Hello everyone,
There seems to me a little conflict in who 'Dancing in the Street' was actually written for. Was it written for Kim Weston or Martha Reeves? From all I can gather it was for Martha.
Sincerely,
dzMusica
Hello everyone,
There seems to me a little conflict in who 'Dancing in the Street' was actually written for. Was it written for Kim Weston or Martha Reeves? From all I can gather it was for Martha.
Sincerely,
dzMusica
Last edited by dzMusica; 11-23-2011 at 06:05 PM.
I have heard that because of Mickey Stevenson's involvement with the record "Dancing in the Streets" that Kim Weston thought that it should have been given to her to record. When it was not and was done by Martha & the Vandellas going on to become one of Motown's biggest hits, it caused some friction between Mickey and Kim who were married at that time. Again, that is only what I have heard.......
Marv
I heard that someone told Kim weston in the 80's that it was writen for her & she was shocked to hear that. I think it was writen for Martha & we she did it in one take everyone in the studio looked at each other & said "Its A Smash Hit" which was a 60's saying. I think people are getting "My Baby Loves Me" mixed up as that is the one that Mickey wrote that Kim wanted.
According to Martha, Marvin Gaye originally recorded the song as a demo for her and sang it far differently than she wanted. She said he made it sound more like a love song with the whole "Calling out around the world / Are you ready for a brand new beat, baby?" She said she did several attempts singing it the way he did, but couldn't get into the song so she asked to sing it her way. They did the first take, but forgot to record it, so they redid it again. So we are hearing Martha's second attempt at singing it her way.
I'm sure I read somewhere that Kim never really wanted to sing the quicker songs and much prefered doing ballads, but if Marvin's version was originally a 'love song' then perhaps Kim would've been interested.
Well, it is definitely NOT a love song. Martha just meant he sang it in a way that reminded her of how love songs
go, I think.
And, yes, selinasian, I do recall Kim saying she preferred ballads to the faster paced songs.
sorry guys no one and I mean no one sings that song better than Martha
amen to that, captainjames!
Martha looking beautiful here clears up some controversy concerning "Dancing in the Street"
Last edited by loveblind; 11-23-2011 at 01:27 PM.
I also like Stevie Wonder's version [[eh?) Oh no that's Love A Go Go innit?
Don't ever argue with Martha's memory. She's 100% on the nail. There have been so many stories about who did what. Do not mention them to Martha. She has the truth in her hands.
Thank you, loveblind for posting that. Martha really does an EXCELLENT job with the media.She is a great spokesperson for Motown in general.
Bookmarks