An essay I wrote (Motown content)

[BobArsecake]

I thought this might be of interest to a few peeps on here. As part of my African American politics module I had to write an essay exploring the concept of "masking" techniques used by black artists in their songs to get across messages and feelings undetected by whites etc. We had to chose any song by an African American and analyse it in terms of that and its context, so I chose Martha and the Vandella's Dancing in the Streets. I wasn't going to post it before but I got my mark back and I got a first on it. It's only very short as it's only 25% of my module mark.

The meaning of “significance� in African-American music, with specific reference to Martha and the Vandella’s Dancing in the Street


The concept of “significance�, or “masking� in African American music goes back to the days of slavery in the US, referred to as “polytonal expression/polytonality� by Mark Antony Neal . What is meant by this is that a song has hidden meaning beneath its pop surface; in the case of African American music the “masked� meaning is often political. The reasons for this subtlety and secrecy are rooted in the antebellum days of the southern US states where there were clearly no rights of expression to slaves and their movements carefully controlled. That is, apart from within the black churches where no whites would go, yet expected the slaves to be Christian and attend. This granted them a (though very limited and actually as a result of their racism) form of free community. The irony of this, as pointed out by Neal , enabled slaves to gather and work out a way to express themselves and their plight of their oppression through song without the slave owners and other whites realising and punishing them. Thus with the main forum of black “freedom� being music through the Christian church, African American music owes a lot to its gospel roots. Fast forwarding to the early to mid-twentieth century this is still the case, where while slavery has ended, black freedom of expression is still limited to music, and still has to be disguised. In addition to gospel the development of jazz was an important style of music as it defined black artists from white and gave them something of their own. Neal argues that it was Ray Charles who made the initial crossover and blending of jazz and gospel to create soul; drawing the jazz music from the likes of Nat King Cole and combining it with gospel style vocals in order to bring the black community closer together by eroding unnecessary boundaries within it , i.e. the differences between the religiousness of gospel and sexuality of jazz. As black music became more popular and “commodified�, especially with the crossover from gospel to soul by people such as Sam Cooke, there was increasing anxiety over who owned the music and where the money was going. Berry Gordy saw the potential for a black enterprise and a way to use music to integrate society by getting not only black music, but black owned music into the white sphere. In 1959 Motown records was established and was to have a huge impact on popular culture and importantly; political influence.

Released in the summer of 1964 on Motown records was Martha and the Vandella’s song Dancing in the Street. Written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter it reached number two on the American singles chart that year. Gaye’s involvement in the writing of the song seems to immediately suggest, in retrospect, that there will be some sort of politics behind it. This is in the light of some of his later work, like his 1971 song What’s Going On? that sends a plain message about race relations and the opposition to the Vietnam War, though in a more liberal climate for African American expression. Gaye also remarked upon Martha and the Vandella’s previous songs written by Holland-Dozier-Holland that he thought they “…came the closest to really saying something� , thus may have inspired him to keep the political vehicle he saw going in Dancing in the Street. The song opens with the verse;


“Callin' out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer's here and the time is right
For dancin' in the street�

This could be seen as a “call to arms� to get onto the street and march for civil rights, and telling white America to get ready for change and to accept African Americans. The reference to street “dancing� in the summer also points to Detroit’s Great March in the June of 1963 against the brutality used in Birmingham, Alabama against civil rights activists. The march was led by Martin Luther King Jr, and hailed by him as the “largest and greatest demonstration for freedom ever held in the US� .

The next particularly significant part of the song is;
“Aw, 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�

This could be a reference to it not mattering what religion, background, sex, or even race of participants was, just that America must unite to fight for civil rights. If looked at politically, that verse almost sounds like a plea to get anyone and everyone out onto the streets to protest, with merely being there enough to show support. It also could be a call back to the 1963 Detroit March in which varying community leaders set aside their differences to get on with the demonstration for the greater good.
Continuing with the theme of everyone getting together regardless of situation, the song goes into;
“This is an invitation across the nation
A chance for folks to meet�

Perhaps with the notion of a chance for change through mutual understanding and respect by actually gathering and seeing what African Americans have to say. It pushes the concept of peaceful protest as it encourages “meeting� as opposed to perhaps clashing. The probability of the push for peaceful protest will come from Motown’s closeness to and admiration of King. In August 1963 Motown released its first spoken word LP of King’s speech from the Detroit march in June. This was Motown’s historic public affiliation to the Civil Rights Movement , and therefore further supports the notion of its music being political. The first line could be a reference to the nationwide gathering of protestors attending the Washington march of 28th August 1963 in which King delivered his infamous “I have a dream� speech.

