Songfacts®:

• This was the first Stones song Ron Wood got a writing credit on. He said of the song: "'Dance Pt. 1' was one strong riff where Mick immediately took the bait, literally got up and danced to it, which was the whole idea of the track: it's a catchy riff. That was an example of a song that originated without words, just a groove with various changes, but never a chorus. We did have various alternative mixes going at the time, but I can't really tell the difference between Part I or Part II or Part III. It was just a novelty, the Pt. 1 bit." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France
• Like "Miss You," this song has a disco sound that was big at the time, but wasn't typical of The Rolling Stones.
• A similar version with different lyrics called "If I Was A Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)" was released in 1981 on The Rolling Stones Sucking In The Seventies compilation.
• Michael Shrieve, formerly of Santana, played percussion; the Jamaican reggae artist Max Romeo sang background.
• This is the first track on the Emotional Rescue album, which was a tough one for the band to make because they went long stretches between sessions. Keith Richards was less of a factor because he was trying to clean up from his additions, so the album has more of Mick Jagger's imprint, and Jagger was more likely to do dance music. Richards thought the song should be mostly instrumental, but Jagger had other ideas, filling it up with lyrics.