It’s Week 8 on Dancing with the Stars, Season 25. Only six couples remain, and one will be eliminated at the end of the night. Each couple will perform two dances including a trio with a former winner or finalist from a previous DWTS season. Drew Scott and Emma Slater and Season 24 winner Rashad Jennings will perform a Cha Cha to the James Brown classic, “Get Up Offa That Thing.” For their (more serious) Waltz, Drew and Emma will dance to the “Both Sides, Now” cover by Years & Years, the English electropop band. “Both Sides, Now” was written in 1967 — 50 years ago! — by Joni Mitchell.
“Both Sides, Now” was first performed by singing sensation Judy Collins and then everyone covered it including Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Dolly Parton, Tori Amos, and Carly Rae Jepsen. Fun fact: Joni Mitchell was inspired to write the song while in a plane, reading the 1959 novel Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. Saul Bellow won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. Mitchell never finished the book! “Both Sides, Now” is on Rolling Stone’s list The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time as #171. Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
