The original Chris Kenner recording, which peaked at No. 77 on the Billboard chart in 1963, mentions 16 dances: 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. Kenner's original recording included a brief, gospel-influenced, a capella introduction with the words: "Children, go where I send you / (Where will you send me?) / I'm gon' send you to that land / the land of a thousand dances." This 18 seconds was left off the single release to facilitate radio airplay, and the phrase "Land of 1000 Dances" never appeared in any subsequent recording.
Cannibal and the Headhunters version
The song is famous for its "na na na na na" hook, which Cannibal & the Headhunters added in their 1965 version, which reached number 30 on the Billboard chart.[2] The hook gave the song further notoriety. The "na na na na na" hook happened by accident when Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia, lead singer of Cannibal and the Headhunters, forgot the lyrics.[3] The melody to this section was also created spontaneously, as it is not in Chris Kenner's original track. The "na na na na na" hook was later borrowed in the 1994 song "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by Jamaican artist Ini Kamoze.[4]
Some releases of the song credit Antoine "Fats" Domino as a co-author of the song with Kenner. Domino agreed to record the song in exchange for half of the song's royalties.[3]
The J. Geils Band released a live cover version as a single in 1983. Cash Box said that the band "does justice" to the original on the recording.[10]Billboard said that "Acapella chanting, with the audience hooting and clapping in the background, fills out the sound with manic high energy."[11]
The song became the central element of Patti Smith's song "Land" off her debut album Horses in 1975.
The lyric "Do the alligator" became the chorus of "Alligator Song" by New Zealand band The Bilders in 1985.
^Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 101.
^ abShannon, Bob; John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. New York: Warner Books. pp. 94–95. ISBN0-446-38171-3.
