BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985
DONATION RECEIVED, REQUEST FILLED!
“Dancing in the Street” is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas and is one of Motown’s signature songs.
In 1985 the song was recorded by Mick Jagger and David Bowie as a duo, as part of the Live Aid charity movement. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do. In 1968 Jagger and Keith Richards had already “borrowed” a line from the song in “Street Fighting Man” – “Cause summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy.”
In June 1985, Bowie was recording his contributions to the Absolute Beginners soundtrack at Abbey Road Studios, and so Jagger arranged to fly in to record the track there. A rough mix of the track was completed in just four hours, at which point the pair went straight out to London Docklands to film a video with director David Mallet. Thirteen hours after the start of recording, this also was completed. Jagger arranged for some minor musical overdubs with Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero in New York.
The video was shown twice at the Live Aid event. Soon afterwards the track was issued as a single, with all profits going to the charity. “Dancing in the Street” topped the UK charts for four weeks, and reached number seven in the United States. Bowie and Jagger would perform the song once more, at the Prince’s Trust Concert on June 20, 1986. The song has been featured since on several Bowie compilations.
It was also shown in movie theaters before showings of Ruthless People, for which Jagger had recorded the theme song. It was the first instance in which a promotional clip was used outside of MTV or broadcast television.
SIDE A:
Dancing In The Street (Extended Dance Mix) 4:40
SIDE B:
Dancing In The Street (Dub Mix) 4:41
Dancing In The Street (Edited Version) 3:24
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
CHART HISTORY:
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1985 | Dancing In The Street | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #7 |
1985 | Dancing In The Street | U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | #3 |
1985 | Dancing In The Street | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | #4 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: EMI America – V-19200
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Credits: Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax] – Stan Harrison
Artwork [Back Cover Logo] – David Bell (9)
Backing Vocals – Helena Springs, Tessa Niles
Baritone Saxophone [Baritone Sax] – Lenny Pickett
Bass – John “Skinny” Regan*, Matthew Seligman
Drums – Neil Conti
Engineer – Bob Clearmountain, Mark Saunders, Stephen Benben
Engineer [Assistant] – Alexander Haas*, Ira McLaughlin, Richard Sullivan, Steve Boyer
Guitar – Earl Slick, G.E. Smith, Kevin Armstrong
Keyboards – Steve Nieve
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Mixed By – Steve Thompson, Michael Barbiero*
Percussion – Jimmy Maelen, Pedro Ortiz
Photography By [Front Cover Photograph] – Jon Hoffmann
Producer – Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley*
Producer [Additional Production] – Michael Barbiero, Mick Jagger, Nile Rodgers, Steve Thompson
Tenor Saxophone [Tenor Sax] – Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison
Trumpet – Mac Gollehon
Written-By – I. Hunter*, M. Gaye*, W. Stevenson*
Vocals – David Bowie, Mick Jagger
NOTES:
Back cover logo © LIVE-AID Foundation 1985.
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Pro-Ject Speed Box S
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
ty
Thanks Paul. Will replace my old vinyl copy.
have a nice weekend and thank you for all posts of this week
The one thing you didn’t mention…
Yes was shown twice on the day (Live Aid) BUT both times it was announced as being exclusive and would never be shown again and would never be released…but public pressure and the realisation that it would make a good amount of extra cash for the cause made them do a total u-turn within days and release it on vinyl…
Thanks for the info Ianbucko 🙂
Another great post, Paul!
Thanks!
Here’s a little trivia for you.
In 1985, the single that Mick Jagger & David Bowie overtook at #1 in the UK was I Got U Babe by UB40 & Chrissie Hynde.
Mick Jagger’s fate is very much intertwined with that song.
In 1965, with (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, with the rest of The Rolling Stones, he climbed to the #1 in the UK, kicking off in the process…I Got U Babe…the original by Sonny & Cher!
Thanks for the trivia Ric I didn’t know any of that 🙂
Thanks Paul for this. This should’ve been a Bowie solo. I admire and love the guy a lot. Hope you can post Loving The Alien etc next.
I agree Omar! More Bowie definately in the future I have lots of him 🙂
+1 for the 7″ with the instrumental. I have never seen a good rip of this anywhere on the internet which is very annoying?
P.S. thanks for posting this one!
You’re welcome Robert. I will see what I can do to locate the 7″ 🙂
wonderful Paul! You do such a great job but hopefully you know that already!
Hi, Paul.
Thank you so much for posting this treasure. I was wondering if maybe you have the 7″ single of Fleetwood Mac’s Gypsy with Cool Water on the B-Side? My husband and I used to love that one song – and unfortunately it remains unreleased on digital format.
I’d love to donate, and will make sure to do so as soon as I get out of a little economic struggle I’m going through.
All the best to you, and thank you for such endearing labor.
Marlene, from Athens, Georgia.
Totally agree with you Marlene, the single edit of Gypsy is exclusive for the single release. And Cool Water is nowhere to be found. Would be awesome to see that rare single posted here.
Thanks Paul for this Bowie/Jagger post. Know the dance mix, but not the dub and edited version. Looking forward to hear them.
thanks for that Paul 🙂 do you also have the 7″ with the clearmountain mix and the instrumental?
Regards Marc
You’re welcome Marc. Sorry don’t have the 7″ at this time if I get a copy in the future I will post it.
Super, loved the video as well…!
Thank you Ex15 🙂
Thanks for the post! The worst video ever but I love the song.
you’re welcome Djoseph56 🙂