Disco | 5ive Songs

In the 59^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with DISCO in some form or fashion.

Welcome to 5ive Songs, where we keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff! There’s a theme/topic, five songs, and a short blurb.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 59^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with DISCO in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

1. Johnnie Taylor, “Disco Lady”

💿 Eargasm • 🏷 Sony Music Entertainment • 🗓 1976

“Shake it up, shake it down / Move it in, move it round, disco lady.” Ooh, wee, 🎙 Johnnie Taylor! That certainly doesn’t sound innocent in the least! “Hey sexy lady / Said I like the way / You move your thang / Lord, have mercy, girl,” Taylor continues singing! In 1976, “The Philosopher of Soul” earned the biggest hit of his career with 🎵 “Disco Lady”, which graced his album, 💿 Eargasm.  This timeless record spent four weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made history becoming the first single to be certified platinum by the RIAA.

Despite being snubbed for a 🏆 Grammy (he was nominated thrice), “Disco Lady” doesn’t need affirmation from any awards to prove its greatness.  This soulful, sexy single speaks for itself.  Johnnie Taylor is turned on by the way she moves, so much so, he asserts, “Girl, you ought to be on TV on Soul Train.” Okay, that’s a dated reference, but the point is, she dances like a champ, and Taylor is enamored by her… switch 😜.  It’s worth noting, that he “Can’t sit still / I’m grooving / I like that funky stuff.” Can you blame him, folks? He’s hypnotized because she’s groovin’ him – WOO! “Disco Lady,” the beloved classic that it is, was penned by 🎼 ✍ Don Davis, 🎼 ✍ Albert Vance, and 🎼 ✍ Harvey Scales.  It remains a classic to this day.  I’ll leave you with this: “If it wasn’t for the girl / Sitting next to me / I’d jump right up and outta my safety seat.”

Appears in 🔻:

• Johnnie Taylor, “Disco Lady”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 94 (2022)

2. Tove Lo, “Disco Tits”

💿 BLUE LIPS (lady wood phase II) • 🏷 Universal • 📅 2017

Subtlety and 🎙 Tove Lo don’t belong in the same sentence. The Swedish pop artist can definitely be described as unapologetic.  Honestly, it takes some balls to name your sophomore album 💿 Lady Wood.  Tove Lo is unapologetic on 🎵 “Disco Tits”, which appears on her 2017 album, 💿 BLUE LIPS (lady wood phase II). She’s both blunt and infectious on “Disco Tits.” The groove is slick AF, and the vocal performance is filled with confidence and swag.  Among the best moments is when she ascends into her falsetto. Naturally, she’s dialed in as this song is pure SEX.

Early on, the listener is exposed to horniness and unrepentant lust.  The chorus just lays it out there:

“I’m sweatin’ from head to toe

I’m wet through all my clothes

I’m fully charged, nipples are hard

Ready to go.”

It’s trashy, mind you, but she’s being honest.  Her honesty continues on without a hitch, notably on the pre-chorus. “Live right now, peakin’ on top / So wild now, I’m high as fuck,” she sings, continuing, “Don’t look down / My mind can relax / I know how to dial it back / No this time.” As risqué as it may be, Tove Lo has something going, beyond sex, on “Disco Tits.”  It’s well-produced, well-performed, and irresponsibly infectious.  Listen once, and you’re hooked.

3. The Brides of Funkenstein, “Disco to Go”

💿 Funk or Walk • 🏷 Atlantic • 🗓 1978

“A bumping we will go / A bumping we will go / We’ll take some funk / We’ll put it in your rump / And then we’ll make you disco.” Woo! 🎙 Dawn Silva and 🎙 Lynn Mabry served as members of the short-lived funk collective, 🎙 The Brides of Funkenstein.  This didn’t mark the first rodeo for either lady as they were both members of 🎙 Sly & The Family Stone and 🎙 P-Funk – two legendary music groups. Even though The Brides of Funkenstein didn’t last long, the group did leave its mark with one particular single, 🎵 “Disco to Go”. Tongue in cheek to the n^th degree, there’s no way you listen to “Disco to Go” without getting a smile on your face.  Expectedly, it’s funky AF, thanks to writing and production by 🎼 ✍ 🎛 George Clinton (there’s that P-Funk connection) and 🎼 ✍ 🎛 Bootsy Collins – two icons.  “Disco to Go” commences The Bride of Funkenstein’s debut album, 💿 Funk or Go Home, released in 1978.

