Dancing In The Street

"Dancing in the Street" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William 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.

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Dancing In The Street (WORD)
Dancing In The Street (PDF)

You can play along with the videos in GCEA tuning if you put your capo on the 4th fret! One of the many terrific things about this song is that you can simplify it to play just C, F, D, Dm, E7, G7 and Am. OR you can play it with all different inversions of the 7th chords, C7, F7, D7, Dm7 etc. I've provided some chord diagrams for alternate inversions you might like to try. And they all sound fabulous together so have fun exploring!  There's also some dynamite back up parts that I've left out for now but if anyone knows them or wants to learn them I hope you'll sing them out at the jam!

"Dancing in the Street" is one of Motown's signature songs and is the Martha and the Vandella's premier signature song. This version peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart when it was originally released. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and on April 12, 2006, it was announced that Martha and the Vandellas' version of "Dancing in the Street" would be one of 50 sound recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry. Lead singer Martha Reeves said she was thrilled about the song's perseverance, saying "It's a song that just makes you want to get up and dance". The song has been covered by many other artists, including The Mamas & The Papas, Van Halen, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, The Kinks, Grateful Dead, Little Richard, and Karen Carpenter.

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