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The Meaning of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland”

When most people hear “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions, the lyrics usually aren’t the first thing on their mind, as they’re likely to be grooving on a dance floor. The song was released as the first single from the group’s 1979 album, I Am, and is one of the most popular songs of the disco era — a time that was known for making people dance.

“Boogie Wonderland” certainly does make people dance, however the lyrics offer an unexpectedly dark take on what the dancing is really all about.

Perhaps, the song suggests, that instead of simply looking to have a good time, people flock to the clubs as a way of escaping from a life of disappointment.

The track was written by Allee Willis in collaboration with Jon Lind (neither were members of the band), and according to a 2018 interview with Songwriting Magazine, the choice to write a darker song about the disco was a very conscious one due to the popularity of the word “boogie” at the time, among other inspirations.

“Boogie Wonderland” Origins

In the interview mentioned above, Willis explains that she and Lind wrote the song in her apartment in Los Angeles one night, not long after she had watched the movie Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977).

The film, which stars Diane Keaton, depicts a schoolteacher who cruises bars and clubs in her off time and goes home with a different man every night, including one that just might be a serial killer.

She explains:

We decided to make the song about someone who does not have it together during the day but at night they walk into the disco and their life miraculously changes. They can lose themselves in dance for as long as they’re at the club. I felt like that was a fairly typical situation for a lot of people who were going out to dance every night.

Allee Willis on the meaning of “Boogie Wonderland”, 2018.

While working with this idea, they began trying to come up with a name for the club that the song’s characters would go out and dance at, but they were more considering it a state of mind than an actual club. A few ideas bounced around for a while until they landed upon “Boogie Wonderland” — the obvious choice.

She continues to explain how they wrote the lyrics themselves:

We decided to make the verse very dark, like there was something haunting about it, and then when it gets to the chorus it should sound happy, bright and uplifting. It’s almost like a very profound mood shift. People tell me that it’s a song which makes them very happy. I always say to them ‘well have you listened to the lyrics because it’s actually a very deep and depressing song?’

I always loved to take very poppy dance music and put really heavy lyrics into it. It never really mattered to me whether people got that or not. I’m proud because it really is a song that appears to be one thing but is actually something else. And I think the mood that we wanted to convey is definitely there.

Allee Willis on the creation of “Boogie Wonderland”, 2018.

It is true that the song’s arrangement is bright and uplifting, but the lyrics are really quite dark. This juxtaposition is part of what gives this song such a special quality, and what makes it so frequently misunderstood.

“Boogie Wonderland” Lyrics Meaning

The track opens and is immediately moving at full speed, dropping the chorus after an instrumental introduction that gives people enough time to make it to the dance floor before the first verse:

Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of men
Who need more than they get
Daylight deals a bad hand to a woman
Who has laid too many bets
The mirror stares you in the face
And says “Baby, uh, uh, it don’t work”
You say your prayers though you don’t care
You dance and shake the hurt

First verse to “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

As you can see, the first verse describes a lonely man, who finds himself wanting something more from his life. So, as it grows closer to midnight, and the darkness of the night begins to surround his heart, he decides to hit the club.

A woman who is down on her luck, who has placed too many bets on the wrong men, ends up in the same predicament — hoping to dance the pain away and perhaps try again with one more man she meets at this club.

This represents a never-ending, self-fulfilling prophecy which leads to many more nights alone, or with the wrong person, followed by another night at the club. It certainly doesn’t lead to many healthy relationships, though the people in the song will try.

Another chorus represents the clubbers escaping all their troubles once again, and then the second verse shares more about their motives for going to the club:

Sound fly through the night
I chase my vinyl dreams to boogie wonderland
I find romance when I start to dance in boogie wonderland
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, dance, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Dance, ooh, ooh, ooh, dance)
I find romance when I start to dance in boogie wonderland
(Dance, ooh, ooh, ooh, dance, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Dance, ooh, ooh, ooh, dance)

Second verse to “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

This verse is less dark than the first verse, as it shows more of an appreciation for the power of the music than the desire to escape. While the singer is escaping, they are doing so through the vessel of the music — their vinyl dreams.

These dreams are of finding love and romance, and since many other people at the club feel the same way, they do find this romance on the dance floor.

Next, we reach the bridge, which is the saddest part of the song:

All the love in the world can’t be gone
All the need to be loved can’t be wrong
All the records are playing and my heart keeps saying
 (Oh)
“Boogie wonderland, wonderland” (Haaah, aaah-aaaaaah)

Bridge to “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Our narrator feels anguish about a life that lacks love, and is starting to lose hope. He fears that there is no love left in the world, and that his personal need to be loved may not be fulfilled.

The one thing that he’s got to hang onto is the music, and the “Boogie Wonderland”, so he just goes to the club once again, and the cycle continues…

Watch the video for “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire below.