Songs with an actual party going on in the background?

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What songs have an actual party going on in the background? I can only think of three:

"mercy mercy mercy" by cannonball adderley
"sugar lee" by donny hathaway
"bye bye blackbird" by trini lopez

semiarchly (semiarchly), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:09 (nineteen years ago)

weezer, the sweater song. at least at the beginning.

Pop Ryan (Rebelwordsmith), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:19 (nineteen years ago)

'farmer john'

so hongro, so angry (haitch), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:22 (nineteen years ago)

The Beach Boys did a whole album like this.

xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:32 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't know about the Beach Boys album. What album?

semiarchly (semiarchly), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:35 (nineteen years ago)

It's actually called "Party!".

xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:39 (nineteen years ago)

Phish. "Twist".

less-than three's Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Friday, 14 July 2006 06:40 (nineteen years ago)

Gary U.S. Bonds to thread.

Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 14 July 2006 07:47 (nineteen years ago)

some Lionel Richie, you ask?

who needs an actual party when you can get a canned one.

cs appleby (cs appleby), Friday, 14 July 2006 08:06 (nineteen years ago)

Sloan, the Party Album bonus disc, duh!

Thom Yorke Is My Spirit Guide (kate), Friday, 14 July 2006 08:20 (nineteen years ago)

The Tremeloes - "Here Comes My Baby". I dunno if it's an actual party, but it's meant to sound like one I think.

More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Friday, 14 July 2006 08:26 (nineteen years ago)

that one silver jews song - is it called 'the silver pageant'?

j fail (cenotaph), Friday, 14 July 2006 08:44 (nineteen years ago)

bjork, there's more to life than this

tiniestbee (tiniestbee), Friday, 14 July 2006 08:51 (nineteen years ago)

B-52s 'Party Gone out of Bounds' - "Surpriiiise!", "Where's the icebox?!" etc.

Fantastic.

myopic_void (myopic_void), Friday, 14 July 2006 08:58 (nineteen years ago)

Marvin Gaye - "Got to Give it Up". I believe those were some pro football players.

JoB (JoB), Friday, 14 July 2006 09:28 (nineteen years ago)

Marvin Gaye - "Got to Give it Up". I believe those were some pro football players.

...yep, including "Mel Farr, Superstar"! (Which won't mean shit to you unless you lived near Detroit in the 70s-80s)

Myonga Von Birmingham (Monty Von Byonga), Friday, 14 July 2006 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

the reprise of OPPORTUNITIES off of PLEASE by pet shop boys had an actual party on it, recorded specifically, for a track lasting little over thirty seconds. *class*.

pisces (piscesx), Friday, 14 July 2006 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

Kelley Polar - "The Rooms in My House Have Many Parties"

Eggzakly Huhh? (zachary v.), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:24 (nineteen years ago)

Lem Barney was the guy who said "throw me the football" in "What's Going On", if memory serves (and these days, more than often it don't)...

Mel Farr, superstar, for a far better deal...jingles don't get much better than that...

hank (hank s), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:34 (nineteen years ago)

"Mel Farr, Superstar"!

"For a Farr Better Deal!"

Hell yes.

Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

Missed your post, hank, right on.

Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:43 (nineteen years ago)

from Wikipedia:

"On the finished track, as Gaye musically ponders on the state of the world, a party can be heard going on in the background, from which Gaye's voice is purposely detached. The partygoers are portrayed by Mel Farr and Lem Barney, whose acquaintances Gaye had made during his failed 1970 tryout for the Detroit Lions."

I never knew Marvin Gaye actually tried out for the Lions...they could sure use a guy like him these days!...or a guy like:

http://www.nearmintcards.com/pics/1971+Topps/236.jpg

hank (hank s), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:51 (nineteen years ago)

also, it figures that the Detroit Lions would be partying while the world burns...no wonder they've been such a mess...

hank (hank s), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:52 (nineteen years ago)

Christ, I didn't intend to derail the thread here!

M. Agony Von Bontee (M. Agony Von Bontee), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

Anytime we can hijack a thread and claim it for Detroit, I'm onboard...

Young-Holt Unlimited - Ain't There Something Money Can't Buy

Granted, it's live, but the interaction makes it clear that the crowd and the band were a-rockin' together.

But yeah, Marvin Gaye, Beach Boys, and even that Sloan album pretty much pwn this thread.

Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

I've got a chapter on this in my second book. It's the chapter called "Party-in-the-Background Rock." Scores of songs in there (huey piano smith, louis prima, el dorados, drifters, claudine clark, bob dylan, gene and wendell, joe cuba, swingin medallions, mitch ryder, war, treacherous three, the eagles, jazzy jeff & fresh prince, clash, girlschool, warren zevon, the kings, garth broooks, etc. etc.); don't have time to transcribe the whole list, but anybody who's got a copy laying around is free to if they want to.

xhuxk (xheddy), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Devil Dogs - Big Fucking Party

bendy (bendy), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

lotsa Moodmann trax

Alicia Silverfuck (sexyDancer), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

Sugarhill Gang - Apache

Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

"Wrath of Zeus" off the first waves comp has a bad party at the beginning.

deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

"The 'In' Crowd" - Ramsey Lewis Trio

semiarchly (semiarchly), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

Marvin Gaye-What's Going On
Equals-Baby, Come Back
Roxy Music-Remake/Remodel
Shirley Ellis-The Nitty Gritty

(Ex-)Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

Near the end of "Somebody" by Depeche Mode

elgin again (golf and games), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

The beginning of "Remake/Remodel." It sounds like the classiest party ever thrown.

