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:: Love Is All Right ::

:: The Horse ::

We may often think of the 1960’s as a time of peace, love, and smelly hippies, but it was also the heyday for crazy dancing teens and the dance craze records that propelled their endeavors. The Twist, The Boogaloo, The Shing-a-Ling, The Watusi – dance fads that popped up in cities across America as quick as American Bandstand could bring it to them. In 1968, Cliff Nobles unwittingly joined the fray when he released his single, “Love is All Right” and included an instrumental version on the flip-side and called it, “The Horse,” named for a dance that started up and disappeared quickly in 1960 Chicago. The A-side never caught on, so DJ’s flipped it over and began playing the instrumental track. Biff! Bang! Pow! - the song shot right up to #2 on both the R&B and Pop charts in the summer of ’68 and kids were shakin’ all over doing The Horse again.

“The Horse” was credited to Cliff Nobles & Co., and being as it’s an instrumental, Cliff Nobles and his vocals are notably absent. The Company were uncredited session musicians Bobby Eli, Norman Harris (guitarists), bassist Ronnie Baker, and drummer Earl Young, who later went on to become MFSB for Gamble & Huff’s Sigma Sound Studios. You can find the instrumental on various Funky Dance Hits of the ’60s-type compilations, but I’ve put it up here along with the harder to find a-side. I dig ‘em both, and for the last week I’ve been shakin’ my ass to them as I get dressed in the morning for work. While I don’t know how to “Do the Horse,” I’ve created my own dance moves for the songs, which I like to call, “The Jackass.”


Phil-LA

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