23/01/2025
THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
TODAY IS THE 71ST BIRTHDAY OF RICHARD FINCH.
THE TOP 10 RICHARD FINCH RECOMMENDATIONS.
1-Rock Your Baby.
2-Dance Across the Floor.
3-(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your B***y.
4-Get Down Tonight.
5-Queen of Clubs.
6-I'm Your Boogie Man.
7-It' Been So Long.
8-That's the Way I Like It.
9-I Can't Leave You Alone.
10-Gimme Some.
THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
64-George McCrae-Rock Your Baby.
1974-Number 1 single.
Best Bit-At 0.09. Do you ever think to yourself, I’m going to give myself a treat, and choose a song to listen to. Those are the songs which are for you ‘the best songs in the world ever.’ In my opinion if they have Disco’s in heaven, then surely this is the song they play.
‘Rock Your Baby’ which is also the title of George McCrae’s debut Album from 1974, was written by Harry Wayne Casey, and Richard Finch, (see also best songs 893 and 375) and was also produced by them as well. The song is considered to be groundbreaking as it is one of the first ‘Disco’ hits, and with worldwide sales in excess of 11 million copies it is the 27th best selling single of all time. The story goes that Casey and Finch were to audition McCrae’s wife Gwen for the song, but after she arrived late to the studio, they listened to George, and after hearing his impressive falsetto it was a done deal.
At that time Casey and Finch were just setting out together as a song writing team, working together as ‘KC and the Sunshine Band,’ for which they would go on to write a further five Billboard Number 1 singles. One of the session musicians on ‘Rock Your Baby’ was Jerome Smith, (1953-2000) who also worked on many of the KC and the Sunshine Band’s hits. He provided the guitar playing on the track for which he received $15, it is said that his style and sound was an inspiration for Nile Rogers of Chic (see also best songs 175-87 and 17.) The song was also an inspiration for Benny Andersson, and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, who have said that the backing track of ‘Dancing Queen,’ (see also best songs 44) was based on this song.
‘Rock Your Baby’ was also one of the first hit singles to use a drum machine, in this case it was the one which belonged to Timmy Thomas, (1944-2022) (see also best songs 498) Richard Finch has said,’His organ was left up in the studio, and ‘Rock Your Baby’ became born unto this crazy drum machine that was inside of this Lowry organ that he left there. I used to use that as a tempo map, and I would play along with the drum machine. In the beginning it would hide my errors, but it would also teach me to be a better drummer, because I was paying attention to it that closely. Then we would build on that. We had a 1-inch 8-track machine and I had a cheap Japanese bass. We were just recording and recording and recording, and one night, this one track came out like better than anything else. It was like God was in the building or something, we had been blessed. It was like the hunger and desire was so incredibly overwhelming that some magical moment happened in there. We knew to build on that track.
In 1992 ‘Rock Your Baby’ returned to the UK top 40 when the British ‘Dance’ act ‘KWS’ took their version to Number 8, it was released as the follow up to their UK Number 1 of the same year,’Please Don’t Go,’ which had also been written by Casey and Finch.
George Warren McCrae Jr. was born on October 19th, 1944, in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, one of his his first ventures in to music was as a teenager when forming his own singing group the ‘Jivin’ Jets,’ before joining the United States Navy in 1963. Also in 1963 McCrae married Gwen (nee Mosley) and after leaving the navy in 1967 reformed the ‘Jivin’ Jets’ with Gwen. They soon decided to work as a duo, and when Gwen won her first solo contract, George became her manager. The discography of George McCrae includes 17 Albums released between 1974-2016, and 34 singles issued between 1974-2009. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart two of those songs have reached the top 40, with ‘Rock Your Baby’ making Number 1, while in the UK, he has achieved seven top 40 singles, with this song also being his only chart topper.
‘Woman, take me in your arms Rock your baby. Woman, take me in your arms Rock your baby. There’s nothing to it, just say you wanna do it. Open up your heart, and let the loving start.’
THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
375-Jimmy ”Bo” Horne-Dance Across the Floor.
1978-It has never charted in the UK.
Best Bit-At 2.39. Just when you think Wow! that’s a great song, definitely a 9 out of 10, along comes what can only be described as ‘the monster drop,’ and you realise it’s now a 10 out of 10.
