History
The song was written in 1968 by Sherman Kelly, 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) 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.
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 Thursday 24 October 2007.
"Dancing in the Moonlight" was licensed by Wal-Mart for their 2008 TV commercial season in the US.
The song was recently featured in the 2011 film Paul.
Read more about this topic: Dancing In The Moonlight
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