In 1963, a girl group called Martha and the Vandellas recorded a song called Heatwave. It is one of the first songs to come out in what would become known as the Motown sound, a combination of R&B, gospel, and jazz. Motown, or Motor-town, was Detroit, known for its car factories.

Songwriter Lamont Dozier was sitting at his piano, playing a riff to warm-up his fingers when the TV meteorologist announced that there was no break in sight for the heatwave engulfing Detroit. As he played Dozier started making additions to the riff, with the thought of a girl singing. Heatwave was born.

With this hit, Martha and the Vandellas became the first Motown group to get a Grammy nomination for best R&B recording. They lost to Ray Charles singing Busted.

In 1975, this song became a hit for Linda Ronstadt. She had just finished a performance, and the audience was still demanding more. Out of desperation, she and the band tried Heatwave. Though that initial performance was rough, it was good enough that they decided to work on the song. It became one of Ronstadt’s biggest hits.

Coming forward to 2010, Phil Collins also had a hit with the song. Which has also been featured in movies and TV. A good song remains a good song.
​
Whenever I'm with him
Something inside
Starts to burning
And I'm filled with desire
Could it be a devil in me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be?

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart (It's like a heat wave)
I can't keep from crying (It's like a heat wave)
It's tearing me apart

Whenever he calls my name
Soft, low, sweet, and plain
Right then, right there, I feel that burning flame
Has high blood pressure got a hold on me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be?

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart (It's like a heat wave)
I can't keep from crying (It's like a heat wave)
It's tearing me apart

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh, heat wave
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh, heat wave

Sometimes I stare in space
Tears all over my face
I can't explain it, don't understand it
I ain't never felt like this before
Now that funny feeling has me amazed
Don't know what to do, my head's in a haze
It's like a heat wave

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(But it's all right, girl)
Oh
(Go ahead, girl)
Yeah, yeah
(Well, it's all right, girl)
Oh
(Can't miss it, that's love, girl)
I feel it burning
(Don't pass up this chance)
Right here in my heart
(It sounds like a true romance)
Don't you know it's like a heat wave?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Burning, burning)
Oh (Burning, burning, burning)
Yeah, don't you know it's like a heat wave?
Burning right here (Burning, burning, burning)
In my heart (Burning, burning, burning)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Burning, burning)
Oh (Burning, burning, burning)

What is your favorite version of Heatwave? I’ll be playing Martha and the Vandellas as well as a few others this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.
 
Until next time!

Sometimes in a Broadway musical, there is a song that doesn’t seem to contribute to the story. It usually allows someone to shine, perhaps an underutilized singer or dancer. Why is it there? Is it just a fluff piece? Sometimes. And sometimes it is going on in front of the curtain while a set change is going on behind, or to allow a leading actor time for a costume change.

Too Darn Hot from Cole Porter’s musical Kiss Me, Kate is one of the first kind. It opens the second act. If the set crew hasn’t changed the set by the end of Intermission, they need a new design. There is a pretty massive set change, but in a Broadway theater there should be plenty of time to make the change.

The song is a chance for the second male lead of Bill to have another solo, and it gives him a chance to show off his dancing, too. Besides, it’s a fun song.

One brief explanation: the Kinsey Reports were two studies done in 1948 and 1953. The first was published as a book called Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and the second was Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. They were groundbreaking and highly controversial. When Kiss Me, Kate was first done, only the book on male behavior had been published.

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
Refill the cup with my baby tonight
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
Refill the cup with my baby tonight
But I ain't up to my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I'd like to stop for my baby tonight
And blow my top for my baby tonight
I'd like to stop for my baby tonight
And blow my top for my baby tonight
But I'll be a flop with my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot

According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers to play his favorite sport
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
And the weather is sizzling hot
Mister Adam for his madam is not
‘Cause it’s too too too too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to call on my baby tonight
And give my all to my baby tonight
I’d like to call on my baby tongiht
And give my all to my baby tonight
But I can’t play ball with my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to coo with my baby tonight
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight
I’d like to coo with my baby tonight
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight
But brother, you pitch my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
And the weather is sizzling hot
Mister Pants for romance is not
Cause it’s too too too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
I’d like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
But pillow, you’ll be my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to meet with my baby tonight
Get off my feet with my baby tonight
I’d like to meet with my baby tonight
Get off my feet with my baby tonight
But no repeat with my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
Mister God for his squab
A Marine for his queen
A G.I. for his cutie pie is not
‘Cause it’s too too too darn hot
It’s too darn hot
It’s too darn hot


It’s August, so of course it’s too darn hot.
​
I’ll be playing this and other songs from Cole Porter this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.
 
