My 100 Favorite Charted Pop Songs: Come Dancing

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Every now and then I have to tell newer readers that I’m not schizophrenic, because the widely diverse things that I listen to might make people scratch their heads. This might be one of those days. I mean, what goes well with Jim Reeves? This? To me it does! Here’s today’s song on my alphabetical list of all-time favorite charted songs from the Billboard Hot 100. Come Dancing - The Kinks This and “Waterloo Sunset” (which didn’t chart, or it’d be on this list) are my favorite Kinks songs. They’re both beautiful songs about simple things. In this case, the days of going out dancing. I’ve shared the story behind the song before, but here it is again: it was inspired by Ray Davies’ sister, Rene, who had a weak heart and a love for ballroom dancing. She gave him a guitar for his 13th birthday, then went out to dance. While out, her weak heart gave out and she died, aged 31. The song is more sweet than bitter: what dies in the song is “the local Palais,” not his sister. In this song she survives (“my sister’s married and she lives on an estate”), and still dances. That’s the great thing about songs: they can have a happy ending. Come Dancing Written by Ray Davies Recorded by The Kinks From State of Confusion, 1982 Peak chart position: #6 Today’s country song: “Blue Side of Lonesome” Come on sister, have yourself a ball: