MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS - DANCING IN THE STREET / NOWHERE TO RUN / (LOVE IS LIKE A) HEAT WAVE

DANCING IN THE STREET

Released : July 31, 1964

Charted:  UK: #4     US: #2 

"Dancing in the Street" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter. It first became popular in 1964 when recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premiere signature song. This song was written during the height of the civil rights movement in the US, and many African Americans interpreted it as a call to "demonstrate in the streets" of all of the cities mentioned in the song: Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Detroit. All of these cities went through periods of civil unrest and riots.

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.

The group was led by Martha Reeves, who became a secretary at Motown when she couldn't get an audition to sing. One of her 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 former bandmates, Annette Sterling and Rosalind Ashford, and let them record as a trio. After backing up Marvin Gaye on some of his songs, Motown gave them songs to sing on their own.

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 traveled 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." Regarding the message Marvin Gaye was sending in the song, Reeves said: "The words are very simple: he wanted everybody to dance in the street. Everybody to rejoice and have a very good time. It was a hot, #1 hit, and it spread love all over the world. When you play it today, people get up and do what? Dance!"

NOWHERE TO RUN

Released : February 10, 1965

Charted:  UK: #26    US: #8 

"Nowhere to Run" is a 1965 song by Martha and the Vandellas for the Gordy (Motown) label and is one of the group's signature songs. The song, written and produced by Motown's main production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, depicts the story of a woman trapped in a bad relationship with a man she cannot help but love.

One of the inspirations for this song was an encounter that Lamont Dozier had with a frightened teenager who was on his way to Vietnam. He recalled to The Guardian: "His friends asked if I would throw a party for him at my house before he was shipped out. We had the party, but he was very solemn, just sitting with his girlfriend. He had a premonition that he wouldn't be coming back. I told him to be positive, but he was adamant. I found myself thinking about how he was feeling trapped – nowhere to run.

By this time, Martha & the Vandellas had been supplanted by The Supremes as the most successful girl group at Motown. The Supremes were about six months into their run of hits and were getting the bulk of Motown's promotional resources, pushing The Vandellas to second-class status. "Nowhere To Run" has held up as a classic, but it reached just #8 at a time when most Supremes releases were pushed to #1. Martha & the Vandellas never got any higher on the chart.

(LOVE IS LIKE A) HEAT WAVE

Released : July 9, 1963

Charted:  US: #4 

Written by the Motown songwriting team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, this was the first Top 10 hit for Martha & the Vandellas. This was the group's second hit written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, following "Come and Get These Memories." It was also one of the first songs to create the style of music that would be known as the "Motown Sound".

Many of the jaunty songs Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote at Motown are underpinned with heartbreaking lyrics, often inspired by real-life breakups. This one is more congruent and less personal. Lamont Dozier explained: "It was summertime and hot and sticky in Detroit. I often sat at the piano and played a warm-up riff to get my day started. This one particular day the heat was over the top and I was watching tv and the weatherman said we had a record-breaking five-day heat wave that was not going to let up. So all this funky riff needed was for me to throw a girl into the mix and this song was born."

Linda Ronstadt recorded a cover in 1975. Her version was released as a single in September 1975, reaching number 5 on Billboard Hot 100. Artists who have covered this song include Lou Christie, the Jam, Joan Osborne, the Supremes, and The Who.