Dancing in the Street

"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.

Martha and the Vandellas original

Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson and written by Stevenson and Marvin Gaye, the song highlighted the concept of having a good time in whatever city the listener lived. The idea for dancing came to Stevenson from watching people on the streets of Detroit cool off in the summer in water from opened fire hydrants. They appeared to be dancing in the water.^[1] The song was conceived by Stevenson who was showing a rough draft of the lyrics to Gaye disguised as a ballad. When Gaye read the original lyrics, however, he said the song sounded more danceable. With Gaye and Stevenson collaborating, the duo composed the single with Kim Weston in mind to record the song. Weston passed on the song and when Martha Reeves came to Motown's Hitsville USA studios, the duo presented the song to Reeves. Hearing Gaye's demo of it, Reeves asked if she could arrange her own vocals to fit the song's message. Reeves recounted that she initially regarded the song as too repetitive.^[2]

Gaye and Stevenson agreed and including new Motown songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter adding in musical composition, the song was recorded in two takes. The interesting loud beat of the drums in its instrumentation can be attributed to Hunter, who banged on a crowbar to add to the drum beat led by Gaye, who was often a drummer on many of Motown's earliest hits.

While produced as an innocent dance single (it became the precursor to the disco movement of the 1970s), 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.

Dancing in the street had two meanings. The first is the one Martha Reeves asserted to reporters in England. "The British press aggravated Reeves 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 in retrospect" (Smith 221). While Berry Gordy had created the Black Forum label to preserve black thought and creative writing, he kept the Motown record label and the popular hits it produced from being too political. "Berry Gordy Jr. was extremely wary about affiliating his business with any organization of movement that might negatively influence his company's commercial success" (Smith 230). The central tenet of Motown records was to produce a sound that was genteel enough to appeal to white audiences across the country while still wholly African American and reflective of the African Diaspora in America. This song is suave and melodious, while still percussive, repetitive, and danceable. The primary meaning was innocent enough to allow national audiences to accept and enjoy the song, if only at first.

"Motown records had a distinct role to play in the city's black community, and that community—as diverse as it was—articulated and promoted its own social, cultural, and political agendas. These local agendas, which reflected the unique concerns of African Americans living in the urban north, both responded to and reconfigured the national civil rights campaign" (Smith 227). The movement lent the song its secondary meaning and the song with its second meaning fanned the flames of unrest. This song (and others like it) and its associated political meanings did not exist in a vacuum. It was a partner with its social environment and they both played upon each other creating meaning that could not have been brought on by one or the other alone. The song therefore became a call to reject peace for the chance that unified unrest could bring about the freedom that suppressed minorities all across the United States so craved.

"Dancing in the Street" peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles chart when it was originally released as the group's third album Dance Party's first single in 1964 (see 1964 in music), with "There He Is (at My Door)" included as a B-side. The song also reached the top 5 on the UK pop charts peaking at #4 in a 1969 release after initially peaking at #28 on the chart and helped to revive the Vandellas' success in England.

On April 12, 2006, it was announced that Martha and the Vandellas' version of "Dancing in the Street" would be one of 50 sound recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry. Lead singer Martha Reeves said she was thrilled about the song's perseverance, saying "It's a song that just makes you want to get up and dance".

This version was #40 on the list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone.

Bowie/Jagger version

A second hit version was done by Mick Jagger and David Bowie as a duo in 1985, as part of the Live Aid charity movement. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do.

In June 1985, Bowie was recording his contributions to the Absolute Beginners soundtrack at Abbey Road Studios, and so Jagger arranged to fly in to record the track there. A rough mix of the track was completed in just four hours, at which point the pair went straight out to London Docklands to film a video with director David Mallet. Thirteen hours after the start of recording, this also was completed. Jagger arranged for some minor musical overdubs in New York.

The video was shown twice at the Live Aid event. Soon afterwards the track was issued as a single, with all profits going to the charity. "Dancing in the Street" topped the UK charts for four weeks, and reached number seven in the United States. Bowie and Jagger would perform the song once more, at the Prince's Trust Concert on June 20, 1986. It is the last UK number-one single to date for Bowie. The song has been featured since on several Bowie compilations.

It was also shown in movie theatres before showings of Ruthless People, for which Jagger had recorded the theme song. It was the first instance in which a promotional clip was used outside of MTV or broadcast television.

