The Gentrys - Keep On Dancing (1965)

This band was formed in May 1963 by seven students at Treadwell High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Originally going by the name The Gents, the group had entered and placed in a number of band competitions throughout 1964. This led to the group getting a record deal from the local Youngstown Records in December of that same year and releasing their first single- a regional hit, titled “Sometimes”- in early 1965. Later in 1965, the group released their most successful song (heard below), which led to appearances on Shindig!, Hullaballo, Where the Action Is, and the 1967 movie It’s a Bikini World. The success of the song even led the band to tour and open for The Beach Boys and Sonny and Cher. Unfortunately, though, the group’s five follow-up singles were not well received, and the group disbanded in 1967. Notably, however, the band’s primary vocalist, Jimmy Hart, would go on to have a very successful career in the WWF (now WWE) throughout the 1980s and ‘90s.

Written by Allen Jones and Willie David Young, the song below was first recorded and released by a band known as The Avantis in 1963. The Gentrys’ cover of the song, released in 1965 and heard below, sold over a million copies and spent two weeks at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It should be noted that for this particular song, the lead vocals were performed by the band’s guitarist, Larry Raspberry.

Also, the finished song was initially one minute and thirty seconds long. But, feeling that it was too short to receive significant commercial airplay, producers took the first forty seconds of the song and duplicated them at the end of the track. As a result, the final version of the song has a false ending at the 1:30 mark, followed by the exact same intro being heard for the next forty seconds, until it fades out and the song officially ends.



The Gentrys - Keep On Dancing (1965)

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Lyrics:

Keep on dancin’
Keep on doing the jerk right now
Shake it, shake it, baby
Come on and show me how you work

Now you’re in motion
Keep on- do the locomotion, yeah
Don’t worry, little babe
Shake it, shake it perfectly

Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’

Keep on dancin’
Keep on doing the jerk
Shake it, shake it, baby
Come on and show me how you work

Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’

Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’

Keep on dancin’
Keep on doing the jerk right now
Shake it, shake it, baby
Come on and show me how you work

Now you’re in motion
Keep on- do the locomotion, yeah
Don’t worry, little babe
Shake it, shake it perfectly

Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’
Keep on dancin’ and a’prancin’...