"Dancing In The Street" Again !!!!

Beginning today, you would hear the latest Maxis advertisement on TV which features  the  GREATEST MOTOWN dance tune ever -

"Dancing In The Street" by Martha & The Vandellas.

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.

American rock band Van Halen performed a cover of "Dancing in the Street", and released it as the second single from their 1982 album Diver Down. This version features heavy use of a synthesizer, played by Eddie Van Halen. Their version attracted decent commercial success, reaching the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming a top 15 hit on the Canadian Singles Chart.
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. 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. Reeves recounted that she initially regarded the song as too repetitive.

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).  The primary meaning was innocent enough to allow national audiences to accept and enjoy the song, if only at first.


"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 , 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.

Other versions

    It was recorded by Kinks on the album Kinda Kinks in 1965.
    At the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 The Mamas and the Papas performed "Dancing in the Street" as their final song.
    The Grateful Dead covered the song on their album Terrapin Station.
    Tim Curry covered it in 1981 for his album "Simplicity".
    In the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Whoopi Goldberg's character sings a mash-up of "Dancing in the Streets" and James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" with the other nuns during a street performance/fund-raiser.
    Phil Collins recorded a cover during the sessions of his 2010 album Going Back
    On March 23, 2011, American Idol contestant, Naima Adedapo, performed "Dancing in the Street" as her Top 11 song for Motown Week.
    Pop singer, Myra recorded this song in 2001 for the soundtrack to the Disney film Recess: School's Out.

[edit] Appearances on TV
    In 1988, the music was used (with modified lyrics) for ABC's "Somethings Happening on ABC" campaign for the television season.
    In 1995, the original version was the title music in the BBC documentary series of the same name about the history of rock and roll.
    In 2002, it made and appearance on ITV's Police Camera Action! in the episode Nicked!.
    In 2006, the song was performed by The Unconventionals on the third series of The X-Factor.
    In 2008, on the second season premiere of ABC legal dramedy Eli Stone, the song was performed in the opening scene.
    In the May 15, 2011 episode of Family Guy, titled "Foreign Affairs", the music video for the Bowie/Jagger version was played in its entirety.