City of Angels – Update #10

Let me just say: BEN AND MELISSA’S NEW ROUTINE!

NAAAAAAA!

na na na

NAAAAA!

na na na

NAAAAAA na-na NAAAAAA na-na NAAAAAA

na na na NAAAAAAAAAAAA!

WAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUU!!! HELP ME!!

That’s Wilson Pickett and that’s his GREAT screaming soul classic, “Land of 1,000 Dances,” maybe the happiest song ever written. It’s a joyful noise unto the Lord kind of song, and …

IT’S BEN AND MELISSA’S ROUTINE SONG!

Talk about exuberance!

WAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUU!!!

We grew up dancing to this song – we actually did those 1,000 dances right along with Wilson Pickett.

Well. Last night Ben and Melissa did them too, and let me tell you – what FUN!

You hear:

“1, 2, 3?”

[horns]

“1, 2, 3!!”

[horns]

[guitar string 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8]

“WAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUU!!!”

“UH!”

Got to know how to Pony [ba baaaaa]

Like Bony Maroney [ba baaaa]

Mashed Potataaa [ba baaaa]

Do the Alligataaa [ba baaa]

And here come Ben and Melissa, at a wild 175 beats per minute, doing the Pony, the Mashed Potatoes, the Alligator, they put their hands on their hips and let their backbones slip, they do the Watusi, they do the Twist with Lucy, they roll over on their backs, they do the Jerk like that …

They fly around and up and down and hit the top and they don’t stop this way that way across the floor jumping spinning sliding …

until the last WAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUU HELP ME!! …

and they fall on the floor, spread-eagle, gasping for air and flat out of juice.

Too much fun.

It’s a rollicking celebration of a routine, filled with jokes and wit and the love of dance.

Ben’s in a plain white t-shirt with suspenders and plain black pants and shoes; Melissa’s in a cropped black vest and plain black slacks and shoes. I loved the simplicity of their clothes – sequins and rhinestones would have been all wrong for this. I loved everything about this routine. I can’t wait to see it 100 more times.

I think I love everything Ben and Melissa do.

Dance-wise, I mean.

WAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUU!!!

Here’s Wilson Pickett singing this live in Ghana, in 1971