“I just know that ‘Dancing In The Street’ was a hit all over the world!”
WRONG. Upon its original release in 1964, it reached Number 28. When it was re-released in 1969, it peaked at Number 4.
“I wasn’t looking at how the song was selling. The influence of that song meant so much for the [civil rights] period we were living in. People stopped fighting and ravishing people’s properties and started actually listening to the music and dancing and enjoying each other and getting life back together.”
Was there a moment you realised it was a special song?
“At first, I did make the statement that I didn’t want to dance in the streets. I wanted to dance in the house and the ballrooms. I didn’t want to be hit by a car or anything! [Laughs] But then I realised what it meant. It’s actually being there in the middle of life and death, danger and safety, and just dancing and having a good time, and don’t worry about it because God is going to protect us and take care of us.”
“That Marvin Gaye wrote it and gave it to me in the studio is a gift. He saw me peeking in the window and said, ‘Martha, come here. Sing this song’. I had learned it listening to him, and I asked him if I could sing it the way I felt it. I had a big crush on Marvin, but honey, I wasn’t trying to break up somebody’s home! [Laughs] I was in awe of him and his ability to close his eyes and come up with such great tones. He would be in a trance, just creating. A wonderful singer and a great songwriter.”
What did you think of David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s 1985 cover of ‘Dancing In The Street’?
“I’m still angry with Mick Jagger! I have a floral dress that I could have put on and I could have been in the video. I bragged that I could out-dance them. I could dance better than Mick and David! I know how to throw down! I love their cover and the fact the two of them danced in the street. It was a great moment that I’m glad Marvin Gaye was alive to see.”
“’Oh My My’.”
CORRECT. From his 1973 album ‘Ringo’.
“I sang with Merry Clayton in the studio in Los Angeles and they shipped it back to England, so I didn’t see him. I was nowhere near Ringo. We [Martha and the Vandellas and the Beatles] were discovered simultaneously, so we’re like brothers and sisters. Our history is combined. When they first came here to the US, we went to England. We even sang a version of the Beatles’ ‘Something’.”
“In Detroit! We got on that bus at 2648 West Grand Boulevard and started riding. We were all discovered, put together, and united in Hitsville U.S.A.. Berry Gordy [Motown founder] – thank you.”
The answer we were looking for was the first date of the tour which was Washington DC, but technically, you’re CORRECT.
Parts of it sound terrifying. When touring the Deep South, the Motown Revue played to segregated audiences and sometimes were chased by racists wielding shotguns.
“We’d pick bullets out of the headboard of the bus, but there’s fear in everything you do. We went through dangers on our travels, but the Motown Sound was on a mission to spread love.”
Apparently the young Stevie Wonder was a prankster. Did he ever pull any tricks on you?
“All the time! At the Fox Theatre [in Detroit], he had wandered into the girls’ restroom. When I saw him at the door, I said, ‘Stevie, what are you doing here?’. He replied, ‘Don’t mind me, I’m just a little blind boy!’. He made a joke of it, but I caught him trying to get into the girls’ bathroom. He’d play intelligent pranks on you. He’d whisper to people, ‘Who’s coming?’ or ‘What is she wearing?’ and when you walked past him, he’d say, ‘Hey Martha, that’s a lovely red dress you’ve got on!’. You’d go, ‘What?! How did you do that?!’”
“On one occasion, a girl was smoking a cigarette and her afro caught fire. Stevie Wonder was the only one who knew how to take a coat and put her hair out. How did that happen? See, he’s a master. He’s a genius. He’s aware of things we aren’t. We don’t sense it. But I’ve seen him disagree with somebody and slap him right in the mouth! He knows where your mouth is! [Laughs]”
“When he came into the [Hitsville U.S.A., home of Motown] studio when I was the A&R secretary, he was under my care and authority. Whatever Stevie had to do, I would oversee it. I was the one to tell him ‘go over there’. But he knew where that candy machine was! People would leave money on top of it for him, and he knew what candy he wanted to choose in that vending machine. I had to stop him lots of times from eating too much of it! [Laughs]. Whenever he came after school, they would work Stevie and it was always fun to around him. I’d frequently drive him back home afterwards. We got good history.”
“I bragged that I could out-dance David BowIe and Mick Jagger! I know how to throw down!”
When the Motown Revue arrived in the UK in 1965, you famously recorded a Sound of Motown TV special hosted by your friend Dusty Springfield. What are your memories of her?
“I was introduced to her at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre, and she was there with her manager. She was upset because he’d left her there and she didn’t know anyone. At the time, she was rebelling. She went and bought some china from a second-hand shop in the neighbourhood. She said that when the British are upset, they’d throw dishes at the wall! I was pushed into the room to see what was wrong with her. I’m protesting, ‘What? I’m not a psychiatrist!’. But I went in and immediately threw something too. It looked like fun! We sorted out her problem and were friends forever.”
