THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

462-Earth, Wind & Fire with the Emotions-Boogie Wonderland.

1979-Number 4 single.

Best Bit-At 1.38. What do all these titles have in common?’Oogie Oogie,’ ‘Reggae Woman,’ ‘Get Up and,’ ‘Jungle,’ ‘I Love To,’ ‘Blame It On the,’ ‘Yes Sir I Can,’- Yes, of course, you can ‘Boogie’ to them all.

Earth, Wind & Fire (see also best songs 916) were formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1969 by Maurice White (1941-2016) (see also best songs 525.) They remain active with 10 current members, in total 30 musicians have been band members since their incarnation. With record sales in excess of 90 million they are one of the worlds best selling artists, recording 22 Studio Albums between 1971-2014. In America on Billboard they have achieved 16 top 40 singles, including the 1975 Number 1 song ‘Shining Star.’

‘Boogie Wonderland’ was released from Earth, Wind & Fire’s ninth studio Album ‘I Am’ from 1979, and was co-written by Ailee Willis (1947-2019) and John Lind. Other notable works by Willis include winning two Grammy Awards for the soundtracks to the films ‘Beverley Hills Cops,’ and ‘The Color Purple.’ John Lind is a successful songwriter who has co-written two Billboard Number 1 singles, the 1985 chart topper by Madonna ‘Crazy For You,’ and the 1989 Number 1 song ‘Save the Best For Last,’ performed by Vanessa Williams.

For ‘Boogie Wonderland’ Earth, Wind & Fire teamed up with fellow ‘Columbia ‘ records label mates the Emotions. Maurice White had already worked with the all girl group, writing for, and producing their four Albums on Columbia between 1976-1979, White was also the co-writer and co-producer of the Emotions 1977 Billboard Number 1 single ‘Best of My Love.’

‘Boogie Wonderland’ was inspired after Ailee Willis had watched the 1977 film ‘Looking for Mr Goobar,’ which stars Diane Keaton as a lost soul who goes to clubs every night to dance away her misery. Willis explained,’When I saw Mr Goodbar I got kind of fascinated with people who did go to clubs every night, whose life was kind of falling apart, but they lived for the night life, though it didn’t seem to be advancing them as humans in the end. So if you really look at the lyrics of Boogie Wonderland, unlike ‘September’ (a song she also co-wrote) it’s not a happy song at all. It’s really about someone on the brink of self destruction who goes to clubs to try and find more.’

‘Sounds fly through the night, I change my vinyl dreams to boogie wonderland, I find romance when I start to dance in boogie wonderland.’