Land of 1000 Dances
"Land of a Thousand Dances" or "Land of 1000 Dances" is a song written and first recorded by the American rhythm and blues singer Chris Kenner in 1962. It later became a bigger hit 1965 when "Cannibal & the Headhunters" covered the song and added the famous "na na na" hook. This version reached #30 on the Billboard top 100 and was covered as the intro to The Residents 1976 album "The Third Reich 'N' Roll" on the suite "Swastikas on Parade".
History
This song has quite a deep history with The Residents. As with most song off of The Third Reich 'N' Roll the cover was made by playing over the original in their 4-track recorder then removing the track to see what they were left with. This song is quit a fitting intro for a number of reasons. The songs lyrics refernce many dance moves including "The Twist" which is refernce in the few seconds on the album. After a sample of "Der Twist beginnt" The Residents come in with the previously mentioned "na na na na na" hook. It is unknown if The Residents knew this at the time but this iconic hook was only written because the band forgot the lyrics and the melody of the original song. This forgetfulness is quite fitting for an album all about loose memories of bubblegum pop hits.
This song is most famous for being heavily featured in The Residents first "music video". While sitting in their studio on a very bored weekend the band found themselves motivated to make a short film of a newspaper band, playing newspaper instruments, in a newspaper room. After some additional pushes this song was synced up with the newspaper group leading to the "Third Reich 'N' Roll" music video. With how prevalent this song is in The Residents career it has been revisited several times leading to many new arrangements of the song.
Live versions
The first time the song was performed live was at "The Boudisque 20th Anniversary Party". Boudisque was a record store heavily associated with The Residents' European label "Torso". For this party, The Residents were invited to perform a one-off show as a celebration. This all happened during the latter half of 1988 when The Residents were in between many failing and growing projects. On the one hand, The Residents were abandoning their early attempt at God in Three Persons live and their American Composer series but were developing what would become their Cube-E show. All of this culminates in a new studio version of Land of 1000 Dances being made for this show. No recording of this song being performed at the show publicly exists, but an in-studio version was released as a UWEB exclusive on the Buckaroo Blues CD. A bootleg is known to float around of a earlier instrumental rehearsal which features land of 1000 dances.
Land of 1000 dances was performed live again in early 2001 when The Residents debuted their Icky Flix show. One of the main concepts surrounding Icky Flix was the rearrangements of every song featured on the DVD, known as the "Icky Flix Soundtrack". With this song being so heavily featured in the music video, it's no surprise it's the first song opens the Icky Flix show featuring this new 2000s Residents style. The last time the song was performed live was in 2021 during their Dog Stab! Mini-tour. While this tour was meant to promote their new "Metal, Meat, and Bone" album, the show featured an extensive encore which included much of "Duck Stab!" and "The Third Reich 'N' Roll". This song was supposed to have been performed more, but with the effects of Covid-19, the song was only performed during this tour three times, as part of the "Swastikas on Parade" suite.
Studio Versions
As mentioned previously, this song has been rearranged in the studio on multiple occasions. Two versions exist surrounding the Boudisque show, but this wasn't the only version to be produced during this time period. The very first UWEB Newsletter teased a new version of the song made by the group. This is what Uncle Willie had to say about it.
"They just sold out. Isn't that that a great phrase. How many times have you heard it? Well, prepare to hear it some more. I have just heard a mix of the brand new Rz Land of a Thousand Dances. No, this is not one of those sly tongue-in-cheek recordings. This is an honest to Dio Dance Record. The fab four flew down to (Where else) L.A and checked in with dance music producer wiz, Willie Wilcox who paced them through some of the finer aspects of "getting down". While the track can be described as definitely residential, it none the less pounds out an undeniable dance beat.
According to Cryptic sources, Willie Wilcox had called several months ago suggesting that he would like to produce the boys in a redoing of the classic, Land of a Thousand Dances, which had been originally recorded for "The Third Reich N Roll" in 1975. We know that the orb heads cannot resist trying something new, so they agreed to "see what happened". The song is being shopped around L.A now to see what label, if any, wants to release it as a legitimate 12" dance disc. One of them suggested that "they" might become as famous as "Bananarama".
This version had gone completely forgotten by the group for 30 whole years. When the pREServed edition of this album was being released, fans were treated to a Scott Colburn mix of this song made sometime in 1992. This new mix seems to fit Uncle Willie's description quite well, featuring a very danceable beat when compared to other versions of the song. The pREServed edition booklet reveals that "It appears that, during the early 1990s, he was handed the tapes from a thus far unreleased session, which he took the opportunity to make several mixes of himself. The original ran to over 10 minutes, and was specially edited by Scott himself for this release."[1] There is very little known about these original sessions outside the original UWEB letter, but a bootleg is known to exist of the original Willie Wilcox mix. This mix is very similar to the Scott Colburn mix. It's thanks to him that this song has been archived at all sense it was the only song not to come from The Residents' personal archive.
