Reeves' vocals in "Dancing" caused by anger, lol

[timmy84]

LINK: www.panachereport.com/website%20channel%20documents/old%20school%20update/MarthaReeves2.htm

Motown legend Martha Reeves has revealed the secret behind her fired up vocals for the classic song, "Dancing in the Streets". The sound man forgot to turn the tape on when Reeves first recorded it. The studio's mistake turned to be music's gain, however, because Reeves let it rip out of anger on the second take in what became one of soul's defining moments. The 65-year-old singer explains, "The first time I recorded it, they forgot to turn the tape on. The fire you hear in my voice is the anger at being asked to do it again."

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I could just imagine what was going on that day:

Mickey Stevenson: Uh, Martha, the recorder was off, can you please sing it again?
Martha: What? (((SCOFFS))) OK! OK! I'll record it again... Lord have mercy...
Stevenson: One, two...

(Band plays "Dancing in the Street")

Martha: CALLING OUT AROUND THE WORLD, ARE YOU READY FOR A BRAND NEW BEAT!?!

[Diamond Girl]

LOL, sounds like Dennis Edwards and Norman Whitfield for Papa Was a Rolling Stone

[timmy84]

It does, don't it? You think Marvin was really angry the day he recorded "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"? We know he and Norman beefed over the recording of that song.

[antceleb12]

timmy84 said:

LINK: www.panachereport.com/website%20channel%20documents/old%20school%20update/MarthaReeves2.htm

Motown legend Martha Reeves has revealed the secret behind her fired up vocals for the classic song, "Dancing in the Streets". The sound man forgot to turn the tape on when Reeves first recorded it. The studio's mistake turned to be music's gain, however, because Reeves let it rip out of anger on the second take in what became one of soul's defining moments. The 65-year-old singer explains, "The first time I recorded it, they forgot to turn the tape on. The fire you hear in my voice is the anger at being asked to do it again."

----

I could just imagine what was going on that day:

Mickey Stevenson: Uh, Martha, the recorder was off, can you please sing it again?
Martha: What? (((SCOFFS))) OK! OK! I'll record it again... Lord have mercy...
Stevenson: One, two...

(Band plays "Dancing in the Street")

Martha: CALLING OUT AROUND THE WORLD, ARE YOU READY FOR A BRAND NEW BEAT!?!

Wow! Great find, ((Quick))!

[Diamond Girl]

timmy84 said:

It does, don't it? You think Marvin was really angry the day he recorded "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"? We know he and Norman beefed over the recording of that song.

The word is Norman used to make everybody heated, ain't the word that he did something similar with David Ruffin on Ain't Too Proud To Beg

[Emerald City]

I can't imagine hearing the song any other way...thank you to whoever left the machine off!

[timmy84]

Exactly, he did a favor but Martha had such a diverse voice that it would've been soulful anyway.

@cleo, I heard that David got mad at Norman for basically having him do the same thing he told Marvin to do - sing at a higher octave than normal. And David was sweating bullets during the recording session according to Otis years later. I can only imagine...

Norman practically changed the careers of David and Marvin with certain songs. Because before, both of them were singing with emotion but with sophistication. Afterwards though, the both of them sung with more grit. I think Marvin recorded "You" & "Chained" after "Grapevine" because that showcased his vocal change and he hit higher octaves that he didn't do in the earlier part of his career, David the same way.

Anyway, I think it was a happy accident with the Martha situation.