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I wasn't the only one to look up videos of “Dancing In The Streets” when I was watching yesterday’s celebrations. If you were like me you watched TV non-stop from the begging to the end of the celebration coverage. I would hazard a guess that many if not all of you had teats of joy and relief in your eyes much of the time.
I was stuck by seeing that there was dancing everywhere, in the streets, and at the Biden/Harris event in Delaware both in the parking lot and on the stage. If I had room for a subtitle it would be “Dancing Democrats Usher in the Era of Biden and Harris.”
Of course the Black Lives Matter symbolism of this being both a Motown hit and being written by Marvin Gaye and two other Detroiters, and sung first by Martha Reeves and The Vandellas wasn’t lost on me.
I initially wanted to put some of the videos on my blog but then decided to build this diary around what I found, and what I learned about the song, on Daily Kos.
All the YouTube versions I found had comments about the election.
It’s difficult to select the version I like best. Here’s one:
All of the lyrics really struck me as applicable to the election, and it was especially relevant that Philadelphia and Washington, DC are included.
Calling out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer's here and the time is right
For dancing in the street
They're dancing in Chicago (dancing in the street)
Down in New Orleans (dancing in the street)
In New York City (dancing in the street)
All we need is music, sweet music
There'll be music everywhere
There'll be swinging, swaying, and records playing
Dancing in the street
Oh, it doesn't matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there
So come on, every guy, grab a girl
Everywhere around the world
They'll be dancing (dancing in the street)
They're dancing in the street (dancing in the street)
It's an invitation across the nation
A chance for folks to meet
There'll be laughing, singing, and music swinging
Dancing in the street
Philadelphia, PA (dancing in the street)
Baltimore and D.C. now (dancing in the street)
Can't forget the Motor City (dancing in the street)
All we need is music, sweet music (sweet music)
There'll be music everywhere (everywhere)
There'll be swinging, swaying, and records playing
Dancing in the street
Oh, it doesn't matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there
So come on, every guy, grab a girl
Everywhere around the world
They're dancing
They're dancing in the street (dancing in the street)
Way down in L.A. (dancing in the street)
Every day, they're dancing in the street (dancing in the street)
Let's form a big, strong line (dancing in the street)
Get in time, we're dancing in the street (dancing in the street)
Across the ocean blue (dancing in the street)
Me and you, we're dancing in the street (dancing in the street)
What I didn’t know when I was looking for videos was the backstory of the song until I came across this from a July 30, 2020 article:
It’s often described as a political statement; a sign of America’s mid-60s uprising that was driven by inequality and the fight for civil rights, but “Dancing In The Street” was not sung by a religious leader or a nascent Black Panther. It was sung by Martha And The Vandellas, three hard-working young women from Detroit. And while it has become associated with the era’s unrest, it was not entirely a statement about the issue.
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Reeves later said of her “Street” anthem: “This was a very bad time all over the US. We were just starting to have different confusions in cities – riots and what-have-you. Because of this, the writers were inspired to get people to dance and be happy in the streets instead of the riots. The record was put out in September, by the way. You’d think, time-wise, it wasn’t good, because the record says ʻSummer’s here,’ but it was already fall, though I think everybody got the message.”
Here’s more about how the song came to be written and the meaning it had once it became a hit:
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According to the song's co-writer Mickey Stevenson, the idea for dancing came to him while riding with Marvin Gaye through Detroit. During the summer, the city would open up fire hydrants and let the water out in the streets so they could play in the water to cool off. They appeared to be dancing in the water.
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This song was written during the height of the civil rights movement in the US, and many African Americans interpreted it as a call to "demonstrate in the streets" of all of the cities mentioned in the song: Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Detroit. All of these cities went through periods of civil unrest and riots.
There’s another version of the song from an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the article.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Kamala Harris has some damn good dance moves herself...
.. as does this member of Congress that Trump loves to hate:
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Of course Trump’s attempt to dance to YMCA has deservedly been widely ridiculed. You don’t have to watch this of course:
Another version of Dancing which I like comes from The Mamas and the Papas:
"Dancing in the Street" (WIKI) is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter. It first became popular in 1964 when recorded by Martha and the Vandellas whose version reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song. A 1966 cover by the Mamas & the Papas was a minor hit on the Hot 100 reaching No. 73. In 1982, the rock group Van Halen took their cover of "Dancing in the Street" to No. 38 on the Hot 100 chart and No. 15 in Canada on the RPM chart. A 1985 duet cover by David Bowie and Mick Jagger charted at No. 1 in the UK and reached No. 7 in the US. The song has been covered by many other artists, including The Kinks, Tages, Grateful Dead and Myra.
I am sure Marvin Gaye, a Detroit native son, would be pleased about the fact that Biden’s big margin of victory in the home of Motown helped him win Michigan.
Another song that must be shared is one that was more -r less sung (one might say chanted) last night in front of the White House. Trump was out playing golf for part of the time but hopefully Melania and the Minions could hear it. I expect the crowds will learn to sing it in tune, but it really doesn't matter because it is the perfect message for how we feel:
The lyrics aren’t exactly hard to memorize. The sentiment is what’s important. Note that the recent comments on the YouTube relate too Donald Trump.
Here’s one more song for inspiration:
Sunday, Nov 8, 2020 · 2:59:56 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
When I was in grad school at Michigan State one of the several jobs that got me through owing no money was at a Lansing Mich. youth drop-in center five nights a week.
We had a donated jukebox which was fixed so it would play without money and all the records were Motown (as you'd expect being in Michigan) so the songs
were playing all night. I think the words were embedded in my memory.
When I saw all the dancing last night I immediately thought of this song, and maybe unconsciously remembered the references to Philadelphia and Washington DC.