Music has a strange power over human beings. If you sit down and be quiet, and really listen to it, it can inspire all sorts of emotions in us. It can make us incredibly happy or incredibly sad, and it can also make us very angry or repulse us.
There are some songs out there that also cause a physical reaction in us—they make us get up and move. I’ve narrowed down the list to 6 songs, but please feel free to chime in and let us know what songs make you get up and shake your butt.
1. Katrina and the Waves—”Walking On Sunshine”
English pop group Katrina and the Waves was a one-hit wonder in the mid 1980s with this “so upbeat it almost makes you gag” tune about falling in love. Regardless of whether you like it or not, it always seems to make you hum along or involuntarily sway from side to side. Doesn’t it?
2. Dexy’s Midnight Runners—”Come on Eileen”
Not only did Dexy’s Midnight Runners (they go by just “Dexy’s” now) have a hit with “Come On Eileen” 30 years ago, they also inspired loads of young people in the US and UK to pair Lee Dungarees with tank tops and kerchiefs round the neck.
3. Chubby Checker—”The Twist”
Naturally a song that tells you to get up and do a dance step will make you want to get up and do it, right? This song was originally released in 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (who???), but it was Chubby Checker who made the dance and the tune popular a year later in 1960.
4. Elvis Presley—”Little Sister”
Doesn’t this song make you want to get up, throw on a pair of pedal pushers, and shake it like Ann-Margaret in one of Elvis’s cheesy flicks from the 1960s? Or is it just me that this song does that to?
5. Chic—”Le Freak”
Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to reach down into your heart of hearts and finally admit that disco wasn’t all that bad. That there are some songs that really make you get up and *ahem* shake your groove thang. Right? Chic (you forgot who it was that sang this song, didn’t you?) was one of the bands in the late 1970s that helped you do that with hits like this one.
6. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles—”The Tears of a Clown”
If there is anyone who can write an upbeat song about a broken heart, it’s that musical genius Smokey Robinson. Instead of feeling bad for the person who got dissed by Cupid, you want to get up and dance.
Did my wee list manage to at least get you to tap your foot a few times? I hope so. Are there any other songs you would include? What songs make you get up and move?
Related articles
- Dexy’s Midnight Runners – now less the midnight runners (timgarrattnottingham.co.uk)
- When 7″ Singles Ruled the World – 1960 (allsongsandlyrics.wordpress.com)
- This Date in History: Come On Eileen (929dave.radio.com)
The Daily Hottentots 
athenabrady1
/ July 5, 2012Hi Angie, it lifted my day listening to your songs. Thank you another great post.
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 5, 2012You’re welcome! And thanks for dropping by. 🙂
RAAckerman@Cerebrations.biz
/ July 5, 2012I may like these songs, but most wouldn’t cause me to get up and dance. (Unless, of course, I WAS at a dance and could find an adequate partner…)
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 5, 2012And, odd enough, there are songs on here that I absolutely HATE (Katrina and the Waves is an example), but I still dance to regardless. lol
misssrobin
/ July 5, 2012Great list. I’d add Eye of the Tiger (Survivor), Move Your Body (Eiffel 65), and Pump Up the Jam (Technotronic). There are so many. Anything with a techno/dance beat is going to work for me. Anything I used to work out with. Anything that used to play at my high school dances. The power of music is amazing!
Thanks for sharing. Stopping by from SITS.
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 5, 2012Great choices, missrobin! 😀 There are so many songs to choose from I could probably do a weekly (or monthly) post about this topic. I might put this on my editorial calendar reserved for topic ideas and see if I can’t work it in, at least for the summer months.
Thanks for stopping by from SITS!
MikesFilmTalk
/ July 6, 2012Great list of choices. Katrina and the Waves I first saw in the NCO club at RAF Mildenhall in 1982 (or 1983). Her dad was a non-com and they lived at RAF Feltwell just down the road. She is one of the few performers who sound just a great live. Thanks for sparking off a lovely memory. 🙂
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 6, 2012You’re welcome!
That song always brings back memories for me and everyone I talk to. I’m not even really that fond of the tune, to be quite honest, but it never fails to get me to dance and sing along to it. lol And it always brings me back to when I was in grade school.
MikesFilmTalk
/ July 6, 2012it’s definitely what we used to call a ‘foot tapper’ and it does just put you in a good mood. My memories are slightly older, but it was an exciting time in my life, living in a ‘foreign’ country for the first time. 🙂
themanin
/ July 8, 2012Great selection, definately get my ass shaking to those tunes 🙂