Just to reiterate, “Disco to Go,” thematically and lyrically, is incredibly TONGUE IN CHEEK. That said, “Disco to Go” delivers some of the most kick-ass, funk you’ll ever hear – the riffs, the horns, the bass line! Lyrically, even if is ridiculous, it’s incredibly entertaining.  The Brides references 💿 The Mothership Connection, associated with Clinton and 🎙 Parliament, of course.  The most entertaining lyrics, of course, involve Old McDonald – I kid you not:

“Old McDonald had some rumps, E-I-E-I-O

But what’s some rumps without some funk, E-I-E-I-O

No humping here, there’s no bumping

Everywhere there’s a lack of funking

E-I-O Disco, McDonald, E-I-O to go.”

Wow!

Appears in 🔻:

• The Brides of Funkenstein, “Disco to Go”: Throwback Vibez No. 66 (2022)
• 15 Must-Hear, Throwback Vibez, Vol. 5

4. 50 Cent, “Disco Inferno”

💿 The Massacre • 🏷 Shady / Aftermath / Interscope • 📅 2005

“Lil mama, show me how you move it / Go ‘head, put your back into it / Do your thing like it ain’t nothing to it / Shake, sh-sh-shake that ass, girl!” Yeah – 🎵 “Disco Inferno” indeed, 🎙 50 Cent! The 🏆 Grammy-winning rapper hit the top 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with this surefire, unapologetic gem from his multiplatinum LP, 💿 The Massacre (2005).  He’s cocky, confident, and of course, titillated by the way she shakes her ass (his words, not mine 😂). “The flow sound sick over Dre drums, nigga,” he spits in the first verse, continuing, “I ain’t stupid, I say doc then my doe come quicker, whoa!” 🎛 Dr. Dre does kick a$$ when it comes to making beats – NO CAP!

There is no shortage of electrifying bars. 50 informs us, “Shorty hips is hypnotic, she moves it so erotic / I watch her, I’m like, ‘Bounce that ass, girl.’” He’s thinking with his head, alright! In the second verse, he asserts, “It’s hot! Disco inferno / Let’s go! You’re now rocking with a pro.” He proceeds to tell us how to get down like he does aka “Pay attention, boy, I’ll teach you how to do this shit.” Woo! In the third and final verse, it’s more of the same: ample confidence with drip to match, and celebrating success, essentially.  After all, 50’s “Next level now, turn it up a notch /… Hands up on the dance floor, okay, let’s go!”

5. The Trammps, “Disco Inferno”

💿 Disco Inferno • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 1976 

“(Burn, baby, burn) Disco inferno / (Burn, baby, burn) Burn the mother down.” One of the great gems of the disco era arrives courtesy of 🎙 The Trammps.  🎵 “Disco Inferno” is by far the crowning achievement of the collective, eventually earning success on the Billboard Hot 100.  Originally released on The Trammps’ 1976 album, 💿 Disco Inferno, “Disco Inferno” was merely a moderate success, peaking at an unimpressive no. 53 on the Hot 100 (it charted higher on genre charts).  Thanks to the gargantuan success of the film 🎦 Saturday Night Fever (1977) and its disco-driven soundtrack, which included “Disco Inferno,” the single ultimately peaked at no. 11.

The first thing that comes to mind when listening to this single are the burning lines.  “Disco Inferno” was inspired by the 🏆 Academy Award winning, 1974 film, 🎦 The Towering Inferno. “To my surprise… one hundred stories high / People getting loose y’all, getting down on the roof, do ya hear?” Ah, those are the famed lyrics from the first verse, which do seem to match the fun happening on the top flow of the skyscraper from the film.  The verse continues with, “The funk was flaming, out of control / It was so entertaining, when the boogie started to explode.”  The power of dance – the disco – atop the roof, doesn’t end there: “I couldn’t get enough, ‘til I had to self-destruct / The heat was on, rising to the top.” Woo! It’s safe to say, “When my spark gets hot / Just can’t stop!” Indeed, indeed – BURN BABY, BURN!

Appears in 🔻:

• The Trammps, “Disco Inferno”: Dance Hitz 🕺 💃 🎶 6 (2022)

Disco: 5ive Songs No. 59 (2022) [📷: Aftermath, Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, Interscope, KoolShooters, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Shady, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal]