Coming up legendary singer Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas tells us the definitive story of one of the most famous and beloved songs of all time: Dancing in the Street. First of all, Martha worked as a secretary for the label and one of her duties was singing the words to new songs on tapes that would be dispersed to recording artists so they could learn the words… This led to her getting a shot at singing backup and one day one of the most famous singers ever gave her the chance to record his new song that everyone knew would be a hit. When Martha recorded it, her first take was perfect, everyone was cheering and excited knowing that was the record. Only problem is the engineer forgot to turn on the tape… Martha was pretty pissed which led to the next take having some relish on it that made it even better. Up next the legendary Martha tells us the rest of the story and how the song became a true standard on professor of rock.

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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you’ve ver saved up your allowance to buy a 45 single, cassette single eight-track, or maxi-single you’ll dig this channel of deep musical nostalgia. Make sure to subscribe below right now and click the bell so that you never miss an episode. And for more content and behind-the-scenes footage check out our Patreon.

It’s time for another edition of our show Revelations where featured artists share rare stories behind their greatest songs and albums. Insight you won’t find anywhere else. Today we have the story of a song that may be the most famous #2 of the 60s. A song that has been remade by everyone from Van Halen, to David Bowie and Mick Jagger. I’m talking about the classic hit co-written by none other than Marvin Gay… Dancing in the Street by Martha and the Vandellas.

the song was written by Marvin Gaye as I said, as well as Ivy Jo Hunter and William Mickey Stevenson, the idea came during the biggest impact of the Civil Rights Movement… Mickey and Marvin were riding around the home of Motown, Detroit city, and seeing open fire hydrants spraying water in the streets… so the kids would cool off during the hot summer and it looked as though everyone was dancing in the street. They mentioned many cities in the song from Chicago to New York, to Washington DC to Philadelphia to their own Detroit City…Many felt the song was a callout to people to demonstrate in the streets…as those were places where there at previously been unrest…

Martha Reeves who sang lead was a secretary at Motown and she was also an up-and-coming singer. One of her duties was to sing the lyrics for the backup singers onto tapes so they could learn the songs… This impressed executives and before she knew it she was singing backup to legendary artists including Marvin Gaye. Marvin knew when Dancing in the Street was finished that it would be a big hit and he also knew that Martha Reeves would be the perfect interpreter of the song! Actually, Marvin was the first to record the song and according to Martha he’d put a real smooth vocal on it. More of a jazzy feel but Martha wanted to sing it differently… She wanted to put some mustard on it. so when she did her first take… she nailed it. Everyone was cheering.