Wilson Pickett – Land of 1000 Dances

First FAME session, biggest pop hit

On 11 May 1966, Wilson Pickett cut Land of 1000 Dances at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, his first sessions there after earlier Memphis work with the Stax crew. Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler sent him to Rick Hall’s room with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and brought the Memphis Horns along to keep the brass edge Pickett already knew. Chris Kenner had written and first recorded the song in 1962 with Allen Toussaint’s New Orleans touch; Cannibal & the Headhunters’ 1965 East Los Angeles version had already popularized the «na na na» chant Pickett kept and drove harder. The title names dances; Pickett treats them as fuel for a shout-along rather than a list to memorize.

The single landed on Atlantic in July 1966, with You’re So Fine on the B-side, and appeared on the album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. Players around him included Spooner Oldham on keys, Jimmy Johnson on guitar, Tommy Cogbill or Chips Moman on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums, and the Memphis Horns on brass. Engineers and supervisors in the FAME circle included Rick Hall, Tom Dowd, and Jim Stewart. Pickett’s count-off and shouted dance names sit on a fast, dry Southern soul groove: tight drums, stabbing horns, and a vocal that pushes every bar. The famous «na na» break is less decoration than the song’s second chorus.

It became Pickett’s biggest pop hit, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart for the week of 17 September 1966, and No. 22 in the UK. Canada also took it to No. 6. The FAME dates opened Atlantic’s long Muscle Shoals run; Pickett soon cut Mustang Sally and Funky Broadway there, and Wexler later brought Aretha Franklin to the same rooms for I Never Loved a Man. The 1966 recording later turned up in films such as The Full Monty and in ads, but the Atlantic single remains the version people mean.