"Let Your Body Go Downtown" is a song co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran,[1][2][3] and recorded by the Martyn Ford Orchestra as a single on 18 March 1977 on the Mountain record label. A 12-inch single was also released.[4] It was also released in France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands on Vertigo Records.[5] It was a BBC Radio 1 "Record of the Week" and playlist by a number of UK regional radio stations.[6] As noted by Record World magazine, it took the single three months to enter the UK Singles Chart.[7] However, the song reached No. 38 on that chart,[8][9] No. 34 on the NME singles chart,[10] No. 37 on the EveryHit Retrocharts[11] and No. 12 on the UK Disco Chart, published by Record Mirror.[12] It was also released as a track on the album Ronnie Jones Presents Let-Your-Body-Go-With-The-Disco released on the Phillips record label in Italy[13] and it received numerous radio plays there as listed in "Radiocorrier".[14] A live performance of the song featuring Ford, his orchestra and backing singers was shown on the 12 May 1977 edition of Top of the Pops.[15]
The song was followed by another de Paul/Moran penned release, "Going to a Disco",[16] in a similar vein,[17] also released on the Mountain record label in 1977 as a 7 inch and 12 inch single[18] but did not chart although it received a positive review from the British DJ James Hamilton,[19][20] as well as in the British mainstream press.[21] It is also mentioned alongside "Let Your Body Go Downtown" in the books The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music[22] and Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2006.[23]
"Let Your Body Go Downtown" is still played on the radio,[24][25] most recently on the Ana Matronic Disco Devotion radio show on BBC Radio 2,[26] on Funky Tuesday[27] and on Disco Magic.[28]
