“All She Wants to Do is Dance” by Don Henley

"All She Wants to Do Is Dance" followed "The Boys of Summer" as the second single from Building the Perfect Beast, Don Henley's second solo album away from the Eagles, from 1984, and it's a party record with a knife in its pocket. Danny Kortchmar wrote it, and underneath the bounce it takes aim at American meddling in Central America, above all the Reagan administration's funding of the Contras in their war on Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

Henley sings and plays drums, Kortchmar plays guitar and David Paich adds synthesizer; Patty Smyth of Scandal and Martha Davis of the Motels sing backup. Henley, Kortchmar and Greg Ladanyi produced it, and Ladanyi mixed it with Niko Bolas. Kortchmar recalled it as a record made just as technology was starting to take over. It reached 9 on the Hot 100 and became Henley's third number one on the Top Rock Tracks chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.