"Hum Along and Dance" is a

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

song written for the Motown label by

Norman Whitfield Norman Jesse Whitfield (May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008) was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. allmusic Biography/ref> He has been credited as one of the creators of the Mo ...

and

Barrett Strong Barrett Strong (born February 5, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best known for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whitfi ...

. Originally recorded by

the Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

,Williams, Otis and Romanowski, Patricia (1988, updated 2002). Temptations. Lanham, MD: Cooper Square. . the song was later covered by Motown acts Rare Earth and

the Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

. The song is essentially an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

piece and a vehicle for scatting and improvisational vocals, since, as the chorus (the song's only actual lyric) states, "ain't no words to this song/you just dance and hum along". All three versions of the song were produced by Whitfield.

Temptations version

The original version of "Hum Along and Dance" was recorded by

in early 1970 as an album track for the ''

Psychedelic Shack ''Psychedelic Shack'' is the twelfth studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1970. Completely written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield, ''Psychedelic Shack'' almost completely aband ...

'' album. The track, one of the Temptations' many

psychedelic soul Psychedelic soul (originally called black rock or conflated with psychedelic funk) is a music genre that emerged in the late 1960s and saw Black soul musicians embrace elements of psychedelic rock, including its production techniques, instrument ...

recordings, features

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptation ...

Melvin Franklin David Melvin English (October 12, 1942 – February 23, 1995) better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, or his nickname "Blue", was an American bass singer. Franklin was best known for his role as a founding member of Motown singing ...

, and

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations, on Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang ...

taking turns in delivering the song's chorus and scatting over the instrumental track.

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

were the instrumentalists for this version of "Hum Along and Dance", and Whitfield uses a number of

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

effects and stereo-panning effects on their tracks during the song. Towards the final few bars of the record,

Otis Williams Otis Williams (born Otis Miles Jr.; October 30, 1941) is an American baritone singer.Ribowsky, Mark (2010). ''Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Endearing Soul of the Temptations''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 7–9 He is o ...

delivers a heavily echoed chant: "Come on man/take a drag/don't be afraid/it ain't gonna hurt you", an overt reference to marijuana use. In fact, on the ''Psychedelic Shack'' album, "Hum Along and Dance" leads directly into "Take a Stroll Through Your Mind", an eight-minute ode to marijuana use. The track was released as the B-side of their 1970 single "Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite the World)".

Rare Earth version

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Rare Earth's version was released as an album track for their 1973 album '' Ma''. Their version features instrumentation from the various members of the band, with harder

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

chords, and a prominent organ line. Lead singer Pete Rivera offers an excuse for the lack of lyrics ("you see, we didn't have time to write none") and urges to the listener to "get it!" (that is, dance).

Jackson 5 version

The

Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

version of "Hum Along and Dance" appeared as the closing track for side A of their 1973 album '' G.I.T.: Get It Together''. Allmusic review (Jackson 5 album)/ref> The lead vocals are primarily handled by

Jackie Jackson Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...

and

Tito Jackson Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953) is an American musician. He is an original member of the Jackson 5 (later known as The Jacksons), who rose to fame in the late 1960s and 1970s with the Motown label, and later had continued ...

, with

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

and

Marlon Jackson Marlon David Jackson (born March 12, 1957) is an American entertainer, singer and dancer best known as a member of the Jackson 5. He is the sixth child of the Jackson family. Marlon now runs Study Peace Foundation to promote peace and unity wor ...

appearing towards the end. Although the Jackson brothers are heard yelling out "Play it, Tito" and "Play it,

Jermaine Jermaine ( ) is a masculine given name of Latin language, Latin origin, derived from the French given name , which is in turn derived from the Latin given name , meaning "brother". The masculine given name Jermaine was popularized in the 1970s b ...

", the actual instrumentalists on the track were

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

studio players. Motown did not allow the Jacksons to play their own instruments or write and produce their own material, and the lack of creative freedom would cause the group to leave for

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

within two years of making this recording. This version of "Hum Along and Dance" is stylistically similar to the Rare Earth version, and features nearly the same arrangement with more of an electric funk sound added to the mix. A bewildered

is heard asking, upon hearing the song's chorus, "ain't no words? What you mean?" His bandmate and brother

replies, as he has been doing throughout the song, by reiterating Gil Bridges' reasoning: "we ain't have time to write none".

is heard answering as well telling Michael Jackson what to do. This version was sampled by the Bomb Squad for

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

's 1989 track "Prophets Of Rage". An alternate "uncut" longer version of the song appears as a bonus track on the 2004 twofer CD of "Joyful Jukebox Music/Boogie". The song was remixed by

David Morales David Morales (; born August 21, 1962) is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer. David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including ...

for the 2009 release ''

The Remix Suite ''The Remix Suite'' (digital title: ''Michael Jackson: The Remix Suite'') is a compilation of remixed hits by singer Michael Jackson. Although labeled as a Michael Jackson release, the majority of remixes are of hits during his tenure with The J ...

''.

Personnel

Temptations version

* Lead vocals by

, and

* Background vocals by

: Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams *Instrumentation by

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

Jackson 5 version

*Lead and background vocals by

Jermaine Jackson Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and bassist. He is best known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of The Jackso ...

*Instrumentation by various

studio musicians

Rare Earth version

*Lead vocals by Pete Rivera *Background vocals by Gil Bridges and Rod Richards *Instrumentation by Rare Earth: Gil Bridges (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

), Pete Rivera ( drums), Mike Urso (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

), Ray Monette (

), and Mark Olsen ( keyboards), Ed Guzman (

percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

)

References

{{authority control 1970 songs The Temptations songs The Jackson 5 songs Rare Earth (band) songs Songs written by Barrett Strong Songs written by Norman Whitfield Psychedelic soul songs Song recordings produced by Norman Whitfield Songs about music Songs about dancing