Van Halen – Dance The Night Away

Alex’s drum intro and the opening guitar riff is great. The song was a natural hit and opened doors for them.

This was the first top twenty song Van Halen released. They would have more after this… The record company wanted to release this song first against the band’s wishes. Van Halen didn’t think it represented their overall sound but.. the record company released it anyway…and it was a hit.

The original title was “Dance, Lolita, Dance” but Eddie talked Dave into renaming the chorus to Dance The Night Away to make it more accessible.

Van Halen’s tour for this album was the first one that they headlined. It was delayed when David Lee Roth hurt his foot performing a jump at the photoshoot for the album. Needless to say, this song helped them gain more fans by the wide spread airplay they got.

The song peaked at #15 in the Billboard 100 and #28 in Canada. The album Van Halen II and it peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Charts, #15 in Canada, and #23 in the UK in 1979.

 

Dance The Night Away

Have you seen her?
So fine and pretty
Fooled me with her style and ease
And I feel her from across the room
Yes, it’s love in the third degree

Oh, baby baby
Won’t-cha turn your head my way?
Oh, baby baby
Ah come on take a chance
You’re old enough to

Dance the night away
Whoa-oh (ah) come on g-girl, dance the night away

A live wire, barely a beginner
But just watch that lady go
She’s on fire, ’cause dancin’ gets her higher than-uh
Anything else she knows

Oh, baby baby
Won’t-cha turn your head my way?
Oh, baby baby
Well don’t skip romance ’cause
You’re old enough to

Dance the night away
Oh oh oh (ah) come on g-girl, dance the night away

Oh, oh oh oh oh yeah

Dance the night away hey, hey, yeah
Dance, dance, dance the night away
Ah come on baby (dance the night away) hey, hey yeah
Dance, dance, dance the night away
Uh, come on baby, baby, dance the night away oh, ooh, yeah
Dance, dance, dance the night away ah, ha ow

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

35 thoughts on “Van Halen – Dance The Night Away”

  1. Although I’ve always sort of detested Diamond Dave- in my mind when I think of Van Halen- he’s the lead singer. Not a huge fan of them- I’d put them in the OK category but “Jump” is a classic.

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  3. Initially, all the way back in high school, I felt lukewarm about Van Halen. Perhaps it didn’t help that one of my classmates, who wasn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the room, was a huge fan! 🙂

    But I’ve since come around, and there are many Van Halen tunes I like. While I still feel Eddie Van Halen should take breaks at least every now and then instead of running up and down the fret board like a mad man who is seemingly seeking to maximize the number of notes he plays, undoubtedly, he’s one hell of a guitarist. If you want a guitar shredder, there’s probably no one better than Eddie!

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    1. I knew Van Halen was big when I went to the music stores and I started to hear guys finger tapping…or badly trying.
      I never thought of them as heavy metal…just a high octane party band with some radio friendly hits. And Roth…love him or hate him…he was a good entertainer. They were fun…

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      2. A little side story. I knew this guitar player…great guy and he wanted to jam with us. He could play Eruption note for note. Dude could just rock the guitar with finger tapping solos…his name was Brian. Brian came over and played with us one day…and we were playing Honky Tonk Women..I said Brian it’s in G.
        He asked me…Whats a G? That floored me. He didn’t know basic chords. What it was…he was an only child that grew up in Alaska and never played with anyone else all self taught. Learned every Van Halen solo there was to a tee…
        Him and I ended up playing together some and he taught me some and I taught him chords…it was so damn odd. He could have played with a pro band easy.
        I never got into finger tapping though…I’m not a soloist at all.

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      3. Wow – there’s something to be said about being all self-taught. Oftentimes, it’s those guys who are taking things to the next level since they aren’t restricted by “music rules”. They aren’t playing with their heads. It’s all feeling!

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  4. Van Halen/Van Hagar – TWO great bands with a ton of great music. You have to think of them as two bands because Diamond Dave and Sammy Hagar are two totally different front men for the group. Musically, they were much better with Sammy, but Diamond Dave gave the band raw energy that can’t be replaced. I grew up with the Van Halens. I am originally from Pasadena, CA, and so are the Van Halens. I used to run into to them all the time. Before they made it big, and were known as Mammoth, they used to host backyard parties all the time. I was there at those parties too.

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    2. I always thought Dave was the better entertainer of the two that is for sure.
      That is cool that you got to see them before they made it.

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  5. Said to deke a few days ago, Sammy Hagar probably has a better rock voice than Diamond Dave but Roth brought some intangible to the band that HAgar couldn’t match. I don’t mind this song but only lukewarm on it… but my brother would give 2 thumbs up I bet. He used to be a huge VH fan in the 70s.

