Dance Stance

"Dance Stance" is the first single by Dexys Midnight Runners. It reached #40 on the UK Singles Chart in early 1980.

The song references a range of Irish playwrights and writers including Oscar Wilde, Brendan Behan, Sean O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Edna O’Brien and Laurence Sterne.

The angry delivery of the lyrics reflect the punk sensibility of the time, although the style of the music is more the soul/Northern soul style from which the band's name is derived (the name is a reference to drug-fueled dancing in the all-nighters which were a feature of the Northern soul scene).

Dance Stance was performed by Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar), Kevin "Al" Archer (vocals, guitar), "Big" Jim Paterson (trombone), Geoff "JB" Blythe (saxophone), Steve "Babyface" Spooner (alto saxophone), Pete Saunders (keyboard), Pete Williams (bass) and Bobby "Jnr" Ward (drums).

A re-recorded version appeared on the band's debut album, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, under the new title 'Burn It Down'.

The song was released in 1979 on the independent label Oddball Records.

Dexys Midnight Runners
  • Kevin Rowland
  • Jim Paterson
  • Pete Williams
  • Mick Talbot
  • Lucy Morgan
  • Al Archer
  • Pete Saunders
  • John Jay
  • Steve Spooner
  • Geoff Blythe
  • Jeff Kent
  • Bobby Ward
  • Andy Leek
  • Andy "Stoker" Growcott
  • Seb Shelton
  • Paul Speare
  • Brian Maurice
  • Steve Wynne
  • Mickey Billingham
  • Billy Adams
  • Giorgio Kilkenny
  • Helen O'Hara
  • Steve Brennan
  • Roger MacDuff
  • John Edwards
  • Andy Hamilton
  • Nick Gatfield
  • Spike Edney
  • Robert Noble
  • Vincent Crane
  • Tim Dancy
  • Julian Litman
  • Mick Bolton
  • Pol Coussee
  • Fayyaz Virji
  • Penn Pennington
  • Jerry Preston
  • Jerod Minnies
  • Neil Hubbard
  • Julian Crampton
  • Crispin Taylor
  • Volker Janssen
  • Paul Taylor
Studio albums
  • Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
  • Too-Rye-Ay
  • Don't Stand Me Down
  • One Day I'm Going to Soar
Compilations
  • Geno
  • The Very Best of Dexys Midnight Runners
  • BBC Radio One Live in Concert
  • Let's Make This Precious
  • The Projected Passion Revue
  • Master Series - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Singles
  • "Dance Stance"
  • "Geno"
  • "There, There, My Dear"
  • "Keep It Part Two (Inferiority Part One)"
  • "Plan B"
  • "Show Me"
  • "Liars A To E"
  • "The Celtic Soul Brothers"
  • "Come On Eileen"
  • "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)"
  • "Let's Get this Straight (From the Start)"
  • "This is What She's Like"
  • "Because of You"
  • "She Got a Wiggle"
Related articles
  • The Blue Ox Babes
  • The Bureau
  • General Public
  • The Killjoys


Famous quotes containing the words dance and/or stance:

    “All the old supports going, gone, this man reaches out a hand to steady himself on a ledge of rough brick that is warm in the sun: his hand feeds him messages of solidity, but his mind messages of destruction, for this breathing substance, made of earth, will be a dance of atoms, he knows it, his intelligence tells him so: there will soon be war, he is in the middle of war, where he stands will be a waste, mounds of rubble, and this solid earthy substance will be a film of dust on ruins.”
    —Doris Lessing (b. 1919)

    “For good teaching rests neither in accumulating a shelfful of knowledge nor in developing a repertoire of skills. In the end, good teaching lies in a willingness to attend and care for what happens in our students, ourselves, and the space between us. Good teaching is a certain kind of stance, I think. It is a stance of receptivity, of attunement, of listening.”
    —Laurent A. Daloz (20th century)