"Dancin' Fool" is a song by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

from his 1979 album '' Sheik Yerbouti''. It was the first of two singles released from the album, followed by the second single " Bobby Brown (Goes Down)." The song premiered on stage on the 30th of October 1977 (as can be heard on the Halloween '77 boxset released in 2017). "Dancin' Fool" peaked at #45 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 26, 1979. It was Zappa's 2nd highest charting U.S. single, behind his 1982 song, " Valley Girl". The song was nominated for the Grammy award for "Best Male Vocal", but did not win. It was included on Zappa's best of compilation, '' Strictly Commercial''.

Background

Much like '' Zoot Allures''' closing track " Disco Boy", it mocks the

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

culture of the 1970s, but unlike "Disco Boy", the song directly focuses on the dancing aspect of the culture. Specifically, the character Zappa is singing as cannot help but dance, despite how awful he is at it. He refers to his dancing as "social suicide" and says, "The beat goes on and I'm so wrong." He mentions as part of the reason for his bad dancing that, "One of my legs is shorter than the other," a reference to a severe injury Zappa sustained at the Rainbow Theatre in 1971.

''Saturday Night Live''

On October 21, 1978, Zappa was a guest host and musician for the popular skit show, ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. After the episode, he was banned from the show for "being difficult". Many in the cast, save Laraine Newman and John Belushi, were standoffish the entire night. The songs he performed as musical guest were "Dancin' Fool", "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing", and " Rollo". The ''SNL'' performance gave Zappa some of his most widespread media attention in the US.

Track list

;7" :A."Dancin' Fool" - 3:45 :B."Baby Snakes" - 2:02 ;U.S. 12" (MK-83) :A."Dancin' Fool" - 6:15 :B."Dancin' Fool" - 6:15

Chart performance

References

{{authority control Songs written by Frank Zappa 1979 songs 1979 singles Frank Zappa songs Satirical songs American disco songs Comedy rock songs Songs about dancing Song recordings produced by Frank Zappa Songs about disco