Update. A friend of mine emailed me the following info regarding this record:
"In McKinney, Texas "Let’s Dance", by the Excels, was the talk of the town. A petition was circulated around McKinney High School and at North Texas State University and sent to KLIF radio in Dallas, at the time the number-one rock n’ roll radio station ...in the country, to play the record. The DJs agreed and said it was a great song, but politics prevailed, and because it didn’t have a BMI clearance they couldn’t play it. However, other radio stations did play it and "Let’s Dance", written by Danny Goode, went on to become a world-famous record by word-of-mouth publicity and on its own merits, and would 43 years later get four McKinney boys inducted into the Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame.
They worked on this record for four and a half hours, and came up with four songs, two of which made it to this single. Did you notice it's on the Gibson label? The store was supporting the guys with recording costs, and stocked the 45 in their record section. The songs here are their original "Let's Dance" and a southern-fried version of the Rufus Thomas tune "Walking The Dog."
By the time of this record, the members were all between 19 and 22 years old. It's not clear how this first came out bearing ONLY Danny Goode's name, but that was quickly fixed and all subsequent 45s had the name The Excels."
This is simply a blog where I post interesting 45s that I come across. I'm not an expert on records or music history and I'm fairly lazy, so don't expect a lot of exhaustive background or research. Comments are highly encouaged...
Most of the music files presented here come from my personal 45 collection and are posted for purposes of musical enlightenment only. These are mostly obscure songs, over 40 years old, that may not have been reissued on CD. The intention is to raise awareness of underappreciated artists/songs. If you like what you hear, seek these artists out on CD or get out there and find some of this old vinyl for yourself... If you are the copyright holder and wish any files to be removed, I will do so immediately upon request.
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4 comments:
Update. A friend of mine emailed me the following info regarding this record:
"In McKinney, Texas "Let’s Dance", by the Excels, was the talk of the town. A petition was circulated around McKinney High School and at North Texas State University and sent to KLIF radio in Dallas, at the time the number-one rock n’ roll radio station ...in the country, to play the record. The DJs agreed and said it was a great song, but politics prevailed, and because it didn’t have a BMI clearance they couldn’t play it. However, other radio stations did play it and "Let’s Dance", written by Danny Goode, went on to become a world-famous record by word-of-mouth publicity and on its own merits, and would 43 years later get four McKinney boys inducted into the Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame.
They worked on this record for four and a half hours, and came up with four songs, two of which made it to this single. Did you notice it's on the Gibson label? The store was supporting the guys with recording costs, and stocked the 45 in their record section. The songs here are their original "Let's Dance" and a southern-fried version of the Rufus Thomas tune "Walking The Dog."
By the time of this record, the members were all between 19 and 22 years old. It's not clear how this first came out bearing ONLY Danny Goode's name, but that was quickly fixed and all subsequent 45s had the name The Excels."
Also, go here: http://www.ronniefoster.com/ronnie%20page/excels.htm
for even more info.
Nicely done! Classic Texas record.
Thanks Westex!
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