Music Box Dancer

"Music Box Dancer"
Single by Frank Mills
from the album Music Box Dancer
A-side "The Poet and I"
Released 1978
Recorded 1974
Length 3:15
Label Polydor
Writer(s) Frank Mills
Frank Mills singles chronology
"Love Me, Love Me Love"
(1972)		 "Music Box Dancer"
(1978)		 "Peter Piper"
(1979)
Music sample
"Music Box Dancer"

"Music Box Dancer" is an instrumental piece by Canadian musician Frank Mills that was an international hit in the late 1970s. It features a piano theme that is accompanied by other instrumentation, designed to resemble a music box.

"Music Box Dancer" was written and recorded by Frank Mills in 1974, but it was not to become a single until 1978.[1] By Christmas of that year, it was in the top ten of many pop music charts throughout Europe and Asia. Released as a single in the United States late in January 1979,[2] it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1979,[3] and it also reached number three on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart and number 47 on the Canadian pop chart. The single also did well in Australia, reaching number 14 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report).[4]

History

Mills released an album in 1974 that featured "Music Box Dancer", but it was not a hit initially. When he re-signed with Polydor Records Canada in 1978, the label released a new song as a single, with "Music Box Dancer" on the B-side. The single was sent to easy-listening stations in Canada, but a copy was sent in error to CFRA-AM, a pop station in Ottawa. The program director played the A-side and couldn't figure out why it had been sent to his station, so he played the B-side to see if the record label had been mistakenly marked. He liked "Music Box Dancer" and added it to his station's playlist.

The song's success at CFRA was swift. "Music Box Dancer" premiered on CRFA's top 30 chart on May 5, 1978;[5] by June 30, it was the number 1 song on the station's playlist.[6] "Music Box Dancer" also began picking up play on other Canadian stations around this time, becoming a nationwide hit. Mills' album went gold in Canada, which, after several months, prompted Polydor in the US to release the album and single with the B-side, "The Poet and I".

The million-selling Gold-certified single reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1979 as well as #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, while the album reached #21 on the Billboard Top Album chart and also went gold. Polydor awarded a gold record to TV station WNGE for breaking the single in the U.S.

It was Mills' only U.S. Top 40 pop hit; the follow-up, another piano instrumental titled "Peter Piper", peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100, although it was a popular Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Mills managed one final Adult Contemporary chart entry, "Happy Song", which peaked at #41 at the beginning of 1981. He is most known for playing this song.

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1978-79) Peak
position
Australia [7][4] 14
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary 3
Canada RPM Top Singles 47
New Zealand [8] 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [9] 3
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks [10] 4
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [11] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1979) Rank
Australia [7] 60
New Zealand [12] 29
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [13] 49
U.S. Cash Box [14] 28

Cover versions

"Music Box Dancer" has been recorded by such pianists as Floyd Cramer, Richard Clayderman, Roger Williams and Eric Robertson, and by orchestral artists such as James Last and 101 Strings. Bandleader Ray Conniff added lyrics and titled the song for his album I Will Survive in 1979. A calypso version was recorded by Germany's Roberto Delgado, while in Sweden, an accordion version was released. The band PePe produced a techno version. The Wiggles covered this song on the video/album Racing to the Rainbow.

References

  1. ↑ American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, March 10, 1979
  2. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  3. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  4. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Forum - CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  5. ↑ "CFRA 580 Ottawa Survey 05/05/78". Las-solanas.com. 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  6. ↑ "CFRA 580 Ottawa Survey 06/30/78". Las-solanas.com. 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  7. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  8. ↑ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1979-04-29. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  9. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  10. ↑ "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard. 1979-03-31. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  12. ↑ "Top Selling Singles of 1979 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1979-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  13. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1979/Top 100 Songs of 1979". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  15. ↑ Music Featured on the Simpsons. The Simpsons Archive
  16. ↑ "The Celebration [1998, pt. 2]". Dailymotion. p. 40:00. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
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