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"Live Wire"
"Live Wire"
Single by Martha and the Vandellas
B-side	"Old Love (Let's Try Again)"
Released	January 17, 1964
Recorded	Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1963
Genre	Soul, pop
Length	2:35
Label	Gordy
Songwriter(s)	Holland–Dozier–Holland
Producer(s)	Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier
Martha and the Vandellas singles chronology

"Live Wire" is a 1964 dance single released by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas.

Background

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".

Cash Box described it as "a red rocker that should move way out in no time flat" demonstrating the "fabulous hit-making excitement that showed up on 'Heat Wave.'"^[1]

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
- Andrew "Mike" Terry: baritone saxophone solo^[2]

Chart performance

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).^[3]^[4]

References

^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. February 1, 1964. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
^ "Obituary: Mike Terry". TheGuardian.com. December 2008.
^ Warner, Jay, ed. (2006). American Singing Groups: A History, From 1940 to Today. Hal Leonard. p. 584. ISBN 0-634-09978-7. Retrieved 16 December 2010. martha reeves.
^ 50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1962-1972 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records