A New York Times Bestselling Author Can a song change a nation? In 1964, Marvin Gaye, record producer William "Mickey" Stevenson, and Motown songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter wrote "Dancing in the Street." Martha and the Vandellas recorded what was supposed to be an upbeat dance tune. But in the summer of Mississippi Freedom, the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Act, and the lead-up to a dramatic election, the song took on new meanings.
