♫ Dancing In The Street ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music, Social commentary

When rawgod mentioned this one tonight, it immediately began playing in my head and, since I was pondering what to do for a music post, I seized upon it!  Hope you guys like it!

I hope you’re in the mood for a bit of something upbeat tonight, for I am greatly in need of what I think of as ‘happy music’, which often leads me to Motown, and tonight is no exception.

This song was written by Motown songwriters Marvin Gaye, Ivy Jo Hunter, and William “Mickey” Stevenson. It became the biggest hit and trademark song for Martha & the Vandellas.  According to the song’s co-writer Mickey Stevenson, the idea for dancing came to him while riding with Marvin Gaye through Detroit. During the summer, the city would open up fire hydrants and let the water out in the streets so they could play in the water to cool off. They appeared to be dancing in the water.  I actually remember one city I lived in as a child doing that … opening the fire hydrants on hot summer days!

Martha Reeves was the leader of the group.  Back in the early days, she was trying to get her foot in the door at Motown, but they wouldn’t even give her an audition, so she applied for and got a job as secretary.  Part of her secretarial duties was singing lyrics to new songs onto tapes so backup singers could learn the words. This led to fill-in work as a backup singer, where she impressed Motown executives with her voice.  She convinced them to hire her friends, Annette Sterling and Rosalind Ashford, and thus was born Martha and the Vandellas!  After backing up Marvin Gaye on some of his songs, Motown gave them songs to sing on their own, including the hit Heat Wave.

Martha Reeves told the story behind this song …

“Marvin Gaye had recorded ‘Dancing in the Street” when I first heard it, and he had put a real smooth vocal on there, sort of like (jazzy singing) ‘Calling all around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat baby?’ and for some reason, Marvin said, “let’s try this song on Martha.” I was in the office and they let me hear the song, but I couldn’t quite feel it that way. I had been to Rio De Janeiro, I had travelled to New Orleans during Carnival time, so I just knew it had to be somewhere about dancing in the street. I said, ‘Can I sing it the way that I feel it?’ And they said, ‘Go ahead.’

So, I sang it (singing on the beat) ‘calling all around the world are you ready for a brand-new beat,’ and, they loved it. There was all kinds of congratulatory hand slaps and ‘hey man, we got a hit in that window up there,’ and the engineer, Lawrence Horn, looked and said, ‘I didn’t turn the machine on.’

I had to sing it again. So, the second time I sang it, there’s a little bit of anger there because I had to repeat it. It was a straight performance and that’s why it sounds live. I think that’s the secret of the success of the hit – the fact that I had to do it again, and I did it without a mistake or without any interruption, and the feeling was just right on that song.”

The song took on a different meaning when riots in inner-city America led to many young black demonstrators citing the song as a civil rights anthem to social change which also led to some radio stations taking the song off its play list because certain black advocates such as H. Rap Brown began playing the song while organizing demonstrations.

The British press aggravated Reeves one time when someone put a microphone in her face and asked her if she was a militant leader. The British journalist wanted to know if Reeves agreed, as many people had claimed, that Dancing in the Street was a call to riot. To Reeves, the query was patently absurd. ‘My Lord, it was a party song,’ she remarked.

Like many a Motown hit, this song has been covered by many, including The Mamas and The Papas, Val Halen, Grateful Dead, David Bowie & Mick Jagger as a duet, and many more.  But to me, Martha and the Vandellas own this one.

Dancing in the Street
Martha and the Vandellas

Calling out around the world,
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer’s here and the time is right
For dancing in the street.
They’re dancing in Chicago,
Down in New Orleans,
In New York City.

All we need is music, sweet music.
There’ll be music everywhere.
There’ll be swinging and swaying and records playing,
Dancing in the street.
Oh, it doesn’t matter what you wear,
Just as long as you are there.
So come on, every guy, grab a girl.
Everywhere around the world
They’ll be dancing.
They’re dancing in the street.

It’s an invitation across the nation,
A chance for folks to meet.
There’ll be laughing, singing, and music swinging,
Dancing in the street.
Philadelphia, P.A.
Baltimore and D.C. now.
Can’t forget the Motor City.

All we need is music, sweet music.
There’ll be music everywhere.
There’ll be swinging and swaying and records playing,
Dancing in the street.
Oh, it doesn’t matter what you wear,
Just as long as you are there.
So come on, every guy, grab a girl.
Everywhere around the world
They’re dancing.
They’re dancing in the street.

Way down in L.A. ev’ry day,
They’re dancing in the street.
(Dancing in the street.)
Let’s form a big, strong line, get in time,
We’re dancing in the street.
(Dancing in the street.)
Across the ocean blue, me and you,
We’re dancing in the street.

Songwriters: Marvin Gaye / William Stevenson / Ivy Hunter
Dancing in the Street lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Carlin America Inc

26 thoughts on “♫ Dancing In The Street ♫ (Redux)”

  1. Well, this song, for me, whatever, whomever sings it, has me dancing. I’m just happy it was written and still exists in some many forms, and that I have it the chance to hear it again and again and again…Hugs and cheers

    Liked by 1 person

    • The weather was perfect this weekend, but I’ve been tired and a bit under the weather, so I stayed home, read a bit, snoozed a bit, wrote a bit, snoozed a bit … well, you get the picture. I hope you have a great week ahead, my friend! xx

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    • Ha ha … at this point, if I tried to dance I’d likely end up in a heap on the floor! But in my heart I danced. Yes, there are some people who look for a reason to be racist … I saw a clip today of a school in Michigan where the parents want a mural removed from the school hallway. The mural was drawn by a young high school girl. She is Black, which I’m sure is part of it, but the other issue they took offense to is in the drawing, among many children, one child has a rainbow shirt on. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr … people can be such fools!

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  5. Pingback: Dancing In The Street.        |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  7. I just love Tamla Motown and only hearing it on the radio in Australia when I was a teenager had no idea of where it was coming from or who was making it, the mere words
    Tamla Motown sounded so exciting! Of course, in recent years I have seen documentaries and caught up with the story.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. For this to be called a “race song” is so racist I cannot believe it wss even suggested. This was an “invitation” to love life and be happy, and nothing else.
    Martha and the Vandellas were slated to be the top girls group in Motown, but then along came Diana Ross, and suddenly Berry Gordy gave the Supremes the best songs. What more could a man do for the woman he was sleeping with? Martha got the lesser songs after that and her star fell, while Ross’s star blazed through the heavens.
    I was a Martha and the Vandellas fan all the way, and I could not underdtand what happened — until I read Ross’s biography many years later. That story explained a lot.

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    • I agree … there is nothing racist at all in this song, but it is those who see any music by Black musicians as having some hidden racial message who are the bigots, the racists.

      I also agree that Martha and the Vandellas got a bum rap by Berry Gordy who gave the best to the Supremes. I used to respect Gordy, but the more I learn about him, the less respect I have for him.

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