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  7. For me…this is stellar rock GOLD. This was my introduction to VH. Roth’s squeaky voice and Eddie’s fingers were rock magic. Van Hagar was like wearing your shoes on the opposite feet. I LOVE Sammy solo but, fronting VH was too weird of mix for me. The music blend & feel was like oil & water… Sammy’s singing was stifled and the music just didn’t have the previous spark. I was bored to tears.

    Roth was squishy as a solo. Also boring…and annoying. VH ended for me when Roth left. Van Hagar turned into pedestrian rock. *yawn* I’d rather listen to Huey Lewis.

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    1. I’d rather listen to Huey Lewis…WOW that is telling. Whew
      Dave was a good frontman…and always good for a quote. He is out there…I just watched a bio on him the other day…someone said his young classmates laughed at him when he was younger about something and after that he vowed never to be closse to anyone.
      The story fits him but who knows if it is true.

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      1. Roth is weird as hell. No doubt. But, VH worked and the music was outstanding.

        Hagar was/is an awesome solo guy. After I Can’t Drive 55, fronting VH was a step down. He got muted. Ever tried to push two magnets together when one us flipped the wrong way? Hagar sacrificed his own unique spark & talent to front a band that he really didn’t mesh with. He was a star in his own right and he was being forced to shift himself to the VH sound. VH didn’t shift to HIS sound.

        Cases in point…when Paul Rodgers left Bad Company, their sound changed…became a different band. Even AC/DC’s sound shifted for Brian Johnson.

        Lead singers can make or break a band. The Doors, INXS, Nirvana & Alice in Chains never recovered. Van Halen sacrificed Hagar’s career to keep a theme going. And, it sucked.

        I mentioned Huey Lewis only as a point, not a true comparison. They are very good pedestrian pop-rock. THEY wouldn’t work without Huey. VH was never designed to be pedestrian rock but, that’s what they wound up with when they muzzled Sammy.

        Ok. Stepping down from soapbox. Time to go eat…

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      2. You know who they asked first? Patty Smyth from Scandal. I was in love with that woman… Also Hall….from Hall and Oats just came out and said…Van Halen asked HIM….that would have been interesting.

        One thing though Vic…it’s hard to believe in a way but they sold tons more with Hagar…I mean tons more. More #1’s …everything. It’s two separate bands really.

        AC/DC was a little different because they had no other choice…The Doors should have gotten someone else. They considered Iggy Pop…which would have given them as much trouble as Morrison…lol he might have been perfect.

        I saw Hagar open for ZZ Top before he joined them. He was very good live.

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      3. Patty Smyth? That would have been a disaster. I still love Scandal and love her voice (and similar Rindy Ross) but, VH? No. Joan Jett would be a better fit or Suzi Quatro. No shade on Patty…

        Hall us a crooner, not a rocker…a good crooner but, not hard enough. Eddie must have been desperate.

        I believe you. Like you have pointed out before…commercial product. Pedestrian rock can appeal to the masses.

        Well, Brian wasn’t the only one they considered, correct?

        Iggy & the Doors. That might have worked. Little bitty Iggy, strutting to L.A. Woman…🤔🤨 He certainly had the voice for it.

        Hagar was grand on his own. He was a trip.

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      4. Yes I loved her with Scandle….she was as cute as they come.

        Hall has a great voice and could have done it but it would have been totally weird.

        No with AC/DC they considered Noddy from Slade. He sounded a lot like Bon Scott.

        I think Iggy would have been interesting and like I said…given them as much trouble as Jim did…

        I read Hagars bio…it’s really good. He is honest and up front…it’s worth a read. He is older than I thought….he was with Montrose…I looked it up the other day and I told Deke he was only 4 years younger than Roger Daltrey

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      5. Noddy would have been a good choice. I was just reading about others… Allan Fryer, Gary Pickford-Hopkins, Stevie Wright, Buzz Shearman & Terry Slesser. It sounds like Bon, himself, chose Brian, inadvertently. He is the one who encountered him and told Angus.

        Iggy was a problem child, too. Had heroin habit…

        Yeah. 1947…my mom’s age. I had forgotten that he was part of HSAS.

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      6. Well then it was natural anyway. Brian did them good right off the bat with his singing and writing.

        Yea Iggy represented about the same trouble that Jim did…just not as poetic.

        I forgot about them

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  9. Love this tune and love this album. Those seven Roth albums that he fronted are amazing.
    AVH’s snare drum on this album sounds like blasts of artillery going off. So good and so clear sounding.
    Great post

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