I Can't Dance

"I Can't Dance" is the fourth track from English rock band Genesis's fourteenth studio album, We Can't Dance (1991), and was released in December 1991 as the second single from the album. Lyrics were composed by drummer Phil Collins; music was written collectively by the band. The song peaked at number seven on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, and also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals in 1993. In Europe, the song reached number one in Belgium and the Netherlands, while peaking within the top five in Austria, Germany, and Portugal. Background During one recording session, Mike Rutherford first created the main riff of the song he called "Heavy A Flat", to which Collins suddenly improvised the basic concept for "I Can't Dance". The riff was actually inspired by a Levi Strauss & Co. television commercial (in the studio, the song was created under the working title "Blue Jeans") that used The Clash song "Should I Stay or Should I Go". Originally, the band did not think of it as anything more than a joke recording that would be discarded quickly, because the song was too simple, too bluesy, and unlike Genesis' style. Tony Banks said in an interview: "It was one of those bits you thought was going to go nowhere. It sounded fun but wasn't really special". It was not until Banks decided to add keyboard sound effects to complement Rutherford's playing that "I Can't Dance" took on a different feeling. The band came to appreciate the sly humour inherent in the song and chose to not only record it properly, but to put it on the album as a single.