As well, it nearly took him that long to find his own style. Hiatt began his solo career in 1974, and over the next decade he ran through a number of different styles from rock & roll to new wave-esque pop before he finally settled on a rootsy fusion of rock, country, blues, and folk with his 1987 album 'Bring the Family'. Though the album didn't set the charts on fire, it became his first album to gain some major commercial success, and several of the songs on the record became hits for other artists, including the aforementioned Raitt and Milsap. Following its success, Hiatt became a reliable hit songwriter for other artists, and he developed a strong cult following that continued to gain strength into the mid-90s.
While he was growing up in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, Hiatt played in a number of garage bands. Initially, he was inspired by the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, and the music of those two artists would echo strongly throughout his work. Out of all the bar bands he played with in the late 60s, a group called The White Ducks was the one that received the most attention. Following his high-school graduation, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 18, where he landed a job as a songwriter for Tree Publishing.
For the next several years, he wrote and performed at local clubs and hotels. Within a few years, his songs were being recorded by several different artists, including Conway Twitty, Tracy Nelson, and Three Dog Night, who took Hiatt's "Sure as I'm Sittin' Here" to number 16 in the summer of 1974. Eventually, his manager secured him an audition at Epic Records, and the label signed him in 1974, releasing his debut album, Hangin' Around the Observatory, later that year. Despite their critical acclaim, neither Hangin' Around the Observatory nor its 1975 follow-up Overcoats sold many copies, and he was dropped by the label. By the end of the year, Tree Publishing had let him go as well.
Following his failure in Nashville, Hiatt moved out to California. By the summer of 1978 he had settled in Los Angeles, where began playing in clubs, opening for folk musicians including Leo Kottke. With Kottke's assistance, Hiatt hired a new manager, Denny Bruce, who helped him secure a record contract with MCA Records. Slug Line, his first record for MCA, was released in the summer of 1979. Where his first two records were straight-ahead rock & roll and folk-rock, Slug Line was in the new wave vein of angry English singer/songwriters like Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Joe Jackson, as if Hiatt was vying for the role of the American angry young man. The new approach earned some strong reviews, yet it failed to generate any sales. Two Bit Monsters, his second MCA album, faced the same situation. Although it was well-received critically upon its 1980 release, it made no impression on the charts, and the label dropped him.
Apart from working on Two Bit Monsters, Hiatt spent most of 1980 as a member of Ry Cooder's backing band, playing rhythm guitar on the Borderline album and touring with the guitarist. Hiatt stayed with Cooder throughout 1981, signing a new contract with Geffen Records by the end of the year. Produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex), his Geffen debut All of A Sudden was released in 1982, followed by the Nick Lowe/Scott Matthews & Ron Nagel-produced Riding With the King in 1983. As with his previous records for Epic and MCA, neither of his first two Geffen releases sold well. By this time, Hiatt's personal life was beginning to spin out of control as he was sinking deep into alcoholism. Around the time he completed 1985's Warming Up to the Ice Age, his second wife committed suicide. Following the release of Warming Up to the Ice Age, Hiatt was dropped by Geffen. By the end of 1985, he had entered a rehabilitation program. During 1986, he remarried and signed a new deal with A&M Records.
For his A&M debut, Hiatt assembled a small band comprising his former associates Ry Cooder (guitar), Nick Lowe (bass), and Jim Keltner (drums). Recorded over the course of a handful of days, the resulting album, Bring the Family, had a direct, stripped-down rootsy sound that differed greatly from his earlier albums. Upon its summer 1987 release, Bring the Family received the best reviews of his career and, for once, the reviews began to pay off, as the album turned into a cult hit, peaking at 107 on the U.S. charts; it was his first charting album. Hiatt attempted to record a follow-up with Cooder, Lowe, and Keltner, but the musicians failed to agree on the financial terms for the sessions. Undaunted, he recorded an album with John Doe, David Lindley, and Dave Mattacks, but he scrapped the completed project, deciding that the result was too forced. Hiatt's final attempt at recording the follow-up to Bring the Family was orchestrated by veteran producer Glyn Johns, who had him record with his touring band, the Goners. Despite all of the behind-the-scenes troubles behind its recording, the follow-up album, Slow Turning, actually appeared rather quickly, appearing in the summer of 1988.
