(Little) music box dancer

"Music Box Dancer"

"Music Box Dancer" is an instrumental piece by Canadian musician Frank Mills that was an international hit in the late 1970s. It features an arpeggiated piano theme in C-sharp major (enharmonic to D-flat major) designed to resemble a music box, accompanied by other instruments playing a counterpoint melody as well as a wordless chorus. (Most modern piano music sheets have the song in the key of C.)

Mills wrote and recorded "Music Box Dancer" in 1974, but it did not become a single until December 1978.^[1] By Christmas of that year, it was in the top ten of many European and Asian pop music charts. Released as a single in the United States in January 1979,^[2] it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week ending May 5,^[3] and also reached #3 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart and #47 on the Canadian pop chart. The single also did well in Australia, reaching #14 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report).^[4]

A few notes are missing in the third repeated introduction to the main melody, which could not be corrected, as Mills did not have the funds to record another take.

In 1974 Mills released an album that featured "Music Box Dancer", but it was not initially a hit. When he re-signed with Polydor Records Canada in 1978, the label released a new song as a single, with "Music Box Dancer" on the B-side. The single was sent to easy-listening stations in Canada, and one copy was mistakenly sent to CFRA-AM, an Ottawa pop station. The program director played the A-side and could not figure out why it had been sent to his station, so he played the B-side to see if the record label had been mistakenly marked. He liked "Music Box Dancer" and added it to his station's playlist.

The song's success at CFRA was swift. "Music Box Dancer" premiered on CFRA's top 30 chart on May 5, 1978;^[5] by June 30, it was the #1 song on the station's playlist.^[6] "Music Box Dancer" also began picking up play on other Canadian stations around this time, becoming a nationwide hit. Mills's album went gold in Canada, which, after several months, prompted Polydor in the US to release the album and single with the B-side "The Poet and I".

The million-selling Gold-certified single reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1979 as well as #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, while the album reached #21 on the Billboard Top Album chart and also went gold. Polydor awarded a gold record to TV station WNGE for breaking the single in the U.S.

It was Mills's only U.S. Top 40 pop hit; the follow-up, another piano instrumental titled "Peter Piper", peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100, although it was a popular Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Mills managed one final Adult Contemporary chart entry, "Happy Song", which peaked at #41 at the beginning of 1981. Mills also released a version of Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" with substantial airplay in ontario during the 70's and 80's.

Little music box dancer - Ray Conniff

I dream of a music box dancer no one can see
She twirls around and round and dances only for me
She´s just a cute music box dancer singing for me
When I hear that melody I know I´ll never be free

She dances and she sings and then she hasn´t the time
She smiles when she goes by me and with me that´s just fine
She plays it, then she sings it, and she beats to the time
And a little music box dancer will one day be mine

I dream about a girl who sings and dances for me
The love she gives to me is not that really could be
She twirls herself around and throws her kisses at me
My little music box dancer that no one can see

Ah-ah-ah-aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaaah
Ah-ah-ah-aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaaah
My little music box dancer that no one can´t see

I dream of a music box dancer playing the song
She sings it and then she dances to it all day long
She´s just a cute music box dancer playing for me
When I hear that melody I know for me love can be

My little music box dancer, that´s something to see
The way she twirls around is just as cute as can be
As long as she´s around I know I´ll never be free
Why no one else could see her is a mystery to me?

I dream about the girl who sings and dances for me
The feeling that I have for her was just meant to be
And when she twirls around and throws her kisses at me
I love my music box dancer that no one can see!

Ah-ah-ah-aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaaah
Ah-ah-ah-aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaaah
My little music box dancer that no one can see!

Ah-ah-ah-aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaaah
Ah-ah-ah-aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaaah

My little music box dancer that no one can see!
My little music box dancer that no one can see