Today’s classic dance song of the day is “Land of 1000 Dances.” This song mentions a ton of then-current dance favs, but not quite a thousand—the Pony, the Chicken, the Mashed Potato, the Alligator, the Watusi, the Twist, the Fly, the Jerk, the Tango, the Yo-Yo, the Sweet Pea, the Hand Jive, the Slop, the Bop, the Fish, and the Popeye. Do you know them all?
“Land of 1000 Dances” was written by Chris Kenner, a New Orleans-based performer, and originally released by him in 1963. His version, not quite the version you remember, only hit #77 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not a hit, but people took notice.
One of the groups that noticed “Land of 1000 Dances” was Cannibal and the Headhunters, who covered the tune in 1965. They added the “na na na na” hook that made the song memorable. (That bit apparently happened by accident when lead singer Frankie “Cannibal” Garcia forgot the lyrics.) This version did better on the charts, hitting #30 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s a cooker.
The most popular version of the song, however, was recorded by Wilson Pickett in 1966. His version, with backing by the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and the Memphis Horns, rose all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. That’s the version we all remember.
Perhaps my favorite version of “Land of 1000 Dances,” though, is the thoroughly white-bread version recorded by Nino Tempo and his sister April Stevens in 1966. I like it because of its Scopitone proto-music video, complete with a bevy of comely dancers in a variety of revealing outfits. Also for Nino horndogging it during the instrumental break. Yeah, baby!