Adolescence Mokushiroku! (gendo ikari), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

aaarrgh, x-post

Adolescence Mokushiroku! (gendo ikari), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

"Kicks" - Lou Reed
"Drug Party" - Blue Hippos

christoff (christoff), Friday, 14 July 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

The opening of the first Dandy Warhols album

(Ex-)Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Friday, 14 July 2006 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

the bar-kays, "soul finger" [im fairly certain...]

mts (theoreticalgirl), Friday, 14 July 2006 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

bar-kays, "soul finger"! how could I forget that? I even have that record!

semiarchly (semiarchly), Friday, 14 July 2006 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

I never knew Marvin Gaye actually tried out for the Lions...they could sure use a guy like him these days!

A dead guy?

the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Friday, 14 July 2006 17:29 (nineteen years ago)

Are they recruiting a team of ZOMBIES?

the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Friday, 14 July 2006 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

Daft Punk - somewhere near the begining of Homework

the silver jews - search party

marbles (marbles), Friday, 14 July 2006 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

"A dead guy?"

exactly!

hank (hank s), Friday, 14 July 2006 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

The Specials - "Nightclub"?

Ben Dot (1977), Saturday, 15 July 2006 00:15 (nineteen years ago)

sexual harassment - "if i gave you a party"

joseph (joseph), Saturday, 15 July 2006 02:39 (nineteen years ago)

The entire Disco Tex And The Sex-O-Lettes album, if you define party as the Last Party The World Ever Has.

Also, "Dinner Party!" by Dirty Sanchez.

San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Saturday, 15 July 2006 05:39 (nineteen years ago)

The Replacements "Kids Don't Follow" has the Minneapolis police breaking up a party.

Baby Astronauts - "I Hate This Song"

Lassaller (Lassaller), Monday, 17 July 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

Bruce Springsteen: Sherry Darling

Was recorded as a tribute to all those old frat rock records.

kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Monday, 17 July 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

The Replacements "Kids Don't Follow" has the Minneapolis police breaking up a party.

(Apparently that's Dave Pirner cursing at the cop at the beginning of the song)

richard wood johnson (rwj), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

The Bouncing Souls - The Screamer

pinder (pinder), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

Funky Stuff - Kool & the Game
Every Party (intro) - Erland Oye

Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

What does "actual" mean anyway? I mean, does virtually every track from Alexander O'Neal's "Hearsay" or Janet Jackson's "Janet" count?

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 17 July 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

Eurythmics, "I Need You"

rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

the beach boys record, indeed called just _beach boys' party!_, is great, but not an _actual_ party. it's a mock party. just the sounds of friends and clinking glasses in the studio placed between the songs. their version of "mountain of love" is priceless.

Dan Gr (certain), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

the quik - bert's apple crumble

electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 00:30 (nineteen years ago)

I want to thank everybody for their excellent replies. Keep 'em coming.

To be extremely specific, I was thinking of songs with party sounds in the background, maybe a little singing along, but not necessarily "real." By "actual" I meant as opposed to party songs, that is, songs you would play at a party.

Rickey, what's "Gary U.S. Bonds to thread"?

semiarchly (semiarchly), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 01:13 (nineteen years ago)

it's true, "mountain of love" is just perfect.

semiarchly (semiarchly), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 01:15 (nineteen years ago)

Bjork - "There's More to Life Than This"

The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

What songs have an actual party going on in the background? I can only think of three:

"mercy mercy mercy" by cannonball adderley

I'm pretty sure that album was actually recorded live in a studio, so I guess it's arguable whether it's an "actual party."

Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 03:46 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I've been told that was faked. But you know what I mean.

semiarchly (semiarchly), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 03:48 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, are those people really "ready to have a good time?"

Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 03:56 (nineteen years ago)

the beach boys record, indeed called just _beach boys' party!_, is great, but not an _actual_ party. it's a mock party. just the sounds of friends and clinking glasses in the studio placed between the songs. their version of "mountain of love" is priceless.

That album's actually WAY ahead of its time: One of the first "live"-in-the-studio[sic] things; o.o.the first "unplugged" album; and first covers album. Covers include Dylan, the Ronettes, Beatles and more.

Monty Von Byonga (Monty Von Byonga), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 04:46 (nineteen years ago)

Luther Vandross - "Bad Boy/Having A Party"

hank (hank s), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 11:47 (nineteen years ago)

Avalanches - "Since I Left You"

Cheek0 (Cheek0), Friday, 21 July 2006 01:12 (nineteen years ago)

mr. scruff's "remix" of ramsey lewis' "do what you wanna" is, i think, scruff just playing the track for a bunch of friends and them all being very vocally appreciative. or at least that's exactly what it sounds like.

joe cuba - "bang bang"

Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 21 July 2006 01:33 (nineteen years ago)

public enemy - "give it up"

Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 21 July 2006 01:33 (nineteen years ago)

thirteen years pass...

