Originally Published on Aug. 29, 2017
The Song of the Day is:
Wilson Pickett – “Land of 1000 Dances”
From the album The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966)
This going to sound really geeky of me (as if I haven’t already geeked out on 269 songs), but not long ago I calculated what Junior’s one thousandth day since birth would be. Well it’s today, so clearly I wanted to play something with 1,000 in it. Wilson Pickett’s version of “Land of 1000 Dances” certainly fits the bill. The song was originally by Chris Kenner, a regional singer in Louisiana, and it was further popularized by Fats Domino (who through some great deal got to cover it, plus received royalties from it by having been added as a cowriter, even though he didn’t have anything to do with its creation). The song lists sixteen of the most famous dances of the day, and it had its definitive performance from wicked Wilson Pickett. Pickett was one of soul music’s most energetic singers, a master of the growl and the scream. Pickett recorded this album at FAME Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama, with their famous studio musicians (The Swampers) who would back other soul singers for Atlantic records such as Aretha Franklin and Percy Sledge. This song has made numerous “best songs” lists over the decades. Pickett died in early 2006.
Hear Today, Grown Tomorrow 