Puneet Varma (Editor)

Live Wire (Martha and the Vandellas song)

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Released
  
January 17, 1964

Genre
  
Soul/pop

Format
  
7" 45 RPM

Length
  
2:35

B-side
  
Old Love (Let's Try Again)

Recorded
  
Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1963

"Live Wire" is a 1964 dance single released by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. The song was produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland under the same gospel-pop confection of their earlier hit singles "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave" and "Quicksand". The song explained why the narrator can't come up with words to tell her lover that she was through with him because when she looks at him, she feels that he is "like a bolt of lightning" and that he's a "live wire". The song failed to hit the Top 40 of the pop chart (peaking at #42) and reached #11 on Cashbox's R&B singles chart (the Billboard R&B chart was suspended until January 1965).

Personnel

  • Lead vocals by Martha Reeves
  • Background vocals by Rosalind Ashford and Annette Beard
  • Produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier
  • Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, Jr.
  • Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
  • References

    Live Wire (Martha and the Vandellas song) Wikipedia