You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen
In the late 70’s when I was 9 or 10, I found myself in a store staring at a 45 record. I didn’t own any records – at least none like this. I had some children song collections and a Mozart album. This was different, though. This was soaring and uplifting and fun. This was about being older, having the time of your life, at the unimaginable age of seventeen.
Friday night and the lights are low
Looking out for the place to go
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing
You come in to look for a king
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music’s high
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine
You’re in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance…
I had some money. A birthday? Christmas? I got permission to spend it and I bought my first real record. I felt empowered and free. The music brought out all this romance and optimism – which was in stark contrast to all the craziness swirling around me.
You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen
Many years later I’m on a cruise ship off the coast of Alaska watching karaoke with my family when a mother and daughter from Hong Kong get up to sing. The daughter was real little – maybe 7 or 8 – and the mom had this youthful innocence while they sang in broken english:
You’re a teaser, you turn ’em on
Leave them burning and then you’re gone
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You’re in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance…
It was so epic and cool, funny and wrong. Did they know what they were singing? I sure didn’t when I was little. I just knew how the song made me feel. How it had gotten me all into music and started a lifetime of buying and listening. How it gave me a vehicle to escape for just a little while. And here they were now, escaping for a little while, young and sweet, singing and dancing, having the time of their lives…
You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen
