Ready For a Brand New Beat: How "Dancing in the Street" Became the Anthem for a Changing America
*Starred Review* In July 1964, nearly 23-year-old Martha Reeves walked into a house in Detroit with a hand-painted wooden sign above the door that declared “Hitsville U.S.A.” Indeed, Motown was her home away from home. In this compelling, fascinating, and entertaining biography of Martha and the Vandellas’ classic “Dancing in the Street,” versatile Kurlansky (Birdseye, 2012) manages to tell not only the story of a song but also a record label alongside a social history of 1960s America. The famous names associated with Motown are here, including its founder, Berry Gordy Jr., and one of its most iconic singers, Marvin Gaye. But other stories frame the rise and popularity of Motown and form the backbone of the book, including the civil rights movement, the freedom riders, the 1963 March on Washington, the British invasion, the Gulf of Tonkin, the riots in Watts and in other cities across the U.S., and white flight. In addition, Kurlansky discusses the song’s various interpretations—party song, civil rights anthem, black nationalist anthem, feminist anthem—as well as other songs that seem to mimic its lyrics, from the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” to Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street.” A rousing history of an iconic song. --June Sawyers