Don't Stop Believing (DJ Teva Sway Beat Remix)

Song: Don't Stop Believing (DJ Teva Sway Beat Remix)
Artist: Journey
Album: N/A




All of last week I spent in the wonderful beach vacation village called Provincetown at the very end tip of Cape Cod, MA. I have been going annually for the past several years and continue to enjoy the town, the crowd it draws, and the beach and pool(s) respectively. As in the past, I am always interested in the music I’ll hear over the week from the DJ’s they bring in and see what I know and what I don’t. Unfortunately, as P-Town is a pretty thriving gay resort, the music tends to be almost strictly house music, and heavy on remixes. Because, you know, that’s only what the homos listen to.

Despite my cranky attitude (am I the only one that would like to hear some ROCK from time to time?) I do enjoy dance music to a certain degree so it’s not like the whole situation is AWFUL for me, and besides… listening to other DJ’s, no matter what they play, makes you a better DJ yourself.

Not only do you have the club and bar tunes to keep up with in the evening, every single day at the Boatslip pool/bar is a “tea dance” that goes from 4 – 7 PM. This way, it is possible to basically get a buzz going in the late afternoon and carry that on until early the following morning, but for me… if I go to tea dance it means my night is going to be cut short, I just don’t have the energy… maybe I’m getting older. Anyhow, tea dance music is comprised of almost exclusively house remixes. In past years the packed dance floor (about 150-200 people) would boogie down to thumping remixes of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes” and then of course another recent classic… The Pussycat Dolls “Don’t Cha.” I’d love to know if this was intentional as the writers of the song MUST have known it would be a hit with homos but the sight of over a hundred men sing along (mostly shirtless) to “Don’t-cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me” is really something to behold, and gives the song a totally different meaning. [Poor straight girls, now they not only have to worry about the Pussycat Dolls stealing their man… but now gay men that are no doubt probably prettier than they. Life is unusually cruel.]

This year the tradition of remixing female pop songs was no different. “U + Your Hand” by Pink seemed to be played daily, and despite not being fresh, Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” got the dance floor treatment and the boys ate it up. They all knew the lyrics and again… there is something fun and “community-feeling” about a group of people all singing along to a song, and in the case of “Irreplaceable,” just another bitter lover taking a stand from a no-good ex. Gay men love this stuff, as evident by Deborah Cox’s entire career. Also big was a remix of the 80’s hit “Stand Back” by my love, Stevie Knicks. No stranger to the remix, Stevie has already seen her Fleetwood Mac hit “Dreams” re-worked for the dance floor by Deep Dish, as well as a White Label version of “Sara.” It is also worth noting that a dance version of Kelly Clarkson’s “Never Again” was HUGELY popular despite all the talk that the song hasn’t really caught on. I’m sorry… if you have a packed room of homo’s singing along and knowing every word it’s a h, hands down.


It might now be officially the song of the summer, as evident in its daily play at tea consistently, AND its ubiquity on pop radio, but my favorite of the daily songs I heard was Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” a vaguely sexual song that I have little idea what she’s talking about or for that matter what words she’s saying. But alas, after a good hour and a half of buzz building I found myself in the middle of that dance floor singing along. “When the sun shines we shine together, supple-up means do gree… whatever. We will always be together suck ‘em dreams, stick it out till the end…” (that is from memory of course, no google-ing) And then she stretches the word “Umbrella” into a whole chorus… “Ella…ella…ella…eh..eh..eh,” Brilliant! I’ve had a chance to preview her entire record and man if it doesn’t sound like a hits machine. She should see more “Umbrella” sized smashes come from it, and I am pleased to report that she doesn’t stick to tired Ashanti-like pop R & B and flirts with rock and electro-pop. Hot.

My favorite “out of left field” remix had to be the closing song at the very house(and dirty)-minded Fireman’s Ball on Friday night… none other than a throbbing, grab you, remix of Journey’s so-hot-right-now “Don’t Stop Believing.” While the Soprano’s finale was the obvious impetus of the selection, they chose to let the song go all the way to the end where I, just for effect, would have cut if off at the final chorus just as the show did, “Don’t stop…. SILENCE.” It would have been cruel maybe, but surely would have been the talk of the town the following day.

The DJ Teva Sway Beat Remix isn’t the one that was played that night, but my favorite of the ones I found. (I still don’t know where these DJ’s get their remixes, I often can never find the one I’ve heard out.) What I did find was that the song absolutely needed a dancy start, then a sudden cut to the familiar piano vamp from the beginning of the song sans any beats. Each remix seemed to follow this pattern as it just plain WORKS. As the music builds, only then do the beats come back, hard & heavy. I do distinctly remember this happening with the one that was played, and all the boys stopped for a second and swayed until the song picked up again.

Enjoy.

Here is the band doing the song live:

Goofy!!!

And in case you have been living under a rock (or don't have HBO)