“She was one of the first people I played ‘Dancing In The Street’ to. I had a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and I showed her the demo in the dressing room.”
“Fred Schneider and the B-52s.”
CORRECT.
“Yes darling, I love him!”
Schneider hailed ‘Dancing in the Street’ as the record that “changed my life”. Did any of your heroes turn out to be fans of your work?
“Judy Garland took the time to come to my show at the Copacabana [in 1969] and told me in privacy in my dressing room that she loved my voice and she could teach me how to make people cry when I sing. She was going to give me some lessons, but it never happened because she passed away a few days later.”
Talking of Judy Garland…
“Huh? I I wasn’t a part of it, so how would I know?”
WRONG. Ryan Murphy’s adaptation the seminal play The Boys In The Band (named after a Judy Garland lyric), starring Jim Parsons and Matt Bomer.
“I didn’t do anything with The Boys In The Band! [Laughs] No, I never saw it. ‘Heat Wave’ was a [Motown songwriting trio] Holland–Dozier–Holland song and I emulated Eddie Holland completely. He was happy with my delivery because I mimicked him line-for-line. When I heard his beautiful voice and he sang [Martha bursts into a pitch-perfect rendition of ‘Heat Wave’], ‘WHENEVER I’M WITH HIM…’, I said ‘I can do that’.
“[Laughs] I don’t have her round the neck with my fingers! I refuse to answer that because I don’t know where she’s coming from. I never met her. What’s she got to do with Martha And The Vandellas? She could have said Sly and the Family Stone! What did it mean to her? Didn’t mean anything to me! [Laughs] But I loved that show and those ladies in The Golden Girls.
CORRECT. Talking of cars, your 1965 clip of Martha And The Vandellas dancing around a Ford production line in Detroit to ‘Nowhere to Run’ acted as a precursor to the pop video
“That was a thrill. All of those men were yelling, ‘Get those women out of here! We’re trying to work! It’s 7am!”
“I don’t know who it was, but I hoped [the 1968 original] ‘I Can’t Dance to That Music You’re Playin’’ was destroyed as soon as they put it out. Syreeta Wright sang a bit on it, and I really didn’t like it. I didn’t take any part in trying to sing it, and it wasn’t me. It sounded like Diana Ross And The Supremes.”
WRONG. Betty Boo.
“I don’t like anything that’s negative. I can’t dance?! I can dance. I can dance in the street! [Laughs]”
“No way! If it’s a song to be cremated to, I hope it’s not ‘Nowhere to Run’! Please don’t say that! [Laughs]”
WRONG. Your 1967 track ‘Third Finger, Left Hand’.
“Okay, that starts with [Martha sings] ‘At last my dreams come true / Today he said, I do / Friends said it couldn’t be done/But all his love I know I’ve won / ‘Cause third finger, left hand / That’s where he placed the wedding band’. But that song’s about getting married, rather than funerals. But that’s still wonderful. I’m glad to hear that. That’s a tribute.”
“[Laughs] You tell me! I never heard that before. Which one of those Dreamgirls did that?”
WRONG. Beyoncé.
“Bless her heart! She’s a boo and I love her. She’s brave and she’s got a wonderful talent.”
Would you like to see a proper Martha Reeves biopic?
“Well, my whole life is on film. All you have to do is collect the videos and put them together, but I’m working on two books at the moment.”
“The only character I can think of is ‘Jimmy Mack’.”
CORRECT. ‘Hey! It’s Jimmy Mack’ is a reply-song to ‘Jimmy Mack’.
“OK, I hope they find something better to do! [Laughs] If it’s a loving though, I’d love to hear it.”
You’ve recently released, ‘Searching’, your first album in 22 years…
“It’s time to reassert the love that Motown spread. This album reminds me so much of the feeling that Motown had when I recorded on it. Back then, I wasn’t in control or as much a part of the production, but I am now – I’m a grown artist and loving every minute of it. I’m so excited about the new music we’ve done and it’s hard to think that I’m headed for another adventure in the music business. This has been the most wonderful 85th birthday [year]”
“I don’t remember because we were never in the dressing room or onstage together. But it was a full band and we were cookin’!”
WRONG. Among others, you could have had Adele, Lily Allen, The Ting Tings and Annie Lennox.
“I would have loved to have said hello to Annie Lennox. I’m a big fan.”
“Well, I don’t care. I’m not at school and being scored anymore. My grade is an A! [Laughs]”
Martha Reeves’ new album, ‘Searching’, is out now via Fun Day Records
The post Martha Reeves: “I wanted to be in David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s ‘Dancing in the Street’ video” appeared first on NME.
