As soon as Daryl and I had our first #1 hit record and platinum album, we began to be deluged with submissions of songs from songwriters and publishing companies. There was no way we could spend the time to listen to them all and still keep up with everything else we had to do. So we enlisted the talented "ears" of my sisters, Louisa and Jane. Louisa would listen to every single song that was offered, and then would make a tape for us of the first 20 or 30 seconds of each song she thought would work for us. Then we would choose the ones that caught OUR ears and listen to the entire demo. Jane lived in Nashville at the time, and would go down to the publishing offices on Music Row to find songs we might like. One of the songs Jane found for us was "Can't Stop Dancing" by Ray Stevens. When we recorded it, I always thought Daryl pushed the tempo a bit too much, and that it was really too fast to dance to … but people seemed to really like the song as much as we did.
Several months ago Dancing with the Stars asked permission to use the song on one of their shows, and we signed off and forgot about it. But I was THRILLED when I found out they used it last Monday evening for the first dance of the season, and was amazed by the fantastic dancing of Marilu Henner and Derek Hough! It is always really fun to hear one of our songs pop up in a film or on a TV series.
And here I am performing "Can't Stop Dancing" with Daryl on The Toni Tennille Show in 1980: