A few months ago, the video below made the rounds on Facebook and Twitter, much to everyone’s delight, especially mine. In it, we see a balding, middle-aged, white man in the stands at what appears to be some kind of professional sporting event. The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” is playing over the stadium loudspeakers, and our humble protagonist is WORKING IT. Like, this is serious I-was-overcome-by-the-need-to-DANCE dancing. I feel like this should go without saying, but I LOVE this guy.
So, I get it, a lot of very petty people felt the bittersweet warmth of schadenfreude when they saw this video. A lot of people reposted it intending to make fun of the Dancing Man. A lot of people reposted it in the hopes of shaming normal, everyday, joy-loving people like Dancing Man, who only ever wanted to share his joie de vivre by way of a corporeal expression of exuberant rapture. A lot of people reposted this video to laugh at Dancing Man, rather than with him.
Maybe I get the misunderstanding. After all, Dancing Man is not laughing. Dancing Man is DEAD F**KING SERIOUS. Because Dancing Man knows that he is hearing one of the most definitive instantiations of a Divine Call since Moses stood before the burning bush. And that Divinity is saying: Dance like nobody is watching.
I reposted this video when it made the rounds, but I did so in praise of Dancing Man. One of my dear friends, Rick Maynard, commented on my post: “the only thing weird about this video is that everyone else hears this song and is NOT dancing!”
Word, Rick.
So here’s my pick for the #30DaySongChallenge, Day 7. The song that always makes me want to dance is the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” Go ahead and push away the furniture before you play this video. And then, rejoice like the Universe just showed you the magic of music, which it did.
Runners-up for #30DaySongChallenge, Day 7:
- Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”
- Rufus Thomas’ “Walking The Dog” (also my pick for Day 6)
- Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz “Talk Dirty To Me”
- Earth, Wind & Fire “September”