Dancing Machine

This song is about a woman who is blessed with the boogie. Most of the lyric is a description of her moves: automatic, systematic, filled with space-age design. Jackson 5 producer Hal Davis, who worked at Motown Records' headquarters in Los Angeles, said he came up with the idea after a woman on the staff would repeatedly come into his office and dance when he was playing music. "She's a dancing machine," he told Don Fletcher, another songwriter at the label. Hitting on the title, Davis and Fletcher composed the song with guitarist Dean Parks. They recorded it at the Sound Factory in Los Angeles with session musicians William Salter (bass), James Gadson (drums) and Joe Sample (keyboards). The funky track hinted at the disco sound that was on the horizon in 1973.

Michael and Jermaine Jackson share lead vocals on this track. It was one of Michael's favorites and a precursor to his dance-flavored solo material in the late '70s and early '80s.

The first version of this song was just an album cut, including on the Jackson 5 album Get It Together in September 1973. The group had cooled off by this point: their first four Motown singles went to #1 in 1970, but they didn't crack the Top 10 in 1972 or 1973 (Michael Jackson had a #1 hit as a solo artist in this time with "Ben"). On December 15, 1973, Jermaine married Hazel Gordy, daughter of Motown chief Berry Gordy. This may have encouraged the label to get the group a hit: In 1974, a remixed version of "Dancing Machine" was released as a single and went to #2 on the Hot 100. It also topped the R&B chart, giving the group their sixth and final #1 on that tally.