All She Wants to Do Is Dance

"All She Wants to Do Is Dance"
Single by Don Henley
from the album Building the Perfect Beast
B-side"Building the Perfect Beast"
ReleasedFebruary 1985
Recorded1984
Genre
Length4:28 (album)
4:23 (remix edit)
LabelGeffen
Songwriter(s)Danny Kortchmar
Producer(s)
Don Henley singles chronology
"The Boys of Summer"
(1984) 		"All She Wants to Do Is Dance"
(1985) 		"Not Enough Love in the World"
(1985)
Audio sample

"All She Wants to Do Is Dance" is a song written by Danny Kortchmar and performed by Don Henley, co-lead vocalist and drummer for Eagles. It was released as the second single from Henley's second studio solo album, Building the Perfect Beast (1984), and was Henley's sixth solo single overall. It was one of Henley's most commercially successful singles, peaking at No. 9 on Billboard Hot 100 and also became his third song to top the Top Rock Tracks chart.[2]

History

The song critiques the US intervention in Central America, particularly in the then-ongoing Contra War[broken anchor], in which the Reagan administration funded the right-wing rebel group Contras to overthrow the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front government in Nicaragua.

Backing vocals for the song were provided by Patty Smyth of the band Scandal, and Martha Davis, lead singer of the Motels.[3]

When Kortchmar was asked about the song, he said, "I had the groove and the music going. That record was made back when the technology had just started to really take over in music. I had one of the first Yamaha DX7s, which was a keyboard that was used a ton in the '80s, but we ended up luckily getting one of the first ones in the United States. It's a synthesizer keyboard, and I used it to get that sound that you hear the record starting with."[4]

The commercial U.S. 7" vinyl version has a slightly different intro than the LP version from Building the Perfect Beast.

Critical reception

John Leland from Spin magazine wrote "...this mother whomps from the git with punchy electronic drums and a mix that keeps one foot off the ground for a full seven-and-a-half minutes. Henley's post-hedonist vision of apocalypse is twisted."[5]

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (1985) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[6] 22
Canadian RPM Top Singles[7] 13
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] 9
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[9] 10
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks[10] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles[11] 65
Year-end chart (1985) Rank
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[12] 97

Other versions

The single "All She Wanna Do Is Dance" by David Guetta and Niles Mason uses samples of this song.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Meaning, and Writer, Behind Don Henley's 1984 Hit "All She Wants to do is Dance"". 7 August 2023.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 282.
  3. ^ Mason, Stewart. "All She Wants to Do Is Dance - Don Henley". AllMusic. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  4. ^ "All She Wants to Do Is Dance by Don Henley". SongFacts. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  5. ^ John Leland (July 1985). Don Henley "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" (Geffen). Spin. p. 34. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  6. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 137. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ^ "Results – RPM – Library and Archives Canada – Top Singles". RPM. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  8. ^ "Don Henley Album & Song Chart History – Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  9. ^ "Don Henley Album & Song Chart History – Dance/Club Play Songs". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  10. ^ "allmusic ((( Don Henley > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". AllMusic. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  11. ^ "Don Henley". Billboard.
  12. ^ "1985 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 52. December 28, 1985. p. T-21.