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Dancing in the Street

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"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter for Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas.

Contents

Martha and the Vandellas original

Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson, the song highlighted the concept of having a good time no matter what city you represented. While it was 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 angry blacks naming the song as a civil rights anthem to social change.

"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.

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 preservance, saying "It's a song that just makes you want to get up and dance".

Jagger-Bowie version

A second hit version was done by Mick Jagger and David Bowie as a duo in 1985 (see 1985 in music), 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 realised that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible.

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, 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's 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 (featuring both stars mugging furiously, and sending each other up) was shown twice at the Live Aid event, with Jagger also performing it live at the U.S. concert (Tina Turner taking Bowie's vocals). 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 Princes' 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 since featured on several Bowie compilations.

Nikki Webster version

Chong Lim produced Nikki Webster's version of the song for her third album, Let's Dance. It was released as the album's first single in 2003 (see 2003 in music) and peaked at number nineteen on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in October 2003. Its video was filmed at Movie World. The CD single included two remixes of the song: the "Movin' Drivin' Shakin'" remix and the Karaoke mix.

Other cover versions and allusions

From the beginning the song took on a life of its own, with covers from Dusty Springfield, The Mamas & The Papas, The Who, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, and Van Halen among others.

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".

Credits

Martha and the Vandellas

Live Aid

Track listings

Live Aid version

  1. "Dancing in the Street" (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 3:14
  2. "Dancing in the Street" (instrumental) (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 3:14
  • "Dancing in the Street" (Steve Thompson mix) (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 4:40
  • "Dancing in the Street" (dub version) (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 4:41
  • "Dancing in the Street" (Gaye, Stevenson, Hunter) — 3:14

    • Nikki Webster version

    1. "Dancing in the Street" (radio edit) — 3:52
    2. "Dancing in the Street" (Movin' Drivin' Shakin' remix) — 3:57
    3. "Dancing in the Street" (karaoke mix) — 3:51

    References

     

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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