Jimmy “Bo” Horne, was born Jimmie Horace Horne, Jr. on September 28th, 1949, in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. In 1971 he completed a sociology degree at the ‘Bethune-Cookman University,’ in Daytona Beach, Florida, then in the mid 1970’s he relocated to Miami, Florida, signing with ‘T.K. Records,’ which was also the home of Harry Wayne Casey, and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, (see also best songs 893) the writers of this song. In the mid to late 1970’s Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch were producing hits like they were coming off of a conveyor belt, so I can only imagine that with not wanting to flood the market with yet another ‘KC’ hit, Jimmy ”Bo” Horne became the lucky recipient of this track. In total Casey and Finch co-wrote six Billboard Number 1 singles between 1974-1979, five of which are credited to ‘KC and the Sunshine Band,’ and the other was ‘Rock Your Baby,’ recorded by George McCrae (see also best songs 64.) When Jimmy ”Bo” Horne’s music career came to an end he worked in event management, running his own company ‘Joy Productions,’ which he had founded in 1976.
The discography of Jimmy ”Bo” Horne includes three studio Albums released between 1978-1991, and 25 singles released between 1967-1995, there is also one official compilation, ‘The Best of the T.K. Years 1975-1985’ available. In America on the ‘Billboard Hot 100,’ his only charting single is ‘Dance Across the Floor,’ which peaked at Number 38, while on the ‘Billboard Hot Soul Singles,’ which is currently now known as the ‘Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ chart, he has charted twice with ‘Dance Across the Floor,’ (1978) making Number 8, and ‘You Get Me Hot, (1979) reaching Number 18. He has also charted on the ‘Billboard Dance Club Songs’ chart on three occasions, with ‘Gimme Some (Part One,’) peaking the highest at Number 8. Jimmy ”Bo” Horne has never had a top 100 chart entry in the UK.
Jimmy ”Bo” Horne’s songs have been sampled by other artists over the years. Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch wrote ‘Gimme Some,’ which was originally recorded by Horne in 1975, and when covered by the British singer Brendon Dunning, reached Number 14 in the UK in 1977, the Brendon version has gone on to become a staple of party music played at celebrations in the UK, with the song having it’s own ‘dance moves’ which have been passed down from one generation to the next. Another Casey and Finch composition ‘Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover,’) was sampled by the English ‘Hip-Hop,’ and ‘Electronic Dance’group the Stereo MC’s for their 1992 UK Number 18, and Billboard Number 20 hit ‘Connected.’ ‘Dance Across the Floor’ has been sampled by the ‘Hip-Hop’ community, notably by the American group Da Lench Mob for their 1993 single ‘Freedom Got an AK,’ and also by DJ Cash Money & Marvelous in their 1988 song ‘The Mighty Hard Rocker.’ In 2011 ‘Dance Across the Floor’ was sampled by CeeLo Green and Christina Aguilera under the title ‘Nasty,’ for the ‘Burlesque’ film soundtrack, but was never used because they couldn’t get sample clearance in time. In 2014 the English singer Pixie Lott released her version of ‘Nasty,’ which peaked at Number 9 in the UK.
‘Dance Across the Floor’ was also the title of the debut studio Album by Jimmy ”Bo” Horne, from 1978. It contained eight tracks, of which five had already been issued as singles between 1975-1978. ‘Dance Across the Floor’ was co-written, and co-produced by Harry Wayne Casey, and Richard Finch, who was born Richard Raymond Finch, on January 23rd, 1954, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. As a teenager Finch became interested in audio recording techniques while working in a electronics and record store in Florida. A friend introduced him to the singer-songwriter Clarence Reid (1939-2016) from TK Records, which was where he first met his future ‘ KC and the Sunshine Band’ partner Harry Wayne Casey. On March 23rd, 2010, Richard Finch was arrested in Newark, Ohio, accused of having inappropriate contact with a 17 year-old male. Police stated during an interview that Finch had admitted to having inappropriate contact with that teenager, and other teens aged between 13 to 17. In December 2010, Finch pleaded ‘no contest,’ and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. He served his sentence in the ‘Chillicothe Correctional Institution,’ a medium security state prison in Ohio, and was released on March 13th, 2017. Richard Finch has been nominated for nine ‘Grammy Awards,’ for which he has won three, he is also the recipient of an ‘American Music Award,’ and has a star on the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame,’ for being a part of the KC and the Sunshine Band legacy.
