What’s too fast to dance to? Back in the mid to late seventies there was nothing I would not dance to including the wildest part of Orange Blossom Special.
Actually Orange Blossum Special is a good example of one that’s too fast to dance to, in my opinion. Not that people don’t do it, and not that I haven’t done it, and not that I won’t do it in the future. I know OBS is a big crowd pleaser, but I personally don’t care all that much for the song. It was written just about the time that “bluegrass” was born, that is, when Bill Monroe got started with the “Blue Grass Boys” (thus, from thence forward, his type of music was called “bluegrass” music), so it definitely would be considered more “bluegrass” than old-time/traditional. It’s basically a show-off song for fast fiddle playing, but since it’s so fast and frenetic and the rhythm changes during the song - speeds up - to me it’s just not a good song to dance to, that is, to do much more than jump up and down or move your feet fast and furiously without much in the way of technique.
What can I say, we loved it along with such oldies as Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Rawhide, Fox on the Run et al. I was a runner posting my last time on the road in 1971 ( 6.4 miles) and my feet were driven by ample amounts of Rolling Rock.