In a survey conducted by PRS for Music, the song was voted as the top song the British public would play at street parties in celebration of the 2011 Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William.^[3]

Track listing

7": EMI America / EA 204 United Kingdom

1. "Dancing in the Street" (Clearmountain Mix) - 3:07
2. "Dancing in the Street" (Instrumental) - 3:17

12": EMI America / 12EA 204 United Kingdom

1. "Dancing in the Street" (Steve Thompson Mix) - 4:40
2. "Dancing in the Street" (Dub Version) - 4:41
3. "Dancing in the Street" (Edit) - 3:24

Van Halen version

American rock band Van Halen performed a cover of "Dancing in the Street", and released it as the second single from their 1982 album Diver Down. This version features heavy use of a synthesizer, played by Eddie Van Halen. Their version attracted decent commercial success, reaching the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming a top 15 hit on the Canadian Singles Chart.

Speaking about the cover, group member David Lee Roth said: "It sounds like more than four people are playing, when in actuality there are almost zero overdubs — that's why it takes us such a short amount of time [to record]."

Group member Eddie van Halen, discussing the cover and discussing his synthesizer part in the track, said: "It takes almost as much time to make a cover song sound original as it does writing a song. I spent a lot of time arranging and playing synthesizer on 'Dancing in the Streets,' and they [critics] just wrote it off as, 'Oh, it's just like the original.' So forget the critics! These are good songs. Why shouldn't we redo them for the new generation of people?"

Track listing

7" single (Germany)

1. "Dancing in the Street" - 3:43
2. "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" - 3:02

7" single (U.S.)

1. "Dancing in the Street" - 3:43
2. "The Full Bug" - 3:18

Other versions

• It was recorded by Kinks on the album Kinda Kinks in 1965.
• At the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 The Mamas and the Papas performed "Dancing in the Street" as their final song.
• The Grateful Dead covered the song on their album Terrapin Station.
• Teri DeSario covered the song as a duet with KC of KC and the Sunshine Band on her 1979 album Moonlight Madness. The single reached #66 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Tim Curry covered it in 1981 for his album "Simplicity".
• In the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Whoopi Goldberg's character sings a mash-up of "Dancing in the Streets" and James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" with the other nuns during a street performance/fund-raiser.
• Phil Collins recorded a cover during the sessions of his 2010 album Going Back
• On March 23, 2011, American Idol contestant, Naima Adedapo, performed "Dancing in the Street" as her Top 11 song for Motown Week.
• Pop singer, Myra recorded this song in 2001 for the soundtrack to the Disney film Recess: School's Out.

Television usage

• In 1988, the music was used (with modified lyrics) for ABC's "Somethings Happening on ABC" campaign for the television season.
• In 1995, the original version was the title music in the BBC documentary series of the same name about the history of rock and roll.
• In 2002, it made and appearance on ITV's Police Camera Action! in the episode Nicked!.
• In 2006, the song was performed by The Unconventionals on the third series of The X-Factor.
• In 2008, on the second season premiere of ABC legal dramedy Eli Stone, the song was performed in the opening scene.
• In the May 15, 2011 episode of Family Guy, titled "Foreign Affairs", the music video for the Bowie/Jagger version was played in its entirety.

Chart performance

Martha and the Vandellas version

Van Halen version

Bowie/Jagger version

Personnel

Martha and the Vandellas

• Lead vocals by Martha Reeves
• Background vocals by Betty Kelly and Rosalind Ashford
• Additional background vocals by William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter
• Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson
• Written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson, and Ivy Jo Hunter
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
  • Marvin Gaye: drums
  • James Jamerson: bass guitar
  • Jack Ashford: percussion
  • Ivy Jo Hunter: percussion (crowbar)
  • Henry Cosby: saxophone
  • Thomas "Beans" Bowles: saxophone
  • Russ Conway: trumpet
  • Herbert Williams: trumpet
  • Paul Riser: trombone
  • George Bohannon: trombone
  • Robert White: guitar
  • Eddie "Chank" Willis: guitar
  • Joe Messina: guitar

Live Aid

• Produced by Alan Winstanley and Clive Langer
• Lead vocals: David Bowie and Mick Jagger
• Guitar: Kevin Armstrong, G.E. Smith and Earl Slick
• Bass: Matthew Seligman and John Regan
• Drums: Neil Conti
• Percussion: Pedro Ortiz and Jimmy Maclean
• Trumpet: Mac Gollehon
• Saxophone: Stan Harrison and Lenny Pickett
• Keyboards: Steve Nieve
• Backing vocals: Helena Springs and Tessa Niles

Track listings

Live Aid version

7": EMI / EA 204 (UK)

1. "Dancing in the Street" (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 3:14
2. "Dancing in the Street" (instrumental) (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 3:14

12": EMI / EA 204 (UK)

1. "Dancing in the Street" (Steve Thompson mix) — 4:40
2. "Dancing in the Street" (dub version) — 4:41
3. "Dancing in the Street" — 3:14

• also released on download in 2007

References

• Pegg, Nicholas. The Complete David Bowie (2000). Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-14-5.
• Smith, Suzanne E. Dancing in the Street (2003). Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00063-3