"Land of a Thousand Dances" (or "Land of 1000 Dances") is a song written and first recorded by Chris Kenner in 1962. Famous for its "na na na na na" hook, which was added by Cannibal & the Headhunters in their version of the song in 1965, the song's best-known version was Wilson Pickett's 1966 recording on his album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. This became his third R&B #1 and his biggest ever pop hit, peaking at #6. ^[1] In 1989, this version was ranked number 152 on Dave Marsh's list of The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.^[2]

The "na na na na na" hook was discovered by accident as Cannibal, lead singer of Cannibal and the Headhunters, had forgotten the actual lyrics to the song.

In the original recording by Chris Kenner sixteen dances are specifically mentioned: the Pony, the Chicken, the Mashed Potato, the Alligator, the Watusi, the Twist, the Fly, the Jerk, the Tango, the Yo-Yo, the Sweet Pea, the Hand jive, the Slop, the Bop, the Fish and the Popeye.

The song is one of the few vocal works whose lyrics do not contain the song's title.

[edit] Covers

• Thee Midniters (1965)
• The Action (1965)
• Bill Haley & His Comets (1966)
• Nino Tempo & April Stevens (1966, Scopitone Video Clip)
• Otis Redding (1966); also live on a dedicated Ready Steady Go! edition (1966) - Otis Redding Special
• Ike & Tina Turner - Live in Paris (1971)
• Patti Smith – Horses (1975)
• Ted Nugent – Intensities in 10 Cities (1981)
• The J. Geils Band - Showtime! (1982)
• World Wrestling Federation – The Wrestling Album (1985)
• Tina Turner – Tina Live in Europe (1988)
• Vinnie Jones – Respect (2002)
• Barón Rojo – Desde Barón a Bilbao (2007)
• The Action and George Martin
• Broken Social Scene
• Claus Ogerman
• Guy
• The Leningrad Cowboys
• The Mummies
• The Residents
• The Rezillos
• Little Richard
• Sam & Dave
• The Walker Brothers
• Chants R&B - Stage Door Witchdoctors
• Die Toten Hosen
• Lixx
• Roy Orbison
• Namelosers
• Lorena Gómez
• Joan Baez (1983)
• Nadja (2009)

[edit] In the media

• Wilson Pickett's version was played in movies The Great Outdoors, Forrest Gump and as well as in a memorable audition sequence in The Full Monty.
• Philippines variety show Eat Bulaga! had a song called "Kagat Labi", and it used the tune of this song.
• Fabrice Luchini dances to the song in Cédric Klapisch's Paris.
• Guy's version appears in the 1992 movie FernGully: The Last Rainforest and its soundtrack.
• The continuing "na" sequence was incorporated into the 1995 dancehall song "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by Ini Kamoze.
• Chris Kenner's version was played in the 2003 movie Radio.
• Broken Social Scene's version of the song was played in the 2007 movie The Tracey Fragments.
• The B-52's mock-60s-sounding 1979 song, "Dance This Mess Around", opens its list of dances done at parties with the line, "They do all 16 dances!", an allusion to the number of dances mentioned in this song.
• The song is played at Ibrox Stadium whenever Rangers F.C. score a goal.
• The song was used on Strictly Come Dancing on the 13th December 2008 - where six of the professional dancers - Darren Bennett, Lilia Kopylova, Matthew Cutler, Karen Hardy, James Jordan and Ola Jordan - did a group jive to it.

[edit] Charts

Cannibal and the Headhunters version

Wilson Pickett version

Ted Nugent version

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Lyrics
• Land of a Thousand Dances by Wilson Pickett at Allmusic
• Land of a Thousand Dances by Patti Smith at Allmusic