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If you believe the story on this website, The Gentry's only big hit, "Keep On Dancing," wasn't even a complete song.
"As for those two verses and the “chorus,” word is that that’s all there was: “Keep on Dancing” is actually a patch job: the band, according to legend, only recorded the first part of the song, which was then copied and pasted in a 1965 way by the studio engineer. Everything you hear after the first 45 seconds or so (although the song is just barely over two minutes) is simply a repeat of the first part of the record, the engineer’s intent to make it long enough to garner radio play."
I can't see how that might actually be true - what kind of record company would let a group record only 45 secs. of a song? Anyway, here's the story:
The Gentrys’ ‘Keep on Dancing’: Behind the ’60s Garage Classic
By the way, this may be one of those rare cases where the B-side of a 45 is better than the hit. The flip of "Dancing" was a tune called "Make Up Your Mind" (NOT the Lovin' Spoonful hit!) and it was just a great song. Still one of my favorite forgotten finds.
Finally, this site, which I stumbled across by mistake, has some pretty interesting stuff on it, a lot of behind the scenes stories about oldies along with an examination of hits from certain years. Worth a look if you have a few minutes to click around.
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Thanks aflem. One of my favorites from my senior year in high school. I remember sipping a few suds while listening to this. What a super hit!!! It was #1 in Detroit and Chicago.
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I listened to it and noticed that at .20 seconds and 1.52, the singer sang that part exactly the same...pause and all. That makes me a believer that the second part was a repeat. I never noticed that before.
I always loved this song. I gave "Make Up Your Mind" a listen and also liked it...but not nearly as well as "Keep On Dancing".
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These guys were from the rival high school that I went to here in Mem. I went to a senior prom there and they played. Always loved this song. Larry Raspberry has been back several times to play at an Italian Fest. here and always tells the story of them winning the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. As for the song, I always heard they never had an ending and consequently had the pause and a repeated verse. This is a true story Aflem.
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Wow, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to hear that song quite the same way again. Great story.
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It's me Karen wrote:
I always loved this song. I gave "Make Up Your Mind" a listen and also liked it...but not nearly as well as "Keep On Dancing".
Keep on Dancing holds a special memory for me - but not for the reason you'd think. It was because of the guy who stole the record from me! It happened back in the 1980s, when Bill Gable, the legendary DJ from CKLW's heyday, was working at CFTR in Toronto.
He was doing afternoons in those days and although the station was a solid Top 40 outlet at the time, he had an afternoon oldie that he'd play every day. When he found out I had a copy of The Gentry's Keep On Dancing on a 45 - which somehow wasn't in the station's record library - he asked if he could borrow it.
Of course, I said yes. The legendary "Brother" Bill Gable was asking me for a favor! I was honored.
But I was less happy when he never returned the disc and then told me that somehow it had gotten lost and he no longer knew where it was. I never stopped reminding him of it and he always vowed he'd get me another copy. But he never did. (This being long before the Internet, I finally found one again in a used record store. I still have it.)
Bill, who later was part of the morning team on AM 740 in Toronto, retired and passed away a few years ago. And yeah, after all these years, I've forgiven him for losing my record. But wherever he is now, I hope he keeps on dancing!
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A lady I knew was going out with the drummer in the group in that late 80's - early 90's. When they first met he told her he'd played on the hit Keep On Dancing . She said " But the Bay City Rollers did that song." She said he wasn't that impressed.
Last edited by Scotty (February 25, 2020 2:27 am)
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aflem wrote:
It's me Karen wrote:
I always loved this song. I gave "Make Up Your Mind" a listen and also liked it...but not nearly as well as "Keep On Dancing".
Keep on Dancing holds a special memory for me - but not for the reason you'd think. It was because of the guy who stole the record from me! It happened back in the 1980s, when Bill Gable, the legendary DJ from CKLW's heyday, was working at CFTR in Toronto.
He was doing afternoons in those days and although the station was a solid Top 40 outlet at the time, he had an afternoon oldie that he'd play every day. When he found out I had a copy of The Gentry's Keep On Dancing on a 45 - which somehow wasn't in the station's record library - he asked if he could borrow it.
Of course, I said yes. The legendary "Brother" Bill Gable was asking me for a favor! I was honored.
But I was less happy when he never returned the disc and then told me that somehow it had gotten lost and he no longer knew where it was. I never stopped reminding him of it and he always vowed he'd get me another copy. But he never did. (This being long before the Internet, I finally found one again in a used record store. I still have it.)
Bill, who later was part of the morning team on AM 740 in Toronto, retired and passed away a few years ago. And yeah, after all these years, I've forgiven him for losing my record. But wherever he is now, I hope he keeps on dancing!
Great story. I grew up listening to CKLW and remember Brother Bill Gable well.
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Anyone remember that Jimmy Hart left the Gentry's to become a pro wrestling manager! He was called the "mouth of the south".
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In the 90s there was a show on The Nostalgia Channel called "Dancing To The Oldies" hosted my NIna Blackwood of MTV fame. It was like Bandstand with people dancing to oldies music. It featured an oldies artist on a weekly basis. This artist(s) would lip sync to one of their hits from before. One week The Gentry's sang "Keep On Dancing." I'm not sure who the lead was, but he was standing behind a keyboard.
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should have been Larry Raspberry lead vocals and guitar.
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memphis boy wrote:
Anyone remember that Jimmy Hart left the Gentry's to become a pro wrestling manager! He was called the "mouth of the south".
yes, indeed! i was gonna mention that, though i couldn't offhand recall hart's name or what he called himself, but i used to see him on tv fairly often.
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aflem wrote:
If you believe the story on this website, The Gentry's only big hit, "Keep On Dancing," wasn't even a complete song.
I can't see how that might actually be true - what kind of record company would let a group record only 45 secs. of a song? Anyway, here's the story:
The Gentrys’ ‘Keep on Dancing’: Behind the ’60s Garage Classic
By the way, this may be one of those rare cases where the B-side of a 45 is better than the hit. The flip of "Dancing" was a tune called "Make Up Your Mind" (NOT the Lovin' Spoonful hit!) and it was just a great song. Still one of my favorite forgotten finds.
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a couple of things:
a) no apostrophe in "gentrys."
b) the song may have been recorded, as many garage bands did, independently. no record company might have been involved until the two minute version was submitted to them, an a&r guy liked it, thought it a hit, and signed them. nothing hard to believe there.
c) i always liked "make up your mind" as well or better, too. oddly, at the time, i took exactly one (and only) ballroom dancing lesson. "make up your mind" was used in the lesson. i liked the song enough that i remember only paying serious attention to it, not knowing or caring what my feet were doing, or most likely weren't.
Last edited by gopher (February 26, 2020 3:39 am)
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memphis boy wrote:
should have been Larry Raspberry lead vocals and guitar.
I looked up images of him and believe you are right, sir.
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gopher wrote:
c) i always liked "make up your mind" as well or better, too. oddly, at the time, i took exactly one (and only) ballroom dancing lesson. "make up your mind" was used in the lesson. i liked the song enough that i remember only paying serious attention to it, not knowing or caring what my feet were doing, or most likely weren't.
As someone who takes ballroom and latin dance lessons, I find this quite interesting. At dance parties I'm often asked about what dance would be best to do to a song, and I'm not sure in this case. But I do like the song.
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