After the Dance (song)
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| "After The Dance" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Marvin Gaye | ||||
| from the album I Want You | ||||
| Released | July 15, 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 1975, Marvin Gaye Studios (Los Angeles, California) Motown Recording Studios (Hollywood, California) | |||
| Genre | Soul, funk, downtempo | |||
| Length | 3:30 | |||
| Label | Tamla | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Marvin Gaye, Leon Ware | |||
| Producer(s) | Marvin Gaye, Leon Ware | |||
| Marvin Gaye singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"After the Dance" is a slow jam recorded by singer Marvin Gaye and released as the second single off Gaye's 1976 hit album I Want You. Though it received modest success, the song was widely considered to be one of Marvin's best ballads[1] and served as part of the template for quiet storm and urban contemporary ballads that came afterwards.[2]
Overview
Written by Gaye and his co-producer Leon Ware, the song narrates a moment where the author noticed a woman on Soul Train and convinces the girl to "get together" after the two shared a dance. Throughout the entire I Want You album, which was dedicated to Marvin's live-in lover Janis Hunter (who wrote a 2015 memoir entitled After the Dance: My Life with Marvin Gaye),[3] the narrator — Gaye — brings up the dance concept in songs such as "Since I Had You".[4][5] The song also served in a funky instrumental, which included a synthesizer solo performed by Gaye[1][6] days before the master for the I Want You album was due at Motown.[7] The instrumental version received a nomination at the 1977 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Instrumental Song.[8]
The song was Gaye's lowest-peaked pop single for the first time in 13 years since the B-side of his "Can I Get a Witness" titled "I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby", peaking at number 74,[9] ironically three places higher than "I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby", while it was a bigger success on the R&B chart, peaking at number 14.[1][6]
Covers
The song has since been covered by a legion of jazz vocalists and groups including Fourplay, who covered it with longtime Gaye admirer, R&B singer El DeBarge, in 1991.[10] Their version was released as a single that year and re-introduced newer listeners to Gaye's original.[11]
Hall & Oates covered the song on their 2004 album Our Kind of Soul.[12]
References
- ^ a b c Guarisco, Donald (December 12, 2022). "Review of After the Dance". AllMusic. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Singleton, Mya (October 7, 2022). "25 songs with 'dance' in the title". Yardbarker. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
The smooth sound of Marvin Gaye's voice is sure to take any listener to another realm. That's the feeling when hearing his 1978 single "After The Dance." Gaye gives listeners the perfect quiet storm vibe on the track, as he details seeing a woman on the dance floor and hoping to "get together after the dance."
- ^ Lary Wallace, "Marvin’s Muse", Los Angeles Review of Books, September 18, 2015.
- ^ Torres (2003)
- ^ "Marvin Gaye - Since I Had You Lyrics". musiXmatch. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ a b Ritz (2003)
- ^ Weinger (2003)
- ^ www.grammy.com https://www.grammy.com/awards/19th-annual-grammy-awards. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Marvin Gaye". Billboard. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ After the Dance by El DeBarge, Fourplay - Track Info | AllMusic, retrieved 2022-12-12
- ^ "After the Dance" at SecondHandSongs.
- ^ Daryl Hall & John Oates - Our Kind of Soul Album | AllMusic, retrieved 2022-12-12
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