Throughout the song there are references to the big cities that had large black populations to give them recognition and possibly inspiration to “dance in the streets�. These included Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and of course Washington D.C. for its significance of place of huge protest. The song also offers special recognition to Detroit in the line “Can’t forget Motor City�, Motown’s birthplace, further cementing the city’s connection with King and Civil Rights Movement, thus its importance as a centre in the north for black political organisation .

The song’s pertinence four years later is demonstrated by the outbreak of the destructive riots that Detroit’s ghettos experienced in July 1967, though clearly not in line with the song’s and Motown’s peaceful protest philosophy as stated by label owner Berry Gordy after interaction with King . These riots broke out on the same night as Martha and the Vandellas were in town to appear on a television programme and performed their hit Dancing in the Street, they left Detroit and travelled to their next two tour destinations where riots also broke out (New Jersey and South Carolina). Though it is highly unlikely that Martha and the Vandellas’ presence in these places ushered the riots, observers at the time observed young people on the streets “dancing amidst the flames� . The song was also removed from many radio station playlists at the time due to the riots, which further confirms its masked statements.

Motown’s innovation did not only extend to soul music and masked lyrics supporting civil rights, in the studio certain techniques were used on recordings to add to the music. For instance chains were dropped to the beat in Nowhere to Run, indicating Detroit’s Motor City status, and perhaps a return to the slave days where blacks weren’t allowed any instruments other than their voices, which as mentioned above, led to gospel styles. Dancing in the Street is no exception here, where the snow chains and a crowbar are banged to the beat by writer Hunter .

Dancing in the Street is a perfect example of polytonality in African American music as, upon analysis, it displays the support of black politics and pays homage to the Civil Rights Movement marches of the previous year. Imamu Amiri Baraka was also perspicacious in his 1966 prediction that the music industry would respond to the creative political messages displayed in the song by releasing material with more explicit socially and politically oriented lyrics. This was confirmed by Aretha Franklin’s 1967 cover of Otis Redding’s Respect and the politically overt work of James Brown with his public declaration of his music being devoted to black power. The power of recognition and integration through music for African Americans was clear in the 1971 US billboard charts with one third of the top 100 being filled by African American artists . The long lasting vitality of music to the African American political experience has continued after the Civil Rights Acts and changes in attitudes from the era of soul, with development of disco and hip hop, despite the bigger voice black America now has, though it is still relatively small in comparison to white influence, thus polytonality and significance will continue in African American music.




































Appendix

Lyrics of Dancing in the Street;

(Gaye, Hunter, Stevenson)
Callin' out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer's here and the time is right
For dancin' in the street
There dancin' in Chicago (dancin' in the street)
Down in New Orleans (dancin' in the street)
In New York City (dancin' in the street)

All we need is music (sweet sweet) sweet (sweet sweet) music
They'll be music (music) everywhere (everywhere)
They'll be swingin' and swayin' and records playin'
Dancin' a in the street

Aw, 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

We'll be dancin'
We're dancin in the street (dancin' in the street)
This is an invitation across the nation
A chance for folks to meet
They'll be laughin', singin' and music swingin'
We're dancin' in the street

Philadelphia, P.A. (dancin' in the street)
Baltimore and D.C. now (dancin' in the street)
Can't forget the Motor City (dancin' in the street)
All we need is music
(Sweet sweet) sweet music (sweet sweet music)
There'll be music everwhere (everywhere)
There'll be swingin' and swayin' (swayin')
And records playin' (playin')
Dancin' in the street

Aw, 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

We're dancin', we're dancin' in the street
(Dancin in the street)
Way down in L.A. everyday
We're dancin' in the street (in the street)
Let's form a big strong line
Get in time we're dancin' in the street
(Dancin' in the street)

[Fades]

Across the ocean blue, me and you

Obviously I referenced it properly but that didn't transpose to here.

[James]

[ultratwin]

Very informative, Jonno.

I was totally unaware of the lyrical "masking" indicated in the history of the original, as well as Marvin's involvement in the writing of the song. Then again, having the classic tune itself followed years later by the amazing "What's Going On" makes perfect sense.