Bobby Freeman

Bobby Freeman, who wrote and recorded Do You Want To Dance, did more for rock and roll dancing than all the Chubby Checker records combined. He put 9 hits into the top 100 between 1958 and 1964. I have 3, one of which came from the American Graffiti soundtrack, one of which came right off the single, and one of which came from a K-Tel LP.

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Bobby Freeman:

• Do You Want To Dance – The first challenge is to think of all the different versions of this song that I’ve got kicking around: The Beach Boys, The Mamas & The Papas, Cliff Richard, Del Shannon, John Lennon, Bette Midler. The second challenge is to come to terms with the ultimate dance song. This isn’t a slow dance, compared to, say, Dance With Me by The Drifters, or a simple invitation like, say, Dance With Me by Orleans. No. This is a dancing dance song, non-denominational, so to speak, unlike The Twist, The Stroll, The Majestic. Do you wanna dance, sings Bobby, under the moonlight (beating Van Morrison by a dozen years), make romance, let’s just dance! From the spring of 1958.
• (I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy – Let’s get down to specific dances. “I do the shimmy when I walk down the street.” I’d love to see that. From the fall of 1960.
• C’mon And Swim – Jimmy McCracklin did the walk, Chubby Checker did the fly, The Kingsmen did the climb, why not the swim? The dance, I believe, consisted of making swimming motions with one’s arms while dancing around the room. From the summer of 1964.