Martha...How We Made Dancing In The Streets

[Jimi LaLumia]

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2...P=share_btn_fb

[Sharpmoves]

Fascinating comments posted in response to that piece. It's a shame that the journalist couldn't recognise Martha in the photo - but I love those funky vinyl outfits. Ros looks amazingly sexy. And, of course, it's a great, great song, and the best version for me by a country mile is Martha and the Vandellas'.

[lockhartgary]

Great article; I enjoyed it very much!! Surely that picture is NOT from the early 60s?

[Sharpmoves]

Great article; I enjoyed it very much!! Surely that picture is NOT from the early 60s?

No, certainly not. Lois is in the group, and she joined in 1967, and that's probably when this shot was taken. Similar images from the same session appeared on the 1968 album Ridin' High.

[captainjames]

Dancing in the Street is definitely the Motown Anthem to me.
Martha stated, " I didn’t really like the finished record, but then I had no concept of what made a hit. When Mick Jagger and David Bowie covered it in 1985, I made more money in two years than I had made in the previous 20. I would have kissed their butts in the middle of Broadway."..........Did she receive royalties from this from other singers singing it ?

[Sharpmoves]

Dancing in the Street is definitely the Motown Anthem to me.
Martha stated, " I didn’t really like the finished record, but then I had no concept of what made a hit. When Mick Jagger and David Bowie covered it in 1985, I made more money in two years than I had made in the previous 20. I would have kissed their butts in the middle of Broadway."..........Did she receive royalties from this from other singers singing it ?

I think it's more likely that the chart success of the cover version led to increased interest in Martha's recording, which perhaps resulted in more sales/airplay for hers too.

[carole cucumber]

Dancing in the Street is definitely the Motown Anthem to me.
Martha stated, " I didn’t really like the finished record, ..... Broadway."..........Did she receive royalties from this from other singers singing it ?

Look again, the quote is not Martha Reeves' [[singer) but Ivy Jo Hunter's [[songwriter). Ivy Jo is speaking of his royalties.

[BigAl]

A while back I referenced Dancing in the Street in conversation with a friend, who said, "Oh, you mean that song by the Mamas and the Papas?" I said, "What??" This guy was born in 1952 and certainly should have known better. Of course I knew that Mamas & Papas had covered it, but how could anyone of that age have missed the original?

I corrected him and he said he had no idea someone else had done it first. I had to wonder what log he had been hiding under in 1964, but this guy is, well, he's a bit off as I've always known, but little did I know how completely he has lived in his own little world, and apparently Hitsville made no impression on him in the '60s. Again, how that could possibly happen is anyone's guess.

[sansradio]

Hey, BigAl, that reminds me of a conversation I overheard at my last job, but from the other end, generationally speaking. This 20-something kid was waxing rhapsodic about how much he loved "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"...and how brilliant Creedence Clearwater Revival was for creating it. I. Hit. The. Ceiling.

[Jimi LaLumia]

a cool young man of color who was training in the health facility I work in joined an on going discussion of lead singers leaving famous groups, and as I started to say, "Well when Diana Ross left The Supremes..." as he jumped in and said "Diana Ross was in The Supremes? " and my 50-ish LPN stood up and said ' did he actually just say that?""... lol..the old timers all laughed, until a female CNA in her late 30's said, 'well I'm older than him, I started paying attention to music in the 80's and in all honesty, I only ever knew her as just Diana Ross!"..THAT was a mind twister for me!!

[sansradio]

a cool young man of color who was training in the health facility I work in joined an on going discussion of lead singers leaving famous groups, and as I started to say, "Well when Diana Ross left The Supremes..." as he jumped in and said "Diana Ross was in The Supremes? " and my 50-ish LPN stood up and said ' did he actually just say that?""... lol..the old timers all laughed, until a female CNA in her late 30's said, 'well I'm older than him, I started paying attention to music in the 80's and in all honesty, I only ever knew her as just Diana Ross!"..THAT was a mind twister for me!!

Jimi, that's so crazy...this same kid also had no clue that Diana was ever a Supreme! AND the icing on the cake...when he got wind that I was going to a Diana show, he asked me if I was ready to go riding on the "Freeway [of Love]." I was undone. Utterly inexcusable.

[stingbeelee]

I was somewhere in Detroit seeing Martha and the Vandellas when Martha presented the song. Martha stated that "Ivy Jo Hunter, Mickey Stevenson and Marvin Gaye wrote this big hit for us"
and someone shouted from the audience "Yeah! I got my new Lincoln Navigator from the money I made from the song!!". The audience bust out laughing. Martha said "Ivy Jo is that you"; "Ivy Jo said "yeah Martha, its me" and Martha said "Ladies and Gentlemen, Ivy Jo Hunter is in the house, he wrote Dancing in the Street"..." and we all rose and gave Ivy Jo a standing ovation.