Dancing in the Moonlight

"Dancing in the Moonlight"
Single by King Harvest
from the album Dancing in the Moonlight
B-side	"Lady, Come On Home"
Released	July 9, 1972 (1972-07-09)
Recorded	1972
Genre	Pop rock
Length	2:57
Label	Perception Records – P-515
Writer(s)	Sherman Kelly
Producer(s)	Dave Robinson

"Dancing in the Moonlight" is a song by the rock group King Harvest that was released as a single in 1972 and reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band released other singles, but those were never able to match the success of "Dancing in the Moonlight". The track used a Wurlitzer electric piano throughout.

History

The song was written in 1968 by Sherman Kelly,^[1][2] whose brother, Wells Kelly – King Harvest's drummer in the early 1970s – introduced the song to the band. It was originally recorded in 1969 by the American band, Boffalongo, which included Sherman Kelly (who sang lead on this original recording of his own composition)^[3] and future King Harvest frontman, Doc Robinson. Wells Kelly later became the original drummer for Orleans. Meanwhile, King Harvest recorded and released "Dancing in the Moonlight" as a single, with "Lady, Come On Home" on the B-side, while the band was based in Paris. Steve Cutler, a jazz drummer from New York City (standing on the pole in the cover picture), played drums on the tracks and toured with the band in France and the UK. The group disbanded after six months, and the single languished for a year, until it was bought and released worldwide by Perception Records.

The song is often wrongly primarily attributed to Van Morrison,^[4] Elvis Costello or "Kink Harris",^[5] due to incorrect labeling on various digital download services. Neither Morrison nor Costello has actually recorded a version of "Dancing in the Moonlight", and "Kink Harris" does not exist. A musical number of the song is featured in Richard Wenk's comedic short, Dracula Bites the Big Apple.^[6]

The song was also recorded by High Broom, and released in 1970 on Island Records (catalog no. WIP 6088; vinyl 7").^[7][8] It failed to reach UK Singles Chart.

A cover version was released in the UK in 1973 by the singing and dancing act, Young Generation, but despite airplay, it failed to chart. The song finally charted in the UK in March 2000, after being covered in 1999 by Toploader, which used the first part of the first verse instead of the second part of the first verse.

The song was played as a wake up call for Daniel M. Tani, an astronaut on board the STS-120: Discovery mission headed for the International Space Station, on the early morning of October 24, 2007.

Toploader version

In 2000, English alternative rock band Toploader released a cover of "Dancing in the Moonlight". It was originally released in February 2000 as the third single from their debut studio album Onka's Big Moka (1999) and peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. It was re-released in November of the same year and this time reached number seven. The song has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 600,000 copies.

Usage in other media

"Dancing in the Moonlight" was licensed by Wal-Mart for their 2008 TV commercial season in the US. Alyson Stoner recorded a cover version for the 2009 Disney DVD/Blu-ray movie Space Buddies. It was featured in 2010 British dark comedy film Four Lions, while the main characters are driving down to London. The song was also featured in the 2011 British-American comedy film Paul.^[9] It is the walk up song of major league baseball outfielder Kevin Pillar.^[10]

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2000-01) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[11] 12 Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[12] 3 Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[13] 10 Germany (Media Control Charts)[14] 15 Italy (FIMI)[15] 11 Norway (VG-lista)[16] 21 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 52 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[18] 24 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[19] 44 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[20] 53 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[21] 7

Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments United Kingdom (BPI)[22] Platinum 600,000 *sales figures based on certification alone

Other versions

• Liza Minnelli on her 1973 album The Singer
• Joe "Bean" Esposito on his 1996 album Treated and Released
• Baha Men on 1994's Kalik
• Masters of the Obvious
• The Keane Brothers — who created a disco version in 1979
• Aswad on their 2002 album Cool Summer Reggae
• Orleans
• My Morning Jacket
• Jack Wagner
• Ted Raimi (in the Xena: Warrior Princess musical episode "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire")
• Alyson Stoner
• Jumping Jacks (named "Jumping in the Moonlight")
• Japanese singer ohashiTrio on his 2010 album Fake Book

References

External links

• Official King Harvest website