After the Dance (song)

For the play by Terence Rattigan, see After the Dance (play).

"After the Dance"
Single by Marvin Gaye
from the album I Want You
B-side	"Feel All My Love Inside"
Released	July 15, 1976
Recorded	September 1975 – March 1976
Studio	Marvin Gaye Studios (Los Angeles, California) Motown Recording Studios (Hollywood, California)
Genre	Soul, funk, downtempo
Length	3:30 (single version) 4:40 (album version)
Label	Tamla
Songwriter(s)	Marvin Gaye, Leon Ware
Producer(s)	Marvin Gaye, Leon Ware
Marvin Gaye singles chronology
"I Want You" (1976) "After the Dance" (1976) "Since I Had You" (1976)

"After the Dance" is a slow jam recorded by singer Marvin Gaye and released as the second single off Gaye's 1976 hit album I Want You. Though it received modest success, the song was widely considered to be one of Gaye's best ballads[1] and served as part of the template for quiet storm and urban contemporary ballads that came afterwards.[2]

Overview

Written by Gaye and his co-producer Leon Ware, the song narrates a moment where the author noticed a woman on Soul Train and convinces her to "get together" after the two shared a dance.[1] Throughout the entire I Want You album, which was dedicated to Marvin's live-in lover Janis Hunter (who wrote a 2015 memoir entitled After the Dance: My Life with Marvin Gaye),[3] the narrator — Gaye — brings up the dance concept in songs such as "Since I Had You".[4][5]

The song also served in a funky instrumental, which included a synthesizer solo performed by Gaye[1][6] just days before the master mix of the I Want You album was due at Motown.[7] The instrumental version received a nomination at the 1977 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Instrumental Song.[8]

Record World praised Gaye's "strong performance" of the song.[9]

The song was Gaye's lowest-peaked pop single for the first time in 13 years since the B-side of his "Can I Get a Witness" titled "I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby", peaking at number 74,[10] ironically three places higher than "I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby", while it was a bigger success on the R&B chart, peaking at number 14.[1][6]

Recording

The basic track of "After the Dance" was recorded for Gaye with the working title "Don't You Wanna Come?" in September 1975.[6]

The overdubbing sessions took place between January 1976 to March 1976.[6][7]

Covers

The song has since been covered by a legion of jazz vocalists and groups including Fourplay, who covered it with longtime Gaye admirer, R&B singer El DeBarge, in 1991.[11] Their version was released as a single that year and re-introduced newer listeners to Gaye's original.[12]

Hall & Oates covered the song on their 2004 album Our Kind of Soul.[13]

Personnel

Personnel per David Ritz and Harry Weinger.[6][7]

• Lead, background vocals, piano and synthesizer by Marvin Gaye
• Instrumentation by various studio musicians, some of which include, drummer James Gadson and flutist Ernie Watts (featured on the instrumental version)
• Orchestral arrangements by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
• Rhythm arrangements by Leon Ware
• Produced by Leon Ware and Marvin Gaye
• Recording engineering by Art Stewart and Fred Ross

References

1. Guarisco, Donald (December 12, 2022). "Review of After the Dance". AllMusic. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
2. Singleton, Mya (October 7, 2022). "25 songs with 'dance' in the title". Yardbarker. Retrieved October 20, 2022. The smooth sound of Marvin Gaye's voice is sure to take any listener to another realm. That's the feeling when hearing his 1978 single "After The Dance." Gaye gives listeners the perfect quiet storm vibe on the track, as he details seeing a woman on the dance floor and hoping to "get together after the dance."
3. Lary Wallace, "Marvin’s Muse", Los Angeles Review of Books, September 18, 2015.
4. Torres (2003)
5. "Marvin Gaye - Since I Had You Lyrics". musiXmatch. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
6. Ritz (2003)
7. Weinger (2003)
8. "19th Annual GRAMMY Awards". www.grammy.com. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
9. "Hits of the Week". Record World. August 7, 1976. p. 1.
10. "Marvin Gaye". Billboard. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
11. After the Dance by El DeBarge, Fourplay - Track Info | AllMusic, retrieved 2022-12-12
12. "After the Dance" at SecondHandSongs.
13. Daryl Hall & John Oates - Our Kind of Soul Album | AllMusic, retrieved 2022-12-12