Posted on 05/02/2021 4:40:14 PM PDT by SamAdams76
This historical disco recording is referred by some to be "the apotheosis of the dance" and is considered a landmark musical achievement of the disco era.
"Let's All Chant" is basically an uptempo disco song with Baroque overtones, driven by a repetitive bass line, handclaps and numerous vocal hooks (such as "Ah-ah, eh-eh, let's all chant" and some more complex lyrics such as "Your body, my body, everybody work your body").
Without wanting to get into too much detail for laypeople, these lyrics are essentially about dancing and working one's body. The song's instrumentation also includes Afro-Cuban drums, a rollicking piano line and an ensemble of wind instruments, marked by a piccolo trumpet solo which sounds like it's straight out of a JS Bach ricecar fugue.
Yet this quirky and infectious song almost never happened. Composer Michael Zager was at first embarrassed at the concept when offered a commission to create a catchy "danceable" song that incorporated the "Ooh-ah, Ooh-ah" chants that were popular on dance floors at the time. Zager consoled himself by adding in a piccolo trumpet and other wind instruments to lend the composition some classical chops and the rest is musical history.
Is that the same or a different “Zager” from “Zager and Evans”?
(in the year 2525)
Never heard of it.
Now you have!
There is no relation to Michael Zager that I am aware of.
It was also features on the soundtrack of the 1978 movie “The Eyes of Laura Mars”.
Like a Biden admin. How low can you really go.
I believe the quintessential disco song was “Staying Alive” or “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees. As much as I disliked disco, both tunes had an irresistible groove. I’m a drummer and the drums were boring, but the tempo was just perfect for toe-tapping.
Big hit for The Gregorians in the 500’s...
Just watched the YouTube of Let’s All Chant. Other than some keyboard, it is exactly the kind of disco I disliked. I had to take my earphones of with all its repetitious crap. Oy,Oy, please. I don’t get the enthusiasm since it sounds like almost every other disco.
I might check it out some time.
I was listening to the top hits of 1978 on the Casey Kasem replay this morning. It was interesting hearing some of those songs again. 43 years ago and I can remember what I was doing when those songs were on the radio.
Yup, one base line, stupid handclaps, and lame vocal hooks.
Complex lyrics? You're kidding. So he added some other instruments, it still is basic disco. At least "Staying Alive" had actual lyrics that told a small story. BTW, I also like some Donna Summers.
At the time I was listening to rock bands. I remember the slogan, "Die disco, die". I was so happy when it did and New Wave came to be.
I still like the one disco song that goes “Dance, Dance, Dance” subtitled (”Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah”)
Casey Kasem is still alive? I also remember what I was doing in the 70’s - avoiding disco and listening to the great rock artists of the time. Wonder if you can name even one without Google.
It’s kind of a hidden John Carpenter movie, he wrote it.
Freegards
I can’t believe I made it 43 years without ever hearing that song.
Here’s to another great 43 without hearing it again.
On the plus side, it was nice to watch some fit babes almost-twerking before twerking was invented.
“Complex lyrics? You’re kidding.”
I do believe there was some nice tongue-in-cheek word play there by SamAdams. Your sarcasm detector needs a tune-up.
Ack! Let me help you out with the rock artists of the 70's:
Santana; Aerosmith; Kansas; Boston; Fleetwood Mac; Kiss; Allman Brothers; late Zepplin, even the early Cars. Then there was Deep Purple and Alice Cooper and David Bowie, none of which I was a fan.
They were all writing and playing musical and lyrical circles around disco. Sorry, don't mean to be argumentative, but I grew up with Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee, the Girl Groups, Motown, Stones and countless others. I've also played in many bands as a drummer or lead singer. My down side is I never learned to read sheet music. So you may have me there.
The “chant” from that song, coupled with a finger pointed in the air, was synonymous with Disco in the late-70s. The chant sound was also featured on Foxy’s “Get Off” and I’ll never forget being on a bus in Newark back then when a well dressed black man and two equally well dressed black women got on and were dancing to that song in unison in the aisle with a huge boom box that the guy held on his shoulder. Their choreography was perfect and they put on quite a show. People just having fun. Say what you want about Disco, it was upbeat and many of the songs of the day are still popular, which cannot be said about much of today’s popular music.
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