Until next time!
 

Hot August night
And the leaves hanging down
And the grass on the ground smellin' sweet
Move up the road to the outside of town
And the sound of that good gospel beat
Sits a ragged tent
Where there ain't no trees
And that gospel group tellin' you and me

[Chorus]
It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
And ev'ryone goes, 'cause everyone knows
Brother Love's show

[Verse 2]
Room gets suddenly still
And when you'd almost bet
You could hear yourself sweat, he walks in
Eyes black as coal
And when he lifts his face
Ev'ry ear in the place is on him
Starting soft and slow
Like a small earthquake
And when he lets go
Half the valley shakes

[Chorus]
It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
And ev'ryone goes, 'cause everyone knows
'Bout Brother Love's show

[Spoken Sermon]
Brothers
I said, brothers
Now you got yourself two good hands
And when your brother is troubled, you gotta reach out your one hand for him
‘Cause that’s what it’s there for
And when your heart is troubled, you gotta reach out your other hand
Reach it out to the man up there
‘Cause that’s what He is there for

[Bridge]
Take my hand in yours
Walk with me this day
In my heart I know I will never stray
Halle, halle, halle, halle
Halle, halle, halle, halle

[Chorus]
It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
I say, Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
And grab the old ladies and ev'ryone goes...


This is Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show, an interesting song for a Jewish man from Brooklyn to have written. Coming out in 1969, this song by Neil Diamond started out as an attempt to call out the evangelist preachers for taking advantage of their flocks. But when those same preachers started turning people in the South away from buying his albums, Diamond changed his tune, so to speak. He then started the story of having attended a revival while he was in college and how the music and the message were so up lifting that he had to write a song about it.

This song also was the first of Diamond’s character driven songs, as opposed to introspective songs. More along the lines of America, than of I Am, I Said.

I will be playing Brother Love and some other songs by Neil Diamond this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so check them out.
​
Until next time!

Once again, we have been living through one of the hottest summers on record. I have had this lyric running through my head:

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than
​a match head.

Those lyrics were written by John Sebastian then of the Lovin’ Spoonful. The song began life as a poem written by his younger brother, Mark, a 14-year old student. Mark had written this poem entitled Summer in the City during what was the hottest summer ever in New York City. (1966 kept that record until 2010.)
John Sebastian read the poem and thought there was something to it. But he wanted something a bit different for the verses. So, he rewrote them, keeping the title and the chorus. And he added the music.

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city

Cool town, evening in the city
Dressing so fine and looking so pretty
Cool cat, looking for a kitty
Gonna look in every corner of the city
Till I'm wheezing like a bus stop
Running up the stairs, gonna meet you on the rooftop

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city

------ instrumental break ------

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city

The writing credits for the song include John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, and Steve Boone. We know what the two Sebastian brothers did. What did Boone contribute? He wrote and arranged the instrumental break that has such sounds as car horns and a jack hammer. To this day all three share the royalties.

Lovin’ Spoonful grew out of the Greenwich Village music scene of the early 1960s. John Sebastian was part of the Mugwumps. Two of the members of this group went on to become half of The Mamas and the Papas – Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty.

Summer in the City was the Lovin’ Spoonful’s only number 1 hit. The group broke up after a few more years. John went on to a solo career. He wrote the music and lyrics for a Broadway show entitled: Jimmy Shine. It opened on Broadway in December of 1969, starred Dustin Hoffman, and ran for 150 shows. (Dustin Hoffman in a musical. My mind is boggled.)

He had one more number one hit with 1976’s Welcome Back, the theme song to the TV sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. (The show that introduced John Travolta to the world.)

Do you have a favorite John Sebastian song? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be posting some songs by John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful on my Minnich Music Facebook page so be sure to check those out.
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Until next time!