Let Your Body Go Downtown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Let Your Body Go Downtown" is a song co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran,[1][2][3] and recorded by the Martyn Ford Orchestra as a single on 18 March 1977 on the Mountain record label. A 12-inch single was also released.[4] In an interview in 2024, Ford revealed he had asked close friends De Paul and Moran to write the song for him.[5]
The single was also released in France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands on Vertigo Records.[6] It was a BBC Radio 1 "Record of the Week" and playlist by a number of UK regional radio stations.[7] As noted by Record World magazine, it took the single three months to enter the UK Singles Chart.[8] However, the song reached No. 38 on that chart,[9][10] No. 34 on the NME singles chart,[11] No. 37 on the EveryHit Retrocharts[12] and No. 11 on the UK Disco Chart, published by Record Mirror.[13] It was also released as a track on the album Ronnie Jones Presents Let-Your-Body-Go-With-The-Disco released on the Phillips record label in Italy[14] and it received numerous radio plays there as listed in "Radiocorrier".[15] A live performance of the song featuring Ford, his orchestra and backing singers was shown on the 12 May 1977 edition of Top of the Pops.[16]
The song was followed by another de Paul/Moran penned release, "Going to a Disco",[17] in a similar vein,[18] also released on the Mountain record label in 1977 as a 7 inch and 12 inch single[19][20] but did not chart although it received a positive reviews, for example from the British DJ James Hamilton,[21][22] as well as in the British mainstream press.[23] It is also mentioned alongside "Let Your Body Go Downtown" in the books The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music[24] and Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2006.[25]
"Let Your Body Go Downtown" is still played on the radio,[26][27] most recently on the Ana Matronic Disco Devotion radio show on BBC Radio 2,[28] on Funky Tuesday[29] and on Disco Magic.[30]
