I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing

"I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin'"
Single by Martha and the Vandellas
B-side	"I Tried"
Released	July 25, 1968
Format	7" single
Recorded	Hitsville USA; 1967-1968
Genre	R&B
Label	Gordy
Writer(s)	Deke Richards Debbie Dean
Producer(s)	Deke Richards
Martha and the Vandellas singles chronology
"I Promise to Wait My Love" (1968) "'I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin" (1968) "Sweet Darlin'" (1968)

"I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin'" is a 1968 funk-soul single by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. The song nearly returned the group to the top 40 on the pop singles chart peaking at number forty-two on the pop singles chart and reaching number twenty-four on the R&B singles chart.^[1] It's notable for featuring background vocals by The Andantes (who had been in a succession of Vandellas singles since "My Baby Loves Me") and Syreeta Wright, who had recently signed to the Motown label and was dating Motown artist Stevie Wonder, at the time. The song talked about how one woman's musician boyfriend leaving her with questions about how he was running off without giving the woman a hint of what he was exactly doing. Reeves would later say that the reason why the chorus was sung by Wright and not by Reeves was because she and the Vandellas had a conflicting touring schedule. She is heard singing in the end of the song with Wright and the Andantes however.

The song 'I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin is also sung by the Beatmasters with Betty Boo in 1989.

Credits

• Lead vocals by Martha Reeves
• Additional lead vocals by Syreeta Wright (on the chorus)
• Background vocals by The Andantes: Marlene Barrow, Jackie Hicks and Louvain Demps
• Written by Deke Richards & Debbie Dean
• Produced by Deke Richards

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 378.