B-side "Outside Help" Genre Soft rock Label Soul City Records | Released June 1977 Length 4:02 Writer(s) Jack Tempchin | |
"Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancin')" or "Slow Dancin' (Swayin' to the Music)" is a 1977 hit single by Johnny Rivers. It was his last Top 40 hit in the United States, and became his second Gold record.
Contents
"Swayin' to the Music" describes a young man slow dancing in the middle of the night with his girlfriend. Nothing is needed to be done or needs to come at the moment. The man tells his girlfriend that he wouldn't want to be anywhere else or be with anyone else.
First recordings
The first version of the song was made on the self-titled 1976 album by the Funky Kings whose membership included its composer Jack Tempchin: entitled "Slow Dancing", the track was issued as a single reaching #13 on the Easy Listening chart in Billboard crossing over to #61 on the Billboard Hot 100. Olivia Newton-John recorded "Slow Dancing" for her 1977 album release Making a Good Thing Better, with the lyrics changed from "my girl" to "my guy." A version of the song also appeared on the 1977 album release One More Tomorrow by the group Unicorn, fronted by Muff Winwood. The Unicorn version was issued as a single in 1977, with a 1978 re-release. "Slow Dancing" was also a single release for Lorna Wright in the summer of 1977.
Johnny Rivers version
Rivers recording of the song originally known as "Slow Dancing" was the first release on Rivers's own Soul City label following the label's reactivation in June 1977. The track was issued under the title "Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancin')" to avoid confusion with the current single release "Slow Dancing Don't Turn Me On" by the Addrisi Brothers.
Rivers's "Swayin' to the Music" had great chart success, reaching #10 on Billboard Hot 100, #8 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, #3 on Canada's chart, and #7 on Canada's Adult Contemporary chart. It is also Rivers's most successful song on iTunes.
Later versions
In September 1977 Mike Walsh Show regular Mike Williams covered "Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancin')" for the Australian market: Williams's single charted locally in Perth at #38 reaching a national chart peak of #80.
Johnny Duncan remade the song as "Slow Dancing" for his 1979 album "See You When the Sun Goes Down": released as a single the track afforded Duncan a #6 C&W hit.
"Slow Dancing" - so entitled - has also been recorded by Ian Gomm for his 1980 album release What a Blow from which it was taken for single release and also by Gloria Loring for her 2008 album release A Playlist.