# What the heck is the song "Safety Dance" about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312 "2004-04-22T00:11:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/1 "2004-04-22T00:11:17Z")
(Or should I say, what’s it aboot, eh?) Safe sex? Moshing? Is there even an exact answer? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/2 "2004-04-22T00:19:22Z")
My husband would say it’s about “three and a half minutes too long.” I don’t know, honestly, but I do remember hearing that it was some sort of reaction to slam-dancing. Apparently Men Witout Hats was touting the idea of dancing without actually injuring oneself. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/3 "2004-04-22T00:21:27Z")
When it came out, the word among my crowd was that it was anti-slam-dancing. Which was fine because we were prepared to ridicule MWoH’s pseudo-new-wave froufrou asses anyhow. 😛 PS: Every time I see the Stonehenge scene in “This Is Spinal Tap” I can’t help but think of the “Safety Dance” video. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/4 "2004-04-22T00:39:16Z")
It’s an actual dance. It’s the Safety Dance. I’ve done it. You just sort of bop around, periodically making the letter “S” with your arms. Sort of like, “YMCA”, only with an “S”. It’s fun. You should try it. We can dance, we can dance everything’s under control We can dance, we can dance they’re doing it from pole to pole We can dance, we can dance every body look at your hands (looks at hands)… Yeah. The Safety Dance. Fond memories of my teenage years. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/5 "2004-04-22T01:10:19Z")
How do you make an “S” with your arms? Like many humans, my arms originate at my shoulders, which are a good two feet apart. Yet the S shape is a single curved line. Please explain 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/6 "2004-04-22T01:18:35Z")
Well, you sort of make a downward hook over your head with one arm, and an upward hook just below chest level with the other. If you follow the line from the tips of the fingers of one hand, along your arm, across the front of your shoulders, down the other arm to the fingertips of the opposite hand, you have your single continuous curved line. We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind 'cause your friends don’t dance, and if they don’t dance, well, they’re no friends of mine… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/7 "2004-04-22T01:25:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, you sort of make a downward hook over your head with one arm, and an upward hook just below chest level with the other. If you follow the line from the tips of the fingers of one hand, along your arm, across the front of your shoulders, down the other arm to the fingertips of the opposite hand, you have your single continuous curved line. I always thought you were making a protective “box” around yourself. Anyway, _The Safety Dance_ has, for me, always just been a celebration of being young and doing what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/8 "2004-04-22T01:27:59Z")
I am moving this to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/9 "2004-04-22T02:32:42Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > When it came out, the word among my crowd was that it was anti-slam-dancing. Yep, that’s what Casey Kasem said, too. ---
**Author:** ![dook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@dook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dook)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/10 "2004-04-22T06:38:26Z")
I’ve heard this song twice, and I think I can safely say it was merely a vehicle for the Weird Al parody “The Brady Bunch”. ---
**Author:** ![Xander\_Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ce73a5/32.png) [@Xander\_Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xander_Cane)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/11 "2004-04-22T07:05:02Z")
According to that VH1 show that explained what songs were about, it said that the song Safety Dance was not anti-slamdancing but the opposite. It was anti-anti-slamdancing. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/12 "2004-04-22T10:00:06Z")
A friend of mine actually played drums on this song. He did it as session work a good two years before the song actually came out. He was none the wiser until he heard it on the radio in 83 (?), but gratefully receives a royalty check for it every year to the tune of about £500-1000 a year. And yes, I thought he was bullshitting until he showed me the cheque he gets, plus record credit. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/13 "2004-04-22T13:21:03Z")
OMG, I haven’t thought of that song in years! The thread made me smile. ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/14 "2004-04-22T15:04:44Z")
> [@Thea Logica](#): > > Well, you sort of make a downward hook over your head with one arm, and an upward hook just below chest level with the other. If you follow the line from the tips of the fingers of one hand, along your arm, across the front of your shoulders, down the other arm to the fingertips of the opposite hand, you have your single continuous curved line. So you’re dancing “like an Egyptian?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/15 "2004-04-22T18:39:01Z")
“Johnny played guitar, Jenny played bass. Name of the band is The Human Race. Everybody tell me have you heard? Pop goes the world.” “Pop Goes the World” is the most underrated album of all time 🆒 I have worn out many a cassette and record listening to Men w/o Hats… ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/16 "2004-04-22T19:38:45Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > “Pop Goes the World” is the most underrated album of all time 🆒 I have worn out many a cassette and record listening to Men w/o Hats… I dunno, man. For my money, Dolby’s “Golden Age of Wireless” is the ultimate 80’s record. And I broke my old cassette 2 days ago! The little felt thingie came off! (What’s that called – new thread?) I’d played that thing for 20 years! 🆒 GAoW… you can tell it’s 80’s, couldn’t have come from any other decade, even got the radio hit, but it still holds up beautifully. “Europa and the Pirate Twins”, what a heartbreaker. “One of our Submarines Is Missing”… now that’s a neglected classic! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-song-safety-dance-about/241312/17 "2004-04-23T04:05:15Z")
I was just a teenybopper when “The Safety Dance” came out, but my friends all said it was about masturbation. That doesn’t really fit with the lyrics, but the title does make a good euphemism for self-gratification.