"I Can't Dance" is the fourth track from the Genesis album We Can't Dance and was the second single from the album. The lyrics were written by drummer Phil Collins and the music was written by the whole band. The song peaked at number seven on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals in 1993. The song also reached number one in Belgium and the Netherlands while peaking within the top five in Austria, Canada, Germany, and Portugal.
During one recording session, Mike Rutherford first created the main riff of the song he called "Heavy A Flat", to which Phil Collins suddenly improvised "I Can't Dance!". The riff was actually inspired by a Levi Strauss & Co. TV commercial (in the studio, the song was created under the working title "Blue Jeans") using The Clash song "Should I Stay or Should I Go". Originally the band did not think of it as anything more than a joke, because the song was too simple, too bluesy and completely unlike Genesis' style. Tony Banks said in an interview "It was one of those bits you thought was going to go nowhere. It sounded fun, but wasn't really special".
It was not until Banks added the keyboard sound effects that the song took on a whole different feeling—with a slight edge of humour in it—which made the band decide to record it.
Banks also said in an interview that it showed a kind of direction Genesis could have gone in. Opposite to what Genesis has done as general practice, which is taking an idea and turning it into a long or complex composition, it was just taking an idea, and leaving it alone.
Lyrics
Hot sun beating down
burning my feet just walking around.
Hot sun making me sweat
'Gators getting close, hasn't got me yet
I can't dance, I can't talk.
Only thing about me is the way I walk.
I can't dance, I can't sing
I'm just standing here selling everything.
Blue jeans sitting on the beach,
her dog's talking to me, but she's out of reach.
She's got a body under that shirt,
but all she wants to do is rub my face in the dirt.
Cos, I can't dance, I can't talk.
Only thing about me is the way I walk.
I can't dance, I can't sing
I'm just standing here selling.
Oh and checking everything is in place,
you never know who's looking on.
Young punk spilling beer on my shoes,
fat guy's talking to me trying to steal my blues.
Thick smoke, see her smiling through.
I never thought so much could happen just shooting pool.
But I can't dance, I can't talk.
The only thing about me is the way that I walk.
I can't dance, I can't sing
I'm just standing here selling
Oh and checking everything is in place
You never know who's looking on
A perfect body with a perfect face - uh-huh.
No, I can't dance, I can't talk.
The only thing about me is the way I walk.
No, I can't dance, I can't sing
I'm just standing here selling everything.
But I can walk.
No I can't dance.
No no no I can't dance
No I said I can't sing.
But I can walk.
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