The decade in which I was born has given me a strange perspective on its music. I discovered pretty much all of the 70’s sounds – from prog rock to punk to disco – well after they came into the world. It wasn’t until the late 80’s that I discovered what I was missing. I would characterize the decade as one where budding genres leaped off their inspiration pads and came to fruition. For the month of February, Mental Jukebox will feature some of these gems with a different 70’s song each day. #28DaysOf70sSongs
Few soundtracks defined the decade better than Saturday Night Fever. It’s like a musical encyclopedia of the 70s. Every single track is a cultural icon, from the heavy dose of the Bee Gees (“Stayin’ Alive”, “More Than A Woman” and “Night Fever”) to Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You” to The Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” to Walter Murhpy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven”. More than halfway through, the album gets interesting with a song that’s not just pure disco: “Boogie Shoes”.
KC & The Sunshine Band released the song three years before the soundtrack. But back then, it was just a b-side. Saturday Night Fever really helped put “Boogie Shoes” on the map. Trumpets and saxophones adorn this fun, two-minute song. Those horn arrangements are legendary. “Boogie Shoes” has a little disco heart. and a lot of funk mixed in there as well. What makes the song less expected, however, is that these other genres make these sneaky entrances through the back door of the song, including elements of doo-wop and rockabilly. There’s simply nothing else like it.
“I want to put on my my my my my boogie shoes.”