The Sounds of Summer- Day 51 of 95- “Dancing In The Street” by Martha and The Vandellas. Maybe I have missed something but I would say that the two best Motown summer songs are by Martha and The Vandellas- “Heatwave”- and this one “Dancing In The Street.” Written by Marvin Gaye, Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter- it was a #2 hit for Martha and The Vandellas in the summer of 1964. The idea for the song came when Stevenson watched people cooling off in the Detroit streets in water from open fire hydrants- to Stevenson they seemed to be dancing. A number of artists have covered the song-The Grateful Dead, Black Oak Arkansas, Van Halen, Mick Jagger and David Bowie as a duet–but the go-to version is the original without question. One of the best summer songs ever- and one of the best songs ever to come out of Motown.
slicethelife 
One of the Motown classics. Gordy’s approach to music may have been formulaic and perhaps at times a bit narrow-minded, but these songs undoubtedly sounded great and had an infectious groove.
Hitsville USA
Yep, you can definitely argue that Motown’s impressive success shows that Gordy did something right!
Agreed. Great song. Heatwave is great too. As is Nowhere to Run and Jimmy Mack. Martha Reeves is boss. Fantastic singer. Underrated.
The horns and Martha’s voice turn a good song into a GREAT song. Timeless classic.
I think Martha and The Vandellas got the wrong end of the stick at Motown– Gordy took care of his girl Diana. Martha a much greater singer than Miss Ross IMO.
100% in agreement between the voices. I like Miss Ross’ voice, but I love Martha’s. Where did Aretha fit into this Motown mix????
Aretha was going nowhere at Columbia- and went to Atlantic where her career took off. I don’t know how Motown missed her?
Maybe she didn’t want to be Gordy’s plaything?
True. that is possible. I have never read anything on that- I also think especially early on they wanted artists they could control…maybe she wasn’t the type who was going to work in their assembly line.
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