Dancing with Myself

"Dancing with Myself" is a punk rock song written by singer Billy Idol and bassist Tony James, and first recorded by their band Generation X. The song was first released as a single and a 12" in 1980 and, a few weeks after the single release, was included on the band's last album—1981's Kiss Me Deadly. It would become one of the group's most well-known songs, but had limited success in its initial release.

In 1981, Idol remixed and re-released "Dancing with Myself" as a solo single, toning down its aggressive guitar sound and instead emphasizing its power pop or pop rock elements. Two versions were issued—the 3:20 single version (which was later included on Idol's 11 of the Best compilation), and the 4:50 extended version that appeared on Idol's Don't Stop EP.

Idol plays "Dancing with Myself" at most of his concerts, always introducing the song as having been originally written and recorded by Generation X. Since its release, the song has become something of a sports anthem.

Demetri Martin

Demetri Evan Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer, and humorist. He is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, being a contributor on The Daily Show, and his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life

Martin was born on May 25, 1973 to a Greek American family in New York City, New York, the son of nutritionist Lillian and Greek Orthodox priest Dean C. Martin (now deceased). He grew up in Toms River, New Jersey, and has a younger brother named Spyro.

Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. During his time there, he wrote a 224-word poem about alcoholism as a project for a fractal geometry class, which became a well known palindromic poem. He was also a member of the Anti-Gravity Society, whose members juggle objects on Sunday evenings on Yale's Old Campus.

Although Martin was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship. Martin withdrew from law school before the start of his final year, opting to pursue comedy over finishing his Juris Doctor.

Billy Idol

William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician, songwriter and actor. Born in Stanmore, Middlesex, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X.

Idol then embarked on a successful solo career, and was a member of the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. A series of music videos for songs such as "Dancing with Myself", "White Wedding", "Rebel Yell" and "Eyes Without a Face" made him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens.

Life and career

Early life and Generation X

Idol was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, England. The name Billy Idol was inspired by a school teacher's description of Broad as "idle". In an interview on 21 November 1983, Idol said the name "was a bit of a goof, but also part of the old English school of rock. Billy Fury and all that. It was a 'double thing' not just a poke at the superstar-like people ... It was fun, you know?" In another interview for BBC Breakfast on 27 October 2014 he said that he wanted to be "Billy Idle" but thought he could not because of the Monty Python star Eric Idle and so chose Idol instead.

And I

"And I" is a song written by American R&B singer Ciara, and produced by Adonis Shropshire for Ciara's first album, Goodies (2004). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on August 30, 2005 (see 2005 in music) in North America.

The song was originally the third choice for the fourth single. Ciara has mentioned in an interview that "Thug Style", "Hotline" or "Pick up the Phone" would be the fourth single, but when Ciara suggested "And I" to executives at her previous record label LaFace, they were unhappy because they wanted "Next to You" to be the fourth single.

Chart performance

At the time of the U.S. release of "And I", Ciara's collaboration with Bow Wow, "Like You", and her collaboration with Missy Elliott, "Lose Control", were at the height of their popularity. "And I" peaked at 96 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and 27 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, which were poor positions compared to those attained by the first three singles from the album Goodies. It was not released outside North America because of this, and it is Ciara's least successful single.

Phrase

In everyday speech, a phrase may be any group of words, often carrying a special idiomatic meaning; in this sense it is roughly synonymous with expression. In linguistic analysis, a phrase is a group of words (or possibly a single word) that functions as a constituent in the syntax of a sentence—a single unit within a grammatical hierarchy. A phrase appears within a clause, although it is also possible for a phrase to be a clause or to contain a clause within it.

Common and technical use

There is a difference between the common use of the term phrase and its technical use in linguistics. In common usage, a phrase is usually a group of words with some special idiomatic meaning or other significance, such as "all rights reserved", "economical with the truth", "kick the bucket", and the like. It may be a euphemism, a saying or proverb, a fixed expression, a figure of speech, etc.

In grammatical analysis, particularly in theories of syntax, a phrase is any group of words, or sometimes a single word, which plays a particular role within the grammatical structure of a sentence. It does not have to have any special meaning or significance, or even exist anywhere outside of the sentence being analyzed, but it must function there as a complete grammatical unit. For example, in the sentence Yesterday I saw an orange bird with a white neck, the words an orange bird with a white neck form what is called a noun phrase, or a determiner phrase in some theories, which functions as the object of the sentence.