Slow Turning, like Bring the Family before it, received nearly unanimous positive reviews and it was fairly well-received commercially, spending 31 weeks on the U.S. charts and peaking at 98. Within the next year, Hiatt successfully toured throughout America and Europe, strengthening his fan base along the way. Inspired by the success of Hiatt's two A&M albums, Geffen released the compilation Y' All Caught? The Ones That Got Away 1979-85 in 1989. That same year, other artists began digging through Hiatt's catalog of songs, most notably Bonnie Raitt, who covered "Thing Called Love" for her multi-platinum comeback album, Nick of Time.
In 1990, Hiatt returned with Stolen Moments, which was nearly as successful as Slow Turning, both critically and commercially. "Bring Back Your Love to Me," an album track from Stolen Moments that was also recorded by Earl Thomas Conley, won BMI's 1991 Country Music Award. By the time "Bring Back Your Love to Me" won that award, it had become a standard practice for artists to cover Hiatt's songs, as artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Ronnie Milsap, Suzy Bogguss, and Iggy Pop all covered his songs in the early '90s. In 1993, Rhino Records released Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt, which collected many of the cover versions that were recorded during the '80s and '90s.
During 1991, the group that recorded Bring the Family — Hiatt, Cooder, Lowe, and Keltner — re-formed as a band called Little Village, releasing their eponymous debut in early 1992. Based on the success of Bring the Family and Hiatt's A&M albums, expectations for Little Village were quite high, yet the record and its supporting tour were considered a major disappointment. Later, the individual members would agree that the band was a failure, mainly due to conflicting egos.
Hiatt decided to back away from the superstar nature of Little Village for his next album, 1993's Perfectly Good Guitar. Recorded in just two weeks with a backing band comprised of members of alternative rock bands School of Fish and Wire Train, the album was looser than any record since Bring the Family, but it didn't quite have the staying power of its two predecessors, spending only 11 weeks on the charts and peaking at number 47. The following year, he released his first live album, Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan? Hiatt left A&M Records after the release of the record, signing with Capitol Records the following year.
Walk On, Hiatt's first Capitol album, was recorded during his supporting tour for Perfectly Good Guitar and featured guest appearances by the Jayhawks and Bonnie Raitt. Walk On entered the charts at 48, but slipped off the charts in nine weeks, indicating that his audience had settled into a dedicated cult following. Fittingly, after 1997's Little Head quickly came and went in the marketplace, Hiatt parted ways with Capitol, and his next album, 2000's Crossing Muddy Waters was released on the established independent imprint Vanguard Records. After a second album with Vanguard, The Tiki Bar Is Open, Hiatt alligned himself with another independent label, New West, for the release of his 2003 set Beneath This Gruff Exterior. Master of Disaster, along with CD and DVD versions of Live from Austin, TX followed in 2005.
Same Old Man followed in 2008; then The Open Road in 2010.
Dancin
John Hiatt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They're tryin' to arrest my friend
They put him on ice now twice
But he's back again
Well he did that dance in Harlem
All across the U-S-A
From the Tapanzee?
He was an animal all the way
But now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Martha and the Vandellas
Told you how to do as you please
Now all of you idiots
Are dancin' with the Bee Gees
When they introduce their latest record
You're as thrilled as a rat in a maze
You gotta do your stuff?
Now you're sexless and dull
What ever happened to the latest craze?
