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Songs that swing hard, but bomb on the dance floor??

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:18 am
by Petitetonya
There is a song I have tried to dj about 2 times in the past year, and it is awesome, but people seem to freak out when I play it. It is Fats Waller's Aint Misbehavin' (the version from the movie Stormy Weather)...the song starts out slower (about 130) but swings hard...then, the band BUSTS out fast (about 220) and then they bring it back down for the ending. That song makes me want to dance, especially when it busts out, but for some reason people look baffled when the tempo changes. Perhaps the problem is the dancers that prefer dancing to faster songs sit it out when they hear it is slow and the dancers that prefer dancing slow freak out when it all of a sudden gets fast? I don't know, but I think it is kind of lame...I thought maybe I was crazy, but I showed the song to my friend who is a good dj, and he loved it too.

Does anyone else have this same problem with other songs?

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:36 am
by Mr Awesomer
I play that exact same song for the very reason you're frustrated with it.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:42 am
by SirScratchAlot
GuruReuben wrote:I play that exact same song for the very reason you're frustrated with it.
Yea, you do! that song is great...

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:57 am
by Roy
I love that version but I don't play it much either. The first few times I played it people walked off the dance floor when it sped up.

The only time I play it now is if there are a few hard core lindy hoppers in the club at the start or end of the evening and I forewarn them of a drastic tempo change. This seems to prevent people from getting pissed off at the song.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 10:03 am
by Greg Avakian
The same thing happened to me when I played a Louis Arstrong tune in Montreal. I knew it was going to happen because I was listening to the song the week before, but I'm not sure it's a nice surprise for other dancers.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 10:38 am
by JesseMiner
Regarding the discussion of songs with major tempo changes ("Ain't Misbehavin" being mentioned there in fact):

Double Time

Jesse