"Dance (Pt. 1)" is a song by the British rock band

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

. Written by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood, the song evolved out of a single riff. The song appeared as the opening track on the band's 1980 album '' Emotional Rescue''.

Background

The song is one of the first Rolling Stones tracks to have been co-written by Ronnie Wood, who is credited with coming up with the original riff for the song. Wood said of the song's origins, Dance Pt. 1' was one strong riff where Mick immediately took the bait, literally got up and danced to it, which was the whole idea of the track: it's a catchy riff. That was an example of a song that originated without words, just a groove with various changes, but never a chorus." Featuring a disco influence seen in other Stones songs of the time (such as " Miss You" and " Emotional Rescue") the track featured

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's Michael Shrieve on percussion and Jamaican musician

Max Romeo Max Romeo (born Maxwell Livingston Smith; 22 November 1944)"Respect to th ...

on backing vocals.

Release and reception

"Dance (Pt. 1)" was released as the first track on ''Emotional Rescue'' in June 1980. Although not released as a single, the song reached No. 9 on Billboard's Dance chart. ''

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'' ranked the song as the 81st best Rolling Stones song, saying "If you think there was something wrong — as some fans contend — with the Rolling Stones dabbling in dance and disco rhythms as powerfully and capably as they do on ‘Dance (Pt. 1),’ the opening track to their 1980 album ‘Emotional Rescue,’ we’d like to invite you to explain it to us."

Alternate versions

A second part of the song, entitled "If I Was A Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)," appeared on the compilation album ''

Sucking in the Seventies ''Sucking in the Seventies'' is the sixth official compilation album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1981. As the successor to 1975's ''Made in the Shade'', it covers material from ''It's Only Rock 'n Roll'' (1974), ''Black and Blue'' (197 ...

''. Wood said of the song's multiple parts, "We did have various alternative mixes going at the time, but I can't really tell the difference between Part I or Part II or Part III. It was just a novelty, the Pt. 1 bit." There are major differences, however; Part II has an extended bridge: instead of only saying the chorus of "It's time to get up, get out... get into something new" it also goes into lines such as, "If I were a woman, I would need a new man every night... If I was a movie star, five million dollars would be my price... If I was a trucker, I'd drive for seven days and seven lonely nights" followed by "if" he were a "hooker" and even "The President."

References

{{authority control The Rolling Stones songs 1980 songs Songs written by Jagger–Richards Song recordings produced by Jagger–Richards Songs written by Ronnie Wood