‘With you baby all night long, doin’ the boogie to a Funky song. Havin’ a good time doin’ it all, gettin’ happy havin’ a ball, yall.’
THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
893-KC and the Sunshine Band-(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your B***y.
1976-Number 22 single.
Best Bit-At 0.17. In the 21st Century they call it ‘Twerking,’ but back in the 20th Century, it was known as ‘Shaking.’
KC and the Sunshine Band were formed in Hialeah, Miami, Florida, United States, in 1973, by Harry Wayne Casey, (KC) and Richard Finch, the bands name comes from Casey’s surname, and the ‘Sunshine State’ of Florida. The band was originally called ‘KC & The Sunshine Junkanoo Band,’ because they used studio musicians from the ‘TK’ record label, and also from a local ‘Junkanoo band,’ called the ‘Miami Junkanoo Band.’ Casey and Finch were soon joined by Jerome Smith, (1953-2000) (guitar) and Robert Johnson (drums.) In total there have been 28 different members who have worked under the ‘KC and the Sunshine Band’ banner. The band were active between 1973-1985, and then reformed in 1993, and have released their last new music to date in 2022.
The discography of KC and the Sunshine Band includes 15 studio Albums released between 1974-2015, and 49 singles issued between 1973-2022, there are also 12 official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, they have achieved 11 top 40 hits, with five of those songs making Number 1, including this track. In the UK, they have charted within the top 40 on 10 occasions, with ‘Give It Up’ from 1983, reaching Number 1.
Harry Wayne Casey was born on January 31st, 1951, in Opa-locka, Florida, United States, he is seen as a pioneer of the genre of ‘Disco Music’ in the 1970’s. Casey and Finch first met, when both were working in menial roles at ‘TK Records,’ After forming KC and the Sunshine Band, they started to write together, with their big breakthrough hit coming in the summer of 1974 with ‘Rock Your Baby,’ (see also best songs 64) which was sung by George McCrae, ‘Rock Your Baby is currently the 27th best selling single worldwide of all time, with sales in excess of 11 million copies sold. George McCrae can also be heard adding backing vocals to KC and the Sunshine Band’s first hit single ‘Queen of Clubs’ (1974-UK Number 7.) Casey and Finch also had success writing for other ‘TK Records’ artists, including Betty Wright, (1953-2020) and Jimmy ‘Bo’ Horne (see also best songs 375.) Away from KC and the Sunshine Band, Casey charted at Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, with the American singer Teri DeSario, on a cover version of the 1965 Barbara Mason song ‘Yes, I’m Ready,’ DeSario had been a high school classmate of Casey’s, and he was also producing her second studio Album ‘Moonlight Madness’ at the time. For all their success in the 1970’s, in the UK, KC and the Sunshine Band, are probably best remembered for the 1983 hit ‘Give It Up,’ which was their last UK, and U.S hit single, although in America it didn’t chart until 1984, when peaking at Number 18.
‘(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your B***y’ was co-written, and co-produced by Harry Wayne Casey, and Richard Finch, and was the first of five singles released from KC and the Sunshine Band’s fourth studio Album ‘Part 3,’ from October 1976. The songs original ‘B’ side was ‘Boogie Shoes,’ which had previously appeared on the bands self titled second studio Album from 1975, and after being chosen for the ‘ Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack, (see also best songs 211-184 and 35) the song was released as a ‘A’ side single, reaching Number 35 in America, and Number 34 in the UK.
Richard Finch has explained how ‘(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your B***y’ was directly inspired by dance moves that he and Casey had witnessed in clubs, he has said,’The Bump was big back then, and then every once in a while you’d see someone break loose and shake their b***y like Jell-O. We figured, okay, how do you write about this? You know, say it like it is. We also were collecting phrases, trying to find a buzz word and write about it, or a catch phrase, and try and expound on that. Just trying to keep it fun. As we started performing, we’d pay attention to what the people were doing, either body moves or body language, and try to transfer that back into the next production. As soon as we got back off the road we’d go right into the studio with that freshly captured energy, start recording, and not try to think too much.’
‘Everybody, get on the floor, let’s dance. Don’t fight the feeling, give yourself a chance. Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your b***y, shake your b***y.’
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For a list of all the best 1000 songs Google Barry Philips Discos Blog.
