King Harvest ~ Dancing In The Moonlight 1972 Pop Purrfection Version

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I will bet you did not know that King Harvest's "Dancin' In the Moonlight" was originally recorded by Boffalongo (Davy Robinson was a member) in 1969, and the band decided to record it, turning the song into a #13 Hot100 hit in 1973.

King Harvest formed in 1969 with four Cornell University students, Dave "Doc" Robinson (lead vocals/bass/keyboards), Ron Altbach (keyboards), Ed Tuleja (guitar), and Rod Novak (saxophone) playing cover tunes of popular tunes in bars, frat parties, bars and other colleges. They broke up in 1971.

They reformed in Pairs when the band members began moving there, one by one. The core group picked up session work and finally won a Rock & Roll talent show by 1971.

They released the Europe only album "I Can Tell" which led to an offer to write songs for a french movie "Le Feu Sacré" that France decided to be their entry at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Dancing In The Moonlight" was written by Sherman Kelly, who originally recorded the song with his band Bofflongo in 1970. It was forgotten but Wells Kelly persuaded the band to take a shot on a cover hiring Steve Cutler as drummer and put the song down on tape. Cutler used a new toilet brush to get the drum effect he wanted to keep the song simple.

The band had signed with Perception Records for the US when it started gaining major radio airplay in 1973 where the song reached #13 a respectable showing for an unknown band. However, it did not lead to similar all important album sales and it failed to reach the Top 200 Billboard Album and further singles sank without a trace.

The they soldiered on until they broke up in 1976. A true One Hit wonder as "Dancin' In The Moonlight" got them branded as a light rock group which disappointed the hard rocking members. They did leave behind this simple pop tune that had the nation humming along in 1973.