"Land of a Thousand Dances" (or "Land of 1000 Dances") is a song written and first recorded by Chris Kenner in 1962. The song is famous for its "na na na na na" hook, which Cannibal & the Headhunters added in their 1965 version, which reached thirty on the Billboard chart. The song's best-known version was Wilson Pickett's 1966 recording on his album, which became an R&B #1 and his biggest ever pop hit. Some releases of the song credit Antoine "Fats" Domino as a co-author of the song with Kenner. Domino agreed to record the song in exchange for half of the song's royalties.
The "na na na na na" hook happened by accident when Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia, lead singer of Cannibal and the Headhunters, forgot the lyrics. The melody to this section was also created spontaneously, as it is not in Chris Kenner's original track.
The original Chris Kenner recording mentions 16 dances : the Pony, the Chicken, the Mashed Potato, the Alligator, the Watusi, the Twist, the Fly, the Jerk, the Tango, the Yo-Yo, the Sweet Pea, the Hand jive, the Slop, the Bop, the Fish, and the Popeye.
The lyrics mention many dances, but don't contain the song's actual title. Kenner's original recording included a brief, gospel-influenced, a capella introduction with the words: "Children, go where I send you / (How will you send me?) / I'm gon' send you to that land / the land of a thousand dances." This eighteen seconds was left off the single release to facilitate radio airplay, and the phrase "Land of 1000 Dances" never appeared in any subsequent recording.
Read more about Land Of A Thousand Dances: Wilson Pickett Version, Covers, Derivative Works, Charts
Famous quotes containing the words land of, land, thousand and/or dances:
“Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 10:21.
“A land of meanness, sophistry and mist.
Each breeze from foggy mount and marshy plain
Dilutes with drivel every drizzly brain.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Luxury has been railed at for two thousand years, in verse and in prose, and it has always been loved.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“Tommy is three and when he’s bad
his mother dances with him.
She puts on the record,
“Red Roses for a Blue Lady”
and throws him across the room.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)