paul released her version of the song on 27 April 1973 as her third single released on MAM Records, with arrangements by Martyn Ford and John Bell and produced by de Paul. It features an uncredited male vocal. A slinky, sexy song, it compares a love relationship to that of the spider and a fly. The single is backed by the more socially aware song "Blind Leading the Blind", composed and produced by de Paul. The song was an unusual release since neither the A-side or the B-side featured as tracks on her debut album. "Surprise" had been released a little more than a month earlier and this song was in a different style.

Sugar and Beyond is a double album by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul released on 18 March 2013. De Paul personally oversaw the project and was involved in the digital remastering of the tracks from the original tapes. The CD includes all her hits as well as the two LPs released in the period between 1972 and 1974. The majority of the tracks on this CD had not been reissued previously. The first CD contained all of the recordings for MAM Records as well as tracks from the Surprise album. The version of "Sugar Me" included is the longer album version produced by de Paul, rather than the single version which was produced by Gordon Mills. "Sugar and Beyond" also contains two unreleased songs performed by de Paul from 1972 and orchestrated by Nick Drake collaborator, Robert Kirby - "House of Cards" and "Taking It On", a song co-written with Ron Roker and previously released by Sacha Distel and Petula Clark.

"Taking It On" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker, and originally published by ATV Music. Although de Paul recorded her own demo version of the song in 1972, her version of the song was not released until 2013 on her Anthology CD album Sugar and Beyond. De Paul also arranged and produced this recording.

References

  1. 1 2 "Lynsey de Paul - Won't Somebody Dance With Me". Discogs . Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "Billboard". Billboard . 1 June 1974. p. 41.
  3. ↑ Warren, Jane (3 October 2014). "Lynsey de Paul won the Ivor Novello Award and a string of celeb lovers | Obituaries". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. ↑ Sounds, Singles reviews by John Peel, 6 October 1973
  5. ↑ MacDonald, Ian (20 October 1973). "Singles Reviewed This Week by Ian MacDonald". NME . p. 25.
  6. ↑ "Cash Box" (PDF). Worldradiohistory.com. 15 December 1973. p. 22. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Record World" (PDF). Worldradiohistory.com. 15 December 1973. p. 14. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  8. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 145. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  9. ↑ "The Irish Charts - All There Is to Know". Irishcharts.ie. 1 October 1962. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Lynsey de Paul : Won't Somebody Dance With Me". Top40.nl. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Radio Northsea International Top 30 - 1973". Internetradiocafe.nl. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Lynsey de Paul - Sugar Me". Discogs. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  13. ↑ Rob Wacey (14 April 2017). "Nicolas Winding Refn Presents: The Wicked Die Young - Nicolas Winding Refn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "515 Lynsey de Paul Won't Somebody Dance With Me Lyrics". Gugalyrics.com. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  15. ↑ "Lynsey de Paul - Just a Little Time". Discogs.com. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  16. ↑ Leif Barbre. "String Man". String Man. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  17. ↑ Je Voudrais Tant Danser. WorldCat . OCLC   658640442 . Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  18. ↑ "Martine Tourreil - Je voudrais Tant Danser / Un Piano sous Mes Doigts". Discogs. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  19. ↑ "Numéro Un Sacha Distel du 12 novembre 1977". amis-de-sacha-distel.over-blog.com. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  20. ↑ "Télé française années 70: Numéro Un : Sacha Distel, 12/11/1977". Tele70france.blogspot.com. 5 September 2013.
  21. ↑ "Hvem Danser En Dans Mit Vig". Danskehitlister.dk. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  22. ↑ "George Jones (16) & Tommy Thomas - Up Ulster". Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
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