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Dance Little Sister
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Rolling Stones Mobile Recording Unit, Stargroves, Newbury, Berkshire, UK,
April 10 - 15, 1974 and Island Recording Studios, London, UK, May 20 - 25, 1974.

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Mick Taylor - electric guitar, congas
Ian Stewart - piano

On Thursday night she looked a fright, her prickly hair all curled, Lord, what a sight
Dance, dance little sister, dance
On Friday night she's all decked out, her high heel shoes, her dress so tight
Dance, dance little sister, dance
On Saturday night she bass-a-dee, she stepping high on Frederick's Street
Dance, dance, little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance
Dance little sister, dance, dance little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance
Dance little sister, dance, dance little sister, dance

It make me hot, I wet with sweat, it burned like hell, I've four hours left
Dance, dance little sister, dance
Get next to me, drive me close, don't mamaguy me, I lose control
Dance, dance with fire, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance
Dance little sister, dance, dance little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance
Dance little sister, dance, dance little sister, dance

Jump out of Africa with a step that looks so bold
When you kickin' high it make my blood run cold

I said dance, dance little sister, dance
Dance little sister, dance, dance little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance little sister, dance little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance, dance little sister, dance
On Saturday night we don't go home, we bacchanal, there ain't no dawn
Dance little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance little sister, dance little sister, dance
I said dance, dance little sister, dance little sister, dance little sister, dance

Produced by The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll” LP
(Rolling Stones Records COC 79101) US, October 15, 1974



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-01 17:30 by René.

Great and powerful song that jumps at ya right from the gate. Fantastic raunchy riff with some great weaving between Keef and MT. Mick J does a great job with the vocals and some appropriately silly lyrics that feed into the Rock and Roll myth. Love it! And I love the version on the El Mcombo boot. I always thought that the live performance of Sweet Black Angle from the Vancouver show sounded a lot like DLS. Same style of guitar on it with the heavy riff. So heavy you can barely hear Jagger singing SBA.

Bernard Fowler does it with Steve Salas on his current tour. It becomes more riffy in their version, reminding me of You Really Got Me by the Kinks.

Love it! The guitars really rock out, and if Mick Taylor's lead guitar work had become a little overbearing at times (as some feel) then here is an example that he could also keep it down and dirty. Just as Keith he does a mighty fine job here.

What does she Bass-a-Dee mean? And where is Frederick St?
This songs seems to get a lot of flack on this site but for me it's a real pre-punk rocker that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Emotional Rescue...one of those Where The Boys Go kind of rifferama tracks they used to knock off.

There weren't many artists of their stature doing songs this fast at the time - not The Who, Dylan, or Zepp (their Trampled Underfoot came a year later). So for its pace it's pretty much ahead of its time.

Agree with Andy Johns - a real t*rd of a 'song'

Great rocker
Great classic over the top Jagger vocal
Splendorous guitar work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-10-20 00:20 by Gibson Fender-Nanker.

Quote
Silver Dagger
What does she Bass-a-Dee mean?

I always thought the lyric was Paso-D, short for Paso Doble, a type of dance.


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

The song itself is not that great...
Superb energy, though!!

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Silver Dagger
What does she Bass-a-Dee mean? And where is Frederick St?

see [www.timeisonourside.com]

Great music and lyrics.

Lots of the funky sounding words come from Caribbean slang.

the guitars are mighty mighty fine -
it would've been happier if about 60% of the lyrics had been cut, though

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Palace Revolution 2000
Lots of the funky sounding words come from Caribbean slang.

Absolutely!! It's sorta an hidden magic of the song.

on a scale of 1-10 - a solid 9. mt and kr both playing it for keeps....

Superb Christian. That sorts out 35 years of head scratching. ><

As I always said to my Stonesfriends: It´s a minute too long.

Dance Little Sister is a big hit over here....and also a reason why I put on the Made In The Shade LP from time to time; contrary to all other 1971-2009 compilations. Definately one of the best guitarsounds Keith has ever had on record

Baffling to me that they haven't revived it for the stage. Should have been a barn burner in theaters and arenas during '02-'03.

For my money, it runs circles around the eminently forgettable "If You Can't Rock Me."

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Erik_Snow
Dance Little Sister is a big hit over here....and also a reason why I put on the Made In The Shade LP from time to time; contrary to all other 1971-2009 compilations. Definately one of the best guitarsounds Keith has ever had on record

agreed. there's almost a chainsaw-like quality to his sound on DLS....

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T&A
agreed. there's almost a chainsaw-like quality to his sound on DLS....

I can't think of any other official song in which Keith had a sound comparable to DLS....somebody should have been taken notes on how the buttons on his amp and guitar were pointed at, that day

They wouldn't even have to write decent songs to make good albums, if Keith had the same sound ever after....

the guitars , Jagger performance .. the short of breath : dance dance dance little sister , dance" WHAOUH" at the end ... love it,

Bit of mixed feelings about this song, great guitars but I hate song that repeatedly repeat words.......dance dance dance

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ten out of ten from me. maybe my super most favoritist Rolling Stone track I've ever heard. mick t and keith provide the uber-Perfect template for the hottest rhythm rockin' thing i ever done heard...super, everything. bass, drums, jags...
super toppermost track imo. love it. direct to the mainline, everything exposed...takes off on a mercury ride rooted so deep in the pre-historic mud that it's a friggin modern miracle...ten stars out of five.

yeah!.......crank it!

Don't care much for the studio version. Sounds lifeless imo
The El Mocambo version on the other hand is three minute brilliance - Bill and Keith in particular shines here



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-09-29 02:29 by Sohoe.

well its not hard to guess what the name of the song is

Love the guitars on this and the whole thing jells well

I believe this was the song about which Page said Richards could be forgiven everything for the riff.

Taylor seems to have a whammy bar (or some otherworldly vibrato). He's recently said in an interview that his favorite guitar is a Strat.

In the outtake of this song, you hear Taylor noodling before Richards starts. On the album version, a piece of the noodling is left in at the beginning. I always wondered what that was about until I heard the outtake.

By the way, the lyrics have been interpreted very different elsewhere. "don't mind a guy" could be "Don't mamaguy me" and it might as well be "good golly molly" for all I can tell

Thanks for the link Christian!

René