It Was A Bit Flat Till They Played The Carwash.
Everybody knows that hot, humid nights are the best nights for parties. Certain cities and even countries, thanks to their position on the equator have year around hot, humid summer nights. Not surprisingly they are all year party places; Bali, Thailand, the Caribbean, Miami and Surfers Paradise all depend economically to some degree on people partying the night away.
After all you don’t host schoolies in Hobart, do you?
As far as I know there are no songs about Crazy Winter Nights but plenty of songs with Summer in the title. Music sounds better on hot humid nights. Winter air carries the sound far away so it doesn’t hang around you.
On hot humid nights, the beats are louder; the riffs are thicker in the air. Lyrics concerning debauchery and riots in the streets or kicking back walking hand in hand along the sand all make more sense when there are stars in the sky and a warm perfumed breeze. After all, it is a hot summers night when our unidentified heroine gives her throat to the wolf with the red roses.
Of course on hot nights you’re going to be thirsty and a cold alcoholic beverage or twelve are necessary. Sipping scotch by a roaring fire has its appeal but 200 people can’t all get close to the flames while sitting on armchairs clinking the ice in their glasses and exchanging wit, wisdom and knowing looks.
Also in summer you are wearing less clothes, this of course can make for a highly sexually charged atmosphere so you get those great parties with hundreds of people spilling through rooms, out on to verandas, onto lawns and into pools all getting shickered and dancing. Shit! It reads well doesn’t it?
Well we went to a 50th last night and all of the above elements was there if toned down a bit given the advancing years and while the majority of attendees were on the high side of 35 fun was still had. Mind you we did have to start and finish early to allow for baby sitters and general old age conditions like yawning at 10.30pm.
There was plenty of food and sweet champagne, the speeches were heartfelt and spot on and the company was great fun. And plus seeing we were all mature adults nobody wanted to fight or pass out down beside the back fence or steal your date, stash or CDs.
The DJ was great too, mixing the screamingly essential like Dancing Queen, Bee Gees and Nutbush City Limits, some nods to bloke rock e.g. My Sharona, and Eagle Rock with his real loves - northern soul, old school funk and soul.
But it was hot and sticky and despite cold bevvies going down easy thanks to heat and us using UBER both ways for transportation I was still sweating just standing still talking. The dance floor was also not going off early but eventually the right time of night and the mix of alcohol in outweighed the effects of sweat going out and once the DJ put on The Carwash and we were off and away.
The women hit the dance floor first of course. We blokes always being a bit reluctant to get up and boogie. It is an interesting thing as there are plenty of cultures in the world where males dance together but somewhere in the western world’s history and culture this has been lost.
Women will dance for any reason or no reason. They dance to bond, they dance to be alone, they dance to commiserate and to celebrate, to show off and to hide. Dancing is something women just go and do when the time and place is right whereas we guys regard it as a task. A task that we need to plan, engage in and then review. Hence we are not renowned for the necessary spontaneity and relaxation that is so essential to good dancing. My daughter also reckons guys don’t dance well because they have no hips.
I am not necessary going with the cliché that only gay men dance well and all women are good dancers except for Elaine in Seinfeld but really us white blokes are pretty average. My theory on male dance in the west is that it depends on when you were born and what music you listened too. An early adult life spent in pubs in the 70s and 80s listening to guitar based rock is going to bring different dance outcomes than from someone spending their formative years at all night warehouse parties. That being the case the general standard of male dancing will only improve as Gen X, Y etc. move through adult life. No doubt DJs will be overjoyed to have no more dance floor requests for Khe Sanh.
At any rate my wife reckons I rate as a low pass in the dancing stakes and although last night was not my best work, I still got up and had a crack which was more than 90% of the blokes did. At the end of it I did have one sweaty crack though.
By midnight it was time to go home safe in the knowledge that we had put in. We got a lift home with all of us singing along to Wa Wa Nee and Madonna on the golden oldie radio station and arguing about what song was her best.
As I am a renowned “I like the old stuff better than the new stuff” kind of guy I went with the early material girl period. You can see the hunger to be a star.
Great Summer Party Songs – Wow, there so many great summer night party songs so first of all here are 6 well known
Bat Out Of Hell – Meatloaf but the real star is Jim Steinman’s over the top vision and lyrics
Its Almost Summer –Billy Thorpe
This is Australia - The Riptides
Echo Beach – Martha and The Muffins
Hot in the City - Billy Idol
Blister in The Sun- Violent Femmes
And 6 you might want to seek out
Heavy Metal Drummer – Wilco
Anything on Weezer’s 2016 “White” album
King of The Beach – Wavves
Under The Boardwalk - The Drifters
Down By The Sea – Morcheeba
Summertime- DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
