Dance With Me Tonight... - That Thing You Do! (1996) Discussion

[–] jaystarstar 10 years ago

It's not BETTER than TTYD, but it's certainly good enough for consideration as a follow-up single (which makes it less likely White would have basically just stood there as the band fell apart).

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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

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[–] jescci 10 years ago

I always thought DWMT was a "cover" ... not an One-ders original.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] stickley85 10 years ago

That was a very good song.The one thing I can't figure out is how why didn't they release more singles?Dance With Me Tonight and Wild One sound like pretty good follow-up hits to me.With the way radio worked back then after having a hit debut single,the public and the radio stations would haven wanted more singles from the band anyway.I believe Dance With Me Tonight and Wild One would have done well for The Wonders as well.

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[–] jaystarstar 10 years ago

Well, the whole concept Hanks was working with was the "One-Hit Wonders."

Although as I have noted in other threads, true "ONE-hit wonder" bands are very rare; there are plenty of bands who ended up their careers with only one hit, but the record companies almost always tried to squeeze another hit out of them.

In the case of The Wonders, even if the band did really break up (T.B. off to the Marines, Lenny off to Vegas, and Jimmy alone in his principles), Play-Tone would have almost certainly leaned on them very hard to get back in the studio and record a few more songs just to see if the magic would strike again.

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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

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[–] stickley85 10 years ago

Exactly!There was no way they wouldn't have pushed one of those other songs they had.Bands like that always get a follow-up immediately.They were just getting too big not to have another hit or two.

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[–] johnston.scot 10 years ago

Well, to release a single, they need to record it - which, when Mr. White attempted to arrange it, proved to be more difficult than it should have been.

On the other hand, you would think White would've made more of an effort to cajole, flatter and wheedle Jimmy into recording at least a few more already-written songs. The absence of Lenny would've scarcely been more of an issue than the absence of T.B. Jimmy could've sung whatever was needed, and it wouldn't have taken much effort to get a studio guitar player (indeed, they might have done that even if Lenny was there).

I guess they just shot through the "group breaks up" scene a bit quickly for the sake of concision. I suppose if it came after repeated multi-hour sessions of whining and wheedling it would've been more true to life, but not a lot of fun to watch.

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[–] HikerBoy57 9 years ago

Well, Jimmy did record more (sans Wonders) for Play-Tone, according to the Epilogue text. I always found that ironic, as well as the fact that he himself became a record producer, the very thing he seemed to despise.

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[–] ibgerm 10 years ago

YES...! 

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[–] bravomailer 10 years ago

Hanks probably went with TTYD because it had more of a Beatle sound to it than DWMT. That was the sound that many bands were seeking to copy in 1964.

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[–] strntz 9 years ago

Hanks probably went with TTYD because it had more of a Beatle sound to it than DWMT.

Whatever song was chosen as the title song, it had to be able to be arranged as both a ballad and a rocker for the genesis of the band and Guy's influence to be believable. DWMT's lyrics don't lend themselves well to a ballad.

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[–] queencat18 9 years ago

The radio station I listen to while getting ready every morning used to play that song every Friday, with Steve Zahn saying his line about signing the contract with the guy in the trailer during the musical break. They might still play it, but as I get ready and am out the door so early, I never hear it any more. Kinda miss that. Have the CD, and can listen to it whenever I want, but it's so much better with the Steve Zahn line.

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[–] b5erik 9 years ago

Better than TTYD? It's close at the very least. They're both great songs and would likely have been big radio hits in 1964/65.

I love the bass line in Dance With Me Tonight. That part of the song is superior for sure... Like I said, they're both great songs.

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[–] pennilayne 9 years ago

I like them equally. I can see TTYD being the first single and Dane with me tonight as the second--- but it's funny because I always thought Dance with me was a cover! LOL. It's a really good song. TTYD was just played more. Had it been reversed and we heard DWMT over and over everyone would probably be saying the opposite.

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