I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing

"I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin'" is a 1968 funk-soul single by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. The song nearly returned the group to the top 40 on the pop singles chart peaking at number forty-two on the pop singles chart and reaching number twenty-four on the R&B singles chart.^[1] It's notable for featuring background vocals by The Andantes (who had been in a succession of Vandellas singles since "My Baby Loves Me") and Syreeta Wright, who had recently signed to the Motown label and was dating Motown artist Stevie Wonder, at the time. The song talked about how one woman's musician boyfriend leaving her with questions about how he was running off without giving the woman a hint of what he was exactly doing. Reeves would later say that the reason why the chorus was sung by Wright and not by Reeves was because she and the Vandellas had a touring schedule that did not allowed her to re-record the chorus, which had been changed with different music. The original recording circulates among collectors, but Reeves can be heard singing the new chorus with Wright and the Andantes in the end of the song, on the mix that was finally released.

"I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin" was later recorded by the Beatmasters with Betty Boo in 1989.

Credits

• Lead vocals by Martha Reeves
• Additional lead vocals by Syreeta Wright (on the chorus)
• Background vocals by The Andantes: Marlene Barrow, Jackie Hicks and Louvain Demps
• Written by Deke Richards & Debbie Dean
• Produced by Deke Richards

References