Written by the Motown songwriting team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, this was the first Top 10 hit for Martha & the Vandellas, whose lead singer, Martha Reeves, started as a secretary at Motown. Heatwave is a powerful song that has been covered by many artists but this one remains my favorite. This song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #12 in Canada in 1964.
Martha & the Vandellas became the first Motown group ever to receive a Grammy Award nomination when this song was nominated in 1964 for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording; it lost to Ray Charles’ hit “Busted.”
From Songfacts
“Heat Wave” was the group’s second hit written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, following “Come and Get These Memories.” It was also one of the first songs to create the style of music that would be known as the “Motown Sound.”
In this song, Reeves sings about a guy who turns her on so much that her temperature rises when he’s around. Like many of Motown’s hits, it’s a light and amorous pop song.
Many of the jaunty songs Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote at Motown are underpinned with heartbreaking lyrics, often inspired by real-life breakups. This one is more congruent and less personal. Lamont Dozier explained: “It was summertime and hot and sticky in Detroit. I often sat at the piano and played a warm-up riff to get my day started. This one particular day the heat was over the top and I was watching tv and the weatherman said we had a record-breaking five-day heat wave that was not going to let up. So all this funky riff needed was for me to throw a girl into the mix and this song was born.”
Whoopi Goldberg sang this in the 1992 film Sister Act.
Linda Ronstadt reached US #5 in 1975 with her cover version, which was the first single from her album Prisoner In Disguise. It was a song her band had been pushing her to perform; they finally did at a gig in Long Island when they kept getting called back for encores and ran out of material. Recording it was a challenge; Ronstadt’s producer Peter Asher tried it with a few different sets of musicians before getting the take he liked with Andrew Gold on drums and Ronstadt’s Stone Poneys bandmate Kenny Edwards on bass. Gold then overdubbed guitars, piano and an ARP string synthesizer. Asher added four tracks of hand claps.
Artists who have covered this song include Lou Christie, the Jam, Joan Osborne, the Supremes, and The Who.
Heat Wave
Heat wave
Heat wave
Whenever I’m with you
Something inside
Starts to burn deep
And my heart’s filled with fire
Could be that I’m very sentimental
Or is this just the way love’s supposed to be?
I got a heat wave
Burning in my heart
I can’t keep from crying
Tearing me apart
Sometimes she calls my name
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can’t explain
I feel, yeah I feel
I feel this burning flame
This high blood pressure’s got a hold on me
‘Cause this is the way love’s supposed to be
I got a heat wave
Burning in my heart
I can’t keep from crying
Tearing me apart
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Just give me another chance
This could be a new romance
Heat wave
Heat wave
Heat wave
Heat wave
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Got to love those Funk Brothers with Richard “Pistol” Allen – drums, James Jamerson – double bass, Joe Hunter – piano, Robert White – guitar, Eddie Willis – guitar and Andrew “Mike” Terry – saxophone solo.
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good one!
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As someone who lives In Michigan, and worked in Detroit radio, I may be a bit biased, but Motown music is its own entity. Very much like Phil Spector’s “wall of sound”, it has its own sound – and it is awesome! The songwriting team of Holland/Dozier/Holland created some of the greatest music of all time! The music that was made in the little studio at Motown records continues to stand the test of time. Martha and the Vandellas, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr, and the list of artists goes on and on! LOVE the Motown sound!!!
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James Jamerson is one of the best bass players ever and he never got recognized. I like Motown and Stax.
Motown really was Hitsville… one after the other. They are the only ones that kept up with The Beatles.
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He truly was! I used to run a Celebrity Birthday page and always gave him a big write up. Those Stay songs were great, too! I used have a Stack/Volt box set. Lost it in my divorce, sadly
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Oh geez….that is something I’ve been able to avoid…hopefully my luck keeps up lol.
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