WCSX Classic Cuts : Come Dancing
WCSX Classic Cuts
The Kinks: “Come Dancing”
The Hook: Very British, but not too British to become a hit in America.
Album: State of Confusion
Year: 1983
Writer: Ray Davies
Stats: Peaked at number-6 on the Billboard Hot 100
Background: Ray Davies’ inspiration for “Come Dancing” was his sister Rene, who used to go ballroom dancing in London in the days before rock’n’roll. Davies says that while everything about the song reflects his London upbringing, Americans could still relate to the story the song told.
Kinks frontman Ray Davies on how “Come Dancing” put the lie to the theory that you couldn’t have an American hit if you sounded too English. OC:…that wrong. :16
“That was just written about London — just written and sung in a very London accent — and it became one of our biggest hits. So that’s not a barrier. People always said, ‘If you sound too English, you won’t make it in the American charts,’ or ‘You won’t reach people.’ And that proved that wrong.”
