"Dancing the Night Away" is the debut single by English rock band The Motors, released as the lead single from their 1977 debut studio album 1. The song was written by bassist/keyboardist Andy McMaster and lead vocalist/guitarist Nick Garvey.

The single was released on 7" within Europe and 12" vinyl in the UK only. The album version of the track lasted just over six and a half minutes, whilst the single version lasted just over three minutes. For the 12" vinyl version, a new mix of the a-side was used, lasting five and a half minutes whilst the same b-side was used.

The b-side "Whiskey and Wine" was featured on the same album.

Both tracks were produced by Zambian-born British record producer and songwriter Robert John "Mutt" Lange, one of the most successful music producers of all time.

The single's cover is a similar photo as the band's debut album.

The song peaked at #42 in the UK Singles Chart for a total of four weeks. The band's next single to chart was in 1978 "Airport" would peak at #4.

In the review for the album Motors, allmusic.com wrote "The Motors kicks off with the superb "Dancing the Night Away," an excellent fusion of pop melody with big guitar firepower, and the song is so effective that it sets a standard the rest of the disc can't quite match."

Allmusic picks the track as an AMG recommended track.

The American rock band Cheap Trick issued a cover of "Dancing the Night Away" as the lead single from their 1983 album Next Position Please.

The single was released on both 7" and 12" vinyl in America, Europe and the UK.

An American 12" promo vinyl featured an alternate version of the song, cut down from five minutes to just under four, titled "Dancing the Night Away (Short Version)". The other two tracks were the usual version of the a-side, titled "Dancing the Night Away (Long Version)" and the 1983 single "I Can't Take It". For the American 7" promo vinyl, both the "Long Version" and "Short Version" appeared as the a-side and b-side respectively. For the UK 12" vinyl release, the full length song was included with three of the band's previous hits, the live recordings of "Ain't That a Shame", "I Want You to Want Me" and "Surrender, taken from the 1978 live album "Cheap Trick at Budokan". The UK 12" vinyl was headlined as a "Special Low Price 4-Track 12 vinyl", with the four tracks highlighted on the front cover as well as the back.

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