While both a live and in-studio version of the Icky Flix version of the song are featured on the pREServed, its worth noting that a live performance of the song was featured on Episode 9 of the Bogcast. This episode featured Robert Schilling talking about the new 2005 Mute record reissues of The Third Reich 'N' Roll. To compliment this, the Bogcast host took a live recording and aired it on his show.
The only other notable version of the song comes from the pREServed vinyl release of the album. To make the vinyl releases more unique from their digital counterparts, The Residents were commissioned to use the newly digitized tracks from the album to make a RDX highlighting unseen or easily missed aspects of this song. This RDX version highlights the original vocal performance given by The Singing Resident as well as many of the strange studio sounds heard throughout the song. This RDX version was actually teased on an RDX sampler released by Cherry Red. In a similar vein, there are two bootleg versions of the original song are known to exist which more brutally highlight hidden tracks of this song. The Residents have sensed claimed they were fake but the disc does contained outtakes that were officially released by the group. They were first shared on the unofficial CD "Meet the Third Reich."
Lyrics
1974 Swastikas on Parade version
Do the Pony The Boni Maroni[Note 1] The Mashed Potato Do the Alligator Put your hands on your hip now Let your backbone slip now. Oh, do the Watusi, like my little Lucy.[2]
1989 Buckaroo Blues version
Do the Pony Like Bony Maronie Do the watusi Like my little lucy Hand on your hip now Let your backbone slip now Do the twist You know it goes like this, like this, like this, like
Do the mashed potato And the alligator Do the shimmy Like my little Jimmy
2001 Icky Flix version
Know how to pony Boni Maroni The mashed potato do the alligator put your hand on your hips now let your backbone slip now do the watusi like my little lucy
(Various scatting on "Dig)
1992 Scott Colborn Mix
(Various "oo")
Do the mashed potato Do the alligator Do the twist now you know it goes like that ha ha ha
Do twist now you know it goes like this now do the pony ha ha ha like bony maronie oh well got it now[Note 2]
you know how to jerk now you gotta make it work now do the watusi like my little lucy and go get your yo-yo It goes so slow now[Note 3] hands of your hips now let your backbone slip now
(Various scatting)
1988 Willie Wilcox mix
you know how to jerk now you gotta make it work now do the watusi like my little lucy and a get your yo-yo It goes so slow slow slow hands of your hips now let your backbone slip now
you gotta do the twist now you know it goes like this now do the pony like Bony Maronie she goes ha ah ha she goes ha ah ha she goes ahhh
NOOOOOOOOOOOO
(Various scatting)
She goes ha ah ha She goes ha ah ha
(Various scatting)
Appearances
- The Third Reich 'n Roll (1976) [Version 1]
- The Third Reich 'n Roll (video) (1977) [Version 2]
- Video Voodoo (1987) [Version 2]
- Buckaroo Blues (1989) [Version 3]
- Stranger Than Supper (1990) [Version 3]
- UWEB Box Set (1990) [Version 3]
- Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (1997) [Version 4]
- Icky Flix DVD (2001) [Version 5]
- Icky Flix (Album) (2001) [Version 5]
- Bogcast (2005) [Version 6]
- Icky Flix Live (DVD) (2009) [Version 7]
- The Third Reich 'N' Roll pREServed (2018) [Version 1] [Version 5] [Version 6] [Version 8]
- RDX Sampler (2021) [Version 9]
- The Third Reich 'n Roll pREServed Vinyl (2023) [Version 1] [Version 9]
- Meet The Third Reich (???) [Version 10] [Version 11]
- Cryptic Mixes and SECreT Stuff Volume III (???) [Version 12]
- Lost Dreams & Hidden Screams: Volume I (???) [Version 13]
Versions
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Swastikas on Parade recording at El Ralpho
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Edited video version
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Buckaroo Blues alongside double shot
- ↑ Edited Concentrate version
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Icky Flix Version
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Icky Flix Live
- ↑ Icky Flix Live March 30th 2001
- ↑ 1992 Scott Colburn Mix
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 RDX Version
- ↑ Land of 1000 Dances (Swastikas on Parade, 1974) (0:56)
- ↑ Land of 1000 Dances (Swastikas on Parade, 1974) (2:13)
- ↑ Land Of 1000 Dances ('88 Willie Wilcox Mix) (5:14)
- ↑ 20th Anniversary Torso Show Demo
External Links and Refernces
- ↑ The pREServed linear notes
- ↑ Ima Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
Notes
- ↑ A more common spelling of this name is "Bony Moronie"
- ↑ Could be incorrect
- ↑ Potentially incorrect. Originally was "Billy get your yo-yo"
