Released: December 18, 1990

Featuring: Zelma Davis Freedom Williams

Songwriter: Freedom Williams Robert Clivillés

Producer: Clivillés & Cole

You all want this party started, right?
You all want this party started quickly, right?

Play that beat, play that beat (bang)
Play that beat, play that beat (bang 'em)
Play that beat, play that beat (bang)
Play that beat, play that beat (bang 'em)

Go, go, here we go!
Go, go, here we go!
Go, go, here we go!
Ah-h-h-h Freedom!

Hit me!
Slam it, baby!

Enter the jam, the party is packed and I rap
Girls wall to wall, there's my man hanging out at the back
So I cruise, slide up to the dance floor
I've never seen a club so hyped before
Get on the mic and get raw
Back to back, front to front, door to door
Everybody dance to the new sound, rock and roll
Soul to soul, I break it on down
From the bottom to the top, from the top to the bottom
Hmm.... I got 'em
People everywhere, they jump, they swing their hair
They shake their derriere, oh yeah
So loosen your body and let me take control
Let's rock and roll

Here we go, here we go
Here we go, here we go, here we go
Here we go, here we go
Here we go, here we go, here we go

We're gonna rock and roll
We're gonna move your soul
We're gonna make you groove
Everybody move
Everybody move, yeah
Everybody move, yeah
Ah-h-h-h Freedom!

Whether you're into club or dance or rap or acid
Come on get with it, that's it
Throw your hands in the air, scream go! go! GO!
Rock and roll will go with flow, and yo
It will develop into a new form, break the norm
Get warm and then swarm, come back again
Give it up and transform, from BB King to Bo Diddly
Ed Sullivan - remember TV screens'd be seen
With the Beatles and the Jackson Five
The Who, The Doors, The Rolling Stones
And even I've dribbled a bit to get wit'
Helpin' the crew, that is legit
Your parents dissed it back in the days
The same way they diss rap, are you amazed?
So DJs, let's rock and roll

Da-da-da-da-da, yeah
Dig that rock and roll
Rock plus funk and soul
Get on up and dance, yeah

We're gonna rock and roll
We're gonna move your soul
We're gonna make you groove
Everybody move
Everybody move, yeah
Everybody move, yeah

Get on up, get on up
Get on up, get on up, get on up and dance, yeah

Play that beat, play that beat (bang)
Play that beat, play that beat (bang-em)

Go Go Go Go
Go Go Go Go
Go Go Go Go
Ah-h-h-h Freedom!

On the dance floor, that's where we all get raw
Like a kid in a candy store
So get up, get out of your seat and arrive
Everybody everybody up and get live
The C & C Music Factory
Is mastery and full of jams that has to be
Pumped till your ears get sore
Live from Brooklyn, out to the California sea shore
We came to rock and roll
To get on down with something funky with soul
Rob and Dave produced it and I juiced it
Spruced it, mass produced it and you proofed it
Party people, are you having a good time?
And singin' along with my rhyme
This goes out for the young and too the old
Let's rock and roll

Here we go, here we go
Here we go, here we go, here we go
(Let's rock and roll)
Here we go, here we go
Here we go, here we go, here we go
(Go ahead, baby)

We're gonna rock and roll
We're gonna move your soul
We're gonna make you groove
Everybody move
Everybody move, yeah
Everybody move, yeah
(Go, go, here we go, go, go, here we go)

We're gonna rock and roll
We're gonna move your soul
We're gonna make a groove
Everybody move
Everybody move, yeah
Everybody move, yeah
(Here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go)

We're gonna rock and roll
We're gonna move your soul
We're gonna make a groove
Everybody move
Everybody move, yeah
Everybody move, yeah
(Play that beat, play that beat, play that beat, play that beat)

Get on up and dance, yeah

Rock and roll to please your soul
Rock and roll to please your soul
Rock and roll to please your soul
Rock and roll to please your soul

C+C Music Factory

David Cole and Robert Civilles met while both working at a New York underground club. Before forming C & C Music Factory, they were primarily remixers, co-writers, producers and artist managers – having worked with Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, Fleetwood Mac, Grace Jones, Seduction and others.

Cole & Civilles decided to launch their own music project with an ever-changing cast of vocalists. When an artist they were managing turned down the song “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”, the duo decided to use it as their first single. They recruited a janitor from Quad Recording Studio who was learning to become an assistant engineer named Freedom Williams to perform the raps, and hired ex-Weather Girls singer Martha Wash for the female vocals – but credited them to Zelma Davis. Davis also appeared in the song’s video. Wash later sued for being uncredited in the song and its video.

The song became an international smash, reaching the top 5 in nine countries (taking the top position in five of them). Their debut album was released a month after the single and it reached #2 in the US, #8 in the UK and the top 30 in six other countries.