My buddy called this "a loud crowd."

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
Christmas is the Time to Say "I Love You" - Billy Squire

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Friday, 27 December 2019 18:54 (six years ago)

"Hector" - The Village Callers

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 27 December 2019 18:57 (six years ago)

Madame George - Van Morrison (Bang version)

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Friday, 27 December 2019 19:02 (six years ago)

every james last 'non stop dancing' album ?
definitely a feature of the 3 that i have.

mark e, Friday, 27 December 2019 19:15 (six years ago)

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan

Is this a party? I always thought of it as more a “studio scene”...

The dead speak! (morrisp), Friday, 27 December 2019 19:39 (six years ago)

Recorded in the late night (early morning) and the musicians were supposedly drunk (possibly apocryphal). I'm going to allow it.

I include in a "loud crowd" nearly any sustained off-mike exhortations akin to party sounds whether or not there were formal invitations sent to party guests.

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Friday, 27 December 2019 20:31 (six years ago)

Came here to post one of my favorite iterations of this, early 60s New Orleans R&B "We Got a Party" by the Party Boys, and was astonished to realize that it contains no actual sounds of partying - it just evokes partying so well that I swear I always heard a party in the background.

Therefore, I am not posting it itt

warn me about a lurking rake (One Eye Open), Friday, 27 December 2019 20:54 (six years ago)

Tom Waits' entire Nighthawks at the Diner album is done in this style. Here's what producer Bones Howe said about it:

We did it as a live recording, which was unusual for an artist so new [...] Herb Cohen and I both had a sense that we needed to bring out the jazz in Waits more clearly. Tom was a great performer on stage [...] So we started talking about where we could do an album that would have a live feel to it. We thought about clubs, but the well-known ones like The Troubadour were toilets in those days. Then I remembered that Barbra Streisand had made a record at the old Record Plant Studios, when they were on 3rd Street near Cahuenga Boulevard [...] There was a room there that she got an entire orchestra into. Back in those days they would just roll the consoles around to where they needed them. So Herb and I said let's see if we can put tables and chairs in there and get an audience in and record a show.

I got Michael Melvoin on piano, and he was one of the greatest jazz arrangers ever; I had Jim Hughart on bass, Bill Goodwin on drums and Pete Christlieb on sax. It was a totally jazz rhythm section. Herb gave out tickets to all his friends, we set up a bar, put potato chips on the tables and we had a sell-out, two nights, two shows a night, July 30 and 31, 1975. I remember that the opening act was a stripper. Her name was Dewana and her husband was a taxi driver. So for her the band played bump-and-grind music - and there's no jazz player who has never played a strip joint, so they knew exactly what to do. But it put the room in exactly the right mood. Then Waits came out and sang "Emotional Weather Report." Then he turned around to face the band and read the classified section of the paper while they played. It was like Allen Ginsberg with a really, really good band.

shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 27 December 2019 23:06 (six years ago)

The good version of "Voodoo Chile" from Electric Ladyland.
And "Housequake", if that counts.

an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Friday, 27 December 2019 23:27 (six years ago)

And "Housequake", if that counts.

― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK)

the one that comes to mind for me - and i don't think it's an actual party - is the "crystal ball" versions of the ball -> joy in repetition

revenge of the jawn (rushomancy), Saturday, 28 December 2019 00:51 (six years ago)

Akron Family - 'Ed Is A Portal'

Maresn3st, Saturday, 28 December 2019 12:56 (six years ago)

Positive Force • We Got The Funk

breastcrawl, Saturday, 28 December 2019 13:06 (six years ago)

three years pass...

Lou Reed - All Through the Night

Siouxsie & the Banshees' Pulled to Bits has kids playing, might just be in a playground but might be a party

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:10 (three years ago)

Madness - The Return of the Los Palmas 7

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:13 (three years ago)

feel like a lot of old hip-hop and funk has this. that first Kurtis Blow record has a party going on the entire A side I think

frogbs, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:18 (three years ago)

Oh yeah, perfect example of that is Brass Construction's Dance. God I love that track.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:49 (three years ago)

Jim Capaldi - Keep on Trying

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:51 (three years ago)

A couple of tracks on Prince's Black Album.

underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:51 (three years ago)

Tusk, sort of, maybe

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:52 (three years ago)

Tommy James & the Shondells - On Behalf of the Entire Staff & Management

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 17:55 (three years ago)

"Hot Rox Avec Lying Sweet Talk" by the Loud Family (though it's a sedate, conversation-heavy cocktail party).
At a big stretch, you could include the party at the end of "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 18:31 (three years ago)

Fear - More Beer

BrianB, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 19:41 (three years ago)

Fear - More Beer

BrianB, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 19:41 (three years ago)


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