Help identify this song!

July 23, 2009 7:18 PM

I'm trying to identify a song that I heard recently in a bar. A short clip of the song can be found here. Bonus question: what style of dance fits this song? I saw some couples doing something that looked similar to a waltz, but in 4/4 time. Any ideas what they were doing?
posted by philosophygeek to media & arts (8 comments total)

From the lyrics I can hear, the song is Stars by Mindi Abair.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:24 PM on July 23

Dances that could be done to that rhythm and tempo (but which might or might not be optimal ;-)) would include American-style rumba, quickstep and no doubt others (blues?). And while it seems a bit quick for foxtrot and nightclub two-step, but you can generally warp a dance into whatever you want it to be. Even waltz can be done to a slow 4/4 (eg using an over-emphasized one to make a slow-quick-quick instead of evenly timed steps.)

If you don't recognise the dance, demographic clues might help, as dances are often fairly delineated by region and age.
posted by -harlequin- at 7:57 PM on July 23

After listening to Stars, I'm pretty sure that's not it...

I don't think it was a foxtrot, but it might have been quickstep or nightclub that I saw. It was a group of college-aged people (and recent grads), in the northwest.
posted by philosophygeek at 8:03 PM on July 23

Crap. I meant the song "On and On" from her album Stars.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:09 PM on July 23

On and On is definitely the song; thanks.
posted by philosophygeek at 8:16 PM on July 23

that's definitely a shuffle beat, a bit legato, not a waltz.
posted by Mach5 at 9:26 PM on July 23

College-aged people in the northwest would suggest blues dancing to me (it's sort of a cross between tango and swing).
posted by -harlequin- at 1:18 AM on July 24

Incidentally, there's an iPhone app that will identify songs on the fly. It's called SHAZAM. There may be something similar that you can download onto your computer. So if you have a clip, you ought to be able to identify anything.
posted by musofire at 4:17 AM on July 24