Boogie Nights

Album

Too Hot to Handle

Label

Epic records

Genre

Disco

Composer(s)

Rod Temperton

Entered Chart

Jul 23, 1977

Peak Date

Nov 12, 1977

Released

1977

Recorded

1976

Catalog #

Epic 50370

B-Side

All You Do Is Dial

This was written by Heatwave's keyboardist Rod Temperton; it was the first song he ever wrote on his own. The song got the attention of producer Quincy Jones, who brought Temperton in to write songs for Michael Jackson. It was a very fruitful collaboration, as Temperton wrote three of Jackson's biggest hits: "Off The Wall," "Rock With You" and "Thriller." Other Temperton-written hits that Jones produced include "Give Me The Night" by George Benson and "Baby, Come To Me" by James Ingram. This song is about the groovy evenings out dancing in the disco era, as depicted in the film Saturday Night Fever. The songs writer, Rod Temperton, was British but formed Heatwave with two Americans. He spent a lot more time in the studio than in the discos, but had a talent capturing the feeling of heading out for a night of dancing (as did some other British songwriters: the Gibb brothers, who wrote many of the songs for Saturday Night Fever). Temperton died in 2016 at age 66. The phrase "Boogie Nights" became ingrained with the disco era, and in 1997 a film with that title was released starring Mark Wahlberg that was set in 1977, the same year this song came out. The song was not part of the film. In February 1979, a van struck Heatwave's lead vocalist Johnny Wilder Jr.'s car when he was visiting family in Ohio, permanently paralyzing him from the neck down. The next year Heatwave had a #9 hit in the UK with the ballad "Always And Forever." The British comedy group The Barron Knights did a send-up of this song called "Boozie Knights." This spent two weeks at #2 in the US, held off the top spot both weeks by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life."

Boogie nights, whoa
Boogie nights, whoa

(Boogie nights)
(Boogie nights)
(Boogie nights)
Ain't no doubt we are here to party
(Boogie nights)
Come on now got to get it started
Dance with the boogie get down
(Dance with the boogie get down)
'Cause boogie nights are always the best in town

Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing

(Boogie nights)
Get that groove let it take you higher
(Boogie nights)
Make it move set this place on fire
Dance with the boogie get down
(Dance with the boogie get down)
'Cause boogie nights are always the best in town

Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing

(Party right)
Can you show that you know how to do it
(Boogie nights)
Do it, do it
(Party right)
Ghetto down with the sounds of the music
(Boogie nights)
Music, music

(Boogie nights)
It's alright when you got the feeling
(Boogie nights)
Hold it tight got to keep on dealing
Dance with the boogie get down
(Dance with the boogie get down)
'Cause boogie nights are always the best in town

Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing
(Boogie nights)
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing (boogie nights)
(Boogie nights)
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing (boogie nights)

Dance with the boogie get down
(Dance with the boogie get down)
'Cause boogie nights are always the best in town

Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing

Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing (boogie nights, oh)
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing (boogie nights, oh)
Got to keep on dancing, keep on dancing

If you wanna boogie, you got to boogie at the boogie, boogie night (boogie nights, oh)
If you wanna boogie, you got to boogie at the boogie, boogie night (boogie nights, oh)
If you wanna boogie, you got to boogie at the boogie, boogie night (boogie nights, oh)
If you wanna boogie, you got to boogie at the boogie, boogie night (boogie nights, oh)