“Just like now, the police brutality and the government trying to control black people, prompted the uprising that was a revolution.” The transformation took place during the long, hot summers of 1964 and 65, “when riots broke out, in every city in the nation”, Reeves recalled. At the same time, its lyrical “invitation across the nation … for folks to meet” in the street – matched to a melody and vocal as urgent as a clarion call – soon took on a second, more pointed, meaning. Right after she recorded the exuberant anthem in July of 1964 as frontwoman of Martha and the Vandellas, it became a worldwide smash, selling millions of copies while serving as the song of its summer.
After all, Reeves has been singing, and talking, about Dancing in the Street, and its many, unfolding meanings, for over half a century now.
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