“Land of 1000 Dances” or “Land Of A Thousand Dances” was written by Chris Kenner in 1962. The first hit version was by Cannibal & the Headhunters in ’65. The single reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first time I heard the song was listening to KPUG-Bellingham in the mid-sixties. It was the latest hit by Wilson Pickett.
The late Wilson Pickett recorded his cover of “1000 Dances” at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “Wicked Pickett” was backed by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and the Memphis Horns. That single, released in 1966, became Pickett’s biggest hit. It went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues (soul) chart, and it peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It rose to #22 on charts in the UK. In 1989, prolific rock ‘n’ roll music critic Dave Marsh put Pickett’s version of “Land Of 1000 Dances” at #152 on his list of The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.
This video captured Pickett during a high octane live concert before his obviously awe struck and captivated fans. “Wicked” sure knew how to belt out a soul song. He put the “S” in screamer. Pickett will go down in the history books for his many memorable radio hits: “The Midnight Hour,” “Mustang Sally,” “634-5789,” “Funky Broadway,” “I Found a Love,” his take on “Hey Jude,” and several others.
The video is at ad free Vimeo, so click on the start button 2x – first to go to Vimeo and after you’re there to start your video.
June 22, 2021 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Bernie..I cannot guarantee it…but he was a big enough star that is likely. Even today often shows that play Seattle play Vancouver BC a day or two later. Wilson played Van in summer 1967.
https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/music-memorabilia/posters/wilson-pickett-1967-vancouver-bc-mustang-sally-concert-poster/a/7221-89135.s
June 22, 2021 at QZVX
Bernie says:
I am convinced that I saw Wilson Pickett perform in Seattle Washington in the late 1960s. I can find no reference for the show. Can you help me find out? Thank you!
October 1, 2020 at QZVX
Steven L. Smith says:
Jason…if you keep whining about symptoms like that the girls will no longer fall for your story that you are 36 years old.
October 1, 2020 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
The truth is out of the bag!
October 1, 2020 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
“Put your hand on your hips, yeah…Let your backbone slip” These days, my backbone or sciatica, as it is called, will slip just getting up from a chair. Songs about dancing: there are hundreds of them, just guessing. And quite a few of them have used that line, about letting your backbone slip. Chiropractors, rejoice!
October 1, 2020 at QZVX
Dick Ellingson says:
“I’m gonna dance with the dolly with the hole in her stocking while her knees keep a-knocking and her toes keep a-rocking, gonna dance by the light of the moon”
October 1, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Okay…I am a sucker. Are those real lyrics or made up by Dick. I mean with pop music you never can tell…like Patches and Laurie by Dickie Lee…another Dick.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
I recall that one. It is good.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
Lonesome 7-7203 good song. Hawshaw Hawkins. I think it has been covered by a couple other artists. An oldie but goodie, for sure!
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Dick Ellingson says:
To quote Buck Ritchey, Steve, almost nearly but not quite hardly,
“PEnnsylvania 6-5000” was one of the biggest hits and an immortal song of the big band era by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, recorded on Bluebird in 1940. It was the phone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, where Miller’s band had a regular gig. Its phone number is still 736-5000.
Those three others are local phone numbers familiar to many who visit this site. I threw them in just for drill and to agitate the grey cells.
I remembered another song though . . . LOnesome 7-7203.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
He had the energy and the moves.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Are those all songs Dick?
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Dick Ellingson says:
PEnnsylvania 6-5000, ELliott 2480, HOlly 5100, MAin 2312
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Ted…that is true. Something about phone numbers.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
ted says:
Wilson Pickett’s “634-5789” and The Marvelettes’s “Beechwood 4-5789” are both great records!
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
634-5789 was the number she gave Wilson Pickett, but her real number was Beachwood 4-5789. It has happened to many of us guys. I tried to call a girl at 555-1212, and then I got wise.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Better to gain wisdom afterwards than not at all I think.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Dick Ellingson says:
I used to call this chick at COlumbia 8900 all the time but she’d barely gave me the time of day. She was a real nit-picker too – every time Buffalo Bob hollered, “Say kids, what time is it?”, she’d say in her sultry manner, “It’s Howdy Doody time and ten seconds, Bozo! You’re late again!”
Then there’d be a bunch of beeps from a squeeze horn, a coded message – “The name’s Clarabelle. Bozo’s over on Channel 9!”
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Jay Hamilton says:
Great concert footage, Steve. I always liked Wilson’s choice of material. I remember Chris Kenner’s 1963 original version of a “1000 Dances” as a (the) hit … even though it only reached #77 nationally, but they played the heck out of it on radio where I was at the time. It was the follow up to Kenner’s 1961 (#2 national hit) “I Like It Like That”.
For those who are interested here’s a link to the songwriters version:
https://youtu.be/QDxfCywWgaE
I find it interesting that this song made the national charts three different times, by three different recording artists over a period of 3 years.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Jay….I know the name Chris Kenner. But I do not recall his vesion. I will listen. I best remember Cannibal and Wilson. But I did not start listening to radio till 1966.
September 30, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Jay…I checked it out. Pretty sure I never heard that version. But you were in radio several years before me, so I am not surprised you know it. It is missing the nah, nah, nah isn’t it?
September 29, 2020 at QZVX
Steven Smith says:
Jack…I think I liked Wilson better than James. But I liked them both along with Eddie Floyd and JJ Jackson and Otis and Ben E. King.
September 29, 2020 at QZVX
Jack D.Bell says:
Wilson Pickett!…His album cover, with him wearing that purple “poofy ” shirt, was so definitive of his powerful, even sexy visage…and I preferred him over James Brown….My hero, Jimi Hendrix, can be seen in an old photo from 1966, backing Wilson onstage, at a semi-private “record debut” hosted by Atlantic Records…I think Percy Sledge was being promoted at that gathering…Wow…soul music was so hot during this time frame…even the Beatles listened to it…and I can remember, that on one of their many recordings, George makes the remark, “Pick it, Wilson!” before taking a solo…Chris Kenner wrote this?…I know he himself had a couple of hits around that time…Thanks for this interesting post!