The Safety Dance

The Safety Dance

The early eighties were strange times for popular music. Disco was being blown apart by a new wave, a sound pressed into mechanized Orwellian packages. Then along came the group Men Without Hats and their amazing original Safety Dance. It changed everything.

I spent many years fighting this song and its infectious rhythm, but the more I try to escape it, the more it attacks my mind. Apparently, I’m not the only one who is chained and haunted by this liberating celebration. Here is an interpretative version of Safety Dance posted on youtube (if you are viewing this blog on at school…you might be blocked from viewing it...that’s because you probably should be working or studying). I must confess that this version draws me back in the same way the original does. It’s inspired in some kind of different way. As the masked reveler parades down the secure-less halls of his high school, he liberates souls along the way like a pied piper in a room full of rats.

This Safety Dance in stick figures is quite amazing and has several sparkling moments. While the overall production doesn't always match the lyrical mood, the crudely etched drawings are inspired..

Hey…

Men Without Hats

Safety Dance

Ah we can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to, A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind,
and we can dance or sing

Ah we can go when we want to the night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet
and surprise 'em with the victory cry

I Say we can act if want to if we don't nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And i can act like an imbecile
I say we can dance, we can dance everything out control
We can dance, we can dance we're doing it in multiple

We can dance, we can dance everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance everybody takin' the chance
Safety dance
Oh well the safety dance
Ah yes the safety dance

We can dance if we want to, we've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it
Everything'll work out right
I say, we can dance if we want to we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're are no friends of mine
I say we can dance, we can dance everything out of control
We can dance, we can dance we're doing it wall to wall
We can dance, we can dance everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance everybody's takin' the chance
Oh Well the safety dance
ah yes the safety dance
Oh well the safety dance
Oh well the safety dance
Oh yes the safety dance
Oh the safety dance yeah
Oh it's the safety dance
It's the safety dance
Well it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance