Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) by Leo Sayer

Album: Just A Boy (1974)

Charted: 4 9

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Songfacts®:

This is certainly the most famous song about a hungry hobo who has to dance for his dinner. He insists he can't dance, but the hosts have a hard-and-fast rule: before you can eat, you gotta dance like Fred Astaire.

It has a happy ending: Sayer gives it a go and learns that he can dance after all. He even goes back for seconds.
Sayer wrote this song with David Courtney. In 1973, the pair teamed up to write most of the songs on The Who frontman Roger Daltrey's debut solo album, Daltrey. That same year, they made Sayer's first solo album, which contained "The Show Must Go On," a hit just about everywhere but America. The Just A Boy album followed in 1974 with the first single, "One Man Band," the first Sayer song to get much attention in America. "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)" was his next single, and a breakthrough hit.

Sayer split with Courtney soon after, and in 1977 landed two #1 hits in America: "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and "When I Need You."

Comments: 4

Tom Shaw from TexasThe smart kind....
Jimmer from Arlington, TxCatchy tune, but in listening to the lyrics, what kind of sick SOB makes someone DANCE before they'll feed him?
Dina from America I always loved this song!! When I was pregnant with my son, I told my husband that my child was doin that song on my bladder!!! Told my son that when he was old enough to understand!! Great song!!!
Bill from UsOne of the few songs where I knew all the words. I think we all did and that is why it was a hit. Plus the catchy piano rhythm. A real show tune.

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