Now that there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
And it's 1, 2, 3, 4
Don't imagine any more
And it's 5, 6, 7, 8
Have another empty plate
Aww, just when things were gettin' funny
You had to reconsider all of the rules
Now consumer affairs
Has got you dancin' in pairs
Dressed up like a bunch of fools
Now that there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
Now there's no more dancin'
No more dancin' in the street
The song "Dancin in the Street" by John Hiatt laments the loss of the free-spirited dancing culture that once existed in American streets. The first half of the song refers to a friend who was arrested for dancing in the street but continued to dance anyway all across the USA, from the Tapanzee to the Golden Gate. He was an animal, meaning he was passionate, and he did the Harlem dance better than anyone else. However, now there is no more dancing because people are too focused on following the latest trend, represented by the Bee Gees. The song seems to suggest that in the past there was genuine creativity and freedom of expression, but now people have become sexless and dull, dressed up like fools by consumer affairs.
The shift from a culture of free-spirited street dancing to a culture of following trends is the central theme of this song. The lyrics reference the protest song "Dancin in the Street" by Martha and the Vandellas, suggesting that even that song has become irrelevant. The lyrics also explore the idea of consumerism and how it has replaced creative expression. The line "Have another empty plate" implies that people are consuming trends without creating anything of value themselves.
Line by Line Meaning
Out in the street
A scene in which the singer observes something happening outside.
They're tryin' to arrest my friend
The singer sees someone he knows being detained by authorities.
They put him on ice now twice
The person being arrested has been detained and released before.
But he's back again
Despite being arrested before, the person is still present and unafraid of being arrested again.
Well he did that dance in Harlem
Referring to a specific dance that the person being arrested is known for doing.
All across the U-S-A
The person gained a reputation for doing this dance all over the country.
From the Tapanzee?
Referring to the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York, where the person may have performed the dance.
To the Golden Gate
Referring to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, where the person may have performed the dance.
He was an animal all the way
The person was known for being wild and uninhibited while doing the dance.
But now there's no more dancin'
The dance is no longer popular or allowed.
No more dancin' in the street
This iconic dance no longer takes place in public spaces.
Martha and the Vandellas
A reference to a popular singing group.
Told you how to do as you please
The group inspired people to dance and move freely during their performances.
Now all of you idiots
The singer believes people who follow current trends blindly are foolish.
Are dancin' with the Bee Gees
A reference to the popularity of disco music and dancing.
When they introduce their latest record
Referring to the release of a new album by a popular music group.
You're as thrilled as a rat in a maze
People are easily excited by new music and trends like rats are lured by cheese in a maze.
You gotta do your stuff?
People feel the need to participate in trends and fads in order to fit in.
Now you're sexless and dull
Following trends has resulted in a lack of creativity and individuality, leading to a boring and uninteresting lifestyle.
What ever happened to the latest craze?
The artist is questioning why certain trends become popular and then disappear quickly.
And it's 1, 2, 3, 4
Counting beats in music, referencing the rhythm of dancing.
Don't imagine any more
The artist advises against dreaming or being imaginative because reality is disappointing.
And it's 5, 6, 7, 8
Another counting reference, this time in a more upbeat tempo.
Have another empty plate
People are being fed empty and meaningless trends, like a plate without food.
Aww, just when things were gettin' funny
The singer was enjoying the previous dancing scene but is now disappointed by the change in trends.
You had to reconsider all of the rules
People have begun to conform to social norms rather than enjoying their previous ways of life.
Now consumer affairs
Referring to the influence of consumerism on culture.
Has got you dancin' in pairs
People are now dancing in prescribed pairs rather than freely expressing themselves through dance.
Dressed up like a bunch of fools
People are going to great lengths to fit in to new trends, even if they look ridiculous.
Now there's no more dancin'
The dancing scene has completely died out.
No more dancin' in the street
The energetic, wild outdoor dancing culture that was previously enjoyed no longer exists.
Now there's no more dancin'
The song emphasizes the fact that dancing culture has disappeared entirely.
No more dancin' in the street
As shown in the title, streets are no longer filled with dancing people.
Now there's no more dancin'
Reiteration of the loss of dancing culture.
No more dancin' in the street
Final confirmation that the high-energy, free-spirited dance culture has disappeared entirely.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: JOHN HIATT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind