| 7th | Top Sugababes songs |
| "Dancing in the Street" | ||||
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 single cover |
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| Single by Martha and the Vandellas | ||||
| from the album Dance Party | ||||
| B-side | "There He Is (At My Door)" | |||
| Released | July 21, 1964 (U.S.) | |||
| Format | vinyl record (7" 45 RPM) | |||
| Recorded | Hitsville USA (Studio A); June 19, 1964 | |||
| Genre | Pop, soul | |||
| Length | 2:40 | |||
| Label | Gordy G 7033 |
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| Writer(s) | Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter | |||
| Producer | William "Mickey" Stevenson | |||
| Martha and the Vandellas singles chronology | ||||
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"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.
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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.
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 revolutionary. "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.
| "Dancing in the Street" | |||||||||||
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| Single by David Bowie and Mick Jagger | |||||||||||
| Released | August 1985 | ||||||||||
| Format | 7"/12" single | ||||||||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios, London; June 1985 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||||||||
| Length | 3:14 | ||||||||||
| Label | EMI EA204 |
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| Writer(s) | Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter | ||||||||||
| Producer | Alan Winstanley, Clive Langer | ||||||||||
| David Bowie singles chronology | |||||||||||
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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 the JFK 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.
Instead, the pair decided to cover "Dancing in the Street" (having rejected an earlier possibility, "One Love" by Bob Marley). 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, and the only number-one success for Jagger in his native country as a solo artist. The song has been featured since on several Bowie compilations.
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 7 |
| U.K. Singles Chart | 1 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Australian Kent Report Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 9 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 6 |
| French Singles Chart | 34 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 4 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 3 |
| German Singles Chart | 6 |
Mallet's video was also shown in movie theaters as part of the normal block of trailers. Although it was a natural progression because most music videos of the day were actually shot on film, it was the first time the strategy had been used. The video was normally shown before Ruthless People, for which Jagger had performed the theme song.
From the beginning the song took on a life of its own, with cover versions from Dusty Springfield, The Mamas & the Papas, The Who, Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Cilla Black, Myra, Atomic Kitten, Kids Incorporated, Girl Authority, Human Nature, Tim Curry and so on.
It is also alluded to directly or indirectly in other songs, most notably by The Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man" and Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street".
The Carpenters played the song in 1968 on their first ever TV appearance on Your All American College Show, under the name Dick Carpenter Trio, which also featured Bill Sissyoev on bass. This show was a musical competition, which the trio won. The Carpenters later recorded the song in 1978 for their TV Special Space Encounters, which aired that same year on the ABC-TV Network. The song was later released on the CD As Time Goes By released in 2001.
Little Richard covered the song on 1971's The King of Rock and Roll.
In 1982 Van Halen covered this song on their album Diver Down.
In literature, it is also mentioned in the graphic novel V for Vendetta.
American singer-songwriter Laura Nyro recorded song as a medley of this track and "Monkey Time", on her cover album Gonna Take a Miracle, with Labelle as backing vocals.
On 14 October 2006, on the ITV programme The X Factor, Louis Walsh's group The Unconventionals sang a cover version of "Dancing in the Street"; they were eliminated that night.
Rockapella also performs an a cappella cover of the song.
The Trap, headed by Glen Cross, made dub remix of "Dancing in the Street", first performed at the Drake Hotel in Toronto.
Teen singer Myra covered the song for the 2001 movie Recess: School's Out.
Nikki Webster covered the song 2003 on her album Let's Dance.
This song is playable in the North American release of Donkey Konga.
In 2005, to celebrate the nationwide launch of Macy's, they launched a commercial featuring a pop-version of the song.
The ABC network used the tune for the song for the 2nd version of their "Something's Happening on ABC" campaign.
A German version, entitled Tanzen Übern Kiez, was published in 2007 by the soul singer Stefan Gwildis.
Black Oak Arkansas covered it on their album Street Party.
Neil Diamond covered it on his album September Morn.
Ayla Brown covered it at the victory party for her father Scott Brown after his Senate election.
The original version was the title music for the 1995 BBC documentary series of the same name about the history of rock and roll. This song was used on ITV's Police, Camera, Action! on the episode Nicked! in 2002. It was also performed by The Unconventionals on the third series of The X Factor in 2006.
| Country | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK | 4 |
| US | 2 |
| Preceded by "I Got You Babe" by UB40 and Chrissie Hynde |
UK number one single (Bowie & Jagger version) September 1, 1985 |
Succeeded by "If I Was" by Midge Ure |
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  | De Nederlandse Top 40, week 41, 1985 - Radio 538 = 102 FM - Hitlijst |
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