You Should Be Dancing


"You Should Be Dancing" is a song by the Bee Gees, from the album Children of the World, released in 1976. It hit No. 1 for one week on the American Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 for seven weeks on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, and in September the same year, reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Soul chart. It was this song that first launched the Bee Gees into disco. It was also the only track from the group to top the dance chart.
It is also one of six songs performed by the Bee Gees included in the Saturday Night Fever movie soundtrack which came out a year later.

Origin

"You Should Be Dancing" was recorded 19 January, 1 and 8 February, and 6 May 1976 with Barry Gibb providing lead vocals in falsetto. Barry had developed his falsetto to a remarkable degree in the ten months since the release of "Baby As You Turn Away" from the Main Course album on which he sang a full song in falsetto for the first time. Keyboardist Blue Weaver recalls that Maurice Gibb wrote the bass line and sang the horn parts to the brass players, while Barry sang parts for Weaver to play, while guitarist Alan Kendall got in a short guitar solo for its instrumental break.
Stephen Stills was also at Criteria Studios recording the album, Long May You Run, with his band and Neil Young. Stills added percussion on the song's February sessions. Members of Stills's backing band, George Perry and Joe Lala, also worked with the Bee Gees on some songs.

Music and lyrics

critic Donald A. Guarisco said that "You Should Be Dancing" "represents the poppier side of disco at its most infectiously catchy." The lyrics on the verses extol a woman who likes disco music, and the chorus tells the listener to "hit the dancefloor" with the lyrics "What you doin' on your bed on your back? Ah You should be dancing".

Reception

Billboard described "You Should Be Dancing" as a "strong, uptempo disco cut" with the Bee Gees' "strongest singing since "Jive Talkin'." Cash Box said that "the playing is more polished , and the band does some things to the vocals, with trading off, which are highly ear-catching." Record World called it an "across the board smash" saying "'Get off your back, you should be dancing' they sing and there's no resisting the stomping beat."
Guarisco said that the song "blended all the thrills of good up-tempo disco with strong pop hooks" and especially praised the "stellar, surprisingly hard-rocking guitar solo midway through, an element one might not expect in a dance tune."

Charts

The song was their third Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 and their sixth No. 1 in Canada. It ended as the No. 31 song of the year. In the 1970s some of the Bee Gees' songs were deemed too uptempo for AC/Easy Listening Radio which led to "You Should Be Dancing" only reaching No. 25 on that chart. It also hit No. 4 in Ireland. In Australia, where the brothers spent a number of years in their youth, it managed only to nick the top 20.
"You Should Be Dancing" is known today as the first chart-topper in which Barry Gibb uses his now-trademark falsetto in a lead vocal. Earlier songs, such as "Jive Talkin'", had Gibb use a melodic blue-eyed soul vocal style.

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
Belgium 31

Chart Peak
position

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track.
  • Barry Gibb – vocals, guitar
  • Robin Gibb – vocals
  • Maurice Gibb – vocals, bass guitar
  • Alan Kendall – guitar
  • Dennis Bryon – drums
  • Blue Weaver – keyboards
  • Joe Lala − percussion
  • George Perry − percussion
  • Stephen Stills – additional percussion

    E. Sensual version

In 1995, E. Sensual released a cover, titled "B.G. Tips - You Should Be Dancing", which reached number three in Hungary and number four in Finland.

Track listing

Europe: CD maxi
  1. B.G.Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  2. B.G.Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  3. B.G.Tips – You Should Be Dancing
France: CD maxi
  1. B.G.Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  2. B.G.Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  3. B.G.Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  4. B.G. Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  5. B.G. Tips – You Should Be Dancing
  6. B.G. Tips – You Should Be Dancing

    Charts

Blockster version

British DJ Blockster released a cover of the song, titled "You Should Be...", on 4 January 1999. It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart the same month. By doing so, it marked the first time that two songs written by the Gibb brothers had charted within the UK top three simultaneously, as Steps' cover of "Tragedy" was at number two during that week.

Critical reception

Daily Record wrote, "This was one of the big club floor-fillers last year. Another hit proving that a few words, a catchy melody and big bass sound seems to equal a hit."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other cover versions

The Bee Gees remixed the song in 1993 for their album Size Isn't Everything, under the title "Decadance".
Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz performing "You Should Be Dancing" in 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. It was heard at the end of the 2010 animated film Despicable Me.
American rock band Foo Fighters, under the alter ego "Dee Gees", covered the song on BBC Radio 2's Sofa Session. The song can be found on their album Hail Satin.
For its third season American TV series Glee covered this song as part of its tribute episode to Saturday Night Fever, titled "Saturday Night Glee-ver". Darren Criss, Heather Morris, and Harry Shum Jr. provided lead vocals as their characters Blaine Anderson, Brittany Pierce, and Mike Chang.