About The Song
In 1963, America experienced a hot spell that took a while to break, but when it did, it truly sizzled. On July 10, Motown’s Gordy label released “Heat Wave” and watched it become the second R&B hit for Martha & the Vandellas.
Produced and composed with a gospel backbeat, jazz overtones and, doo-wop call and responsive vocals, “Heat Wave” was one of the first songs to exemplify the style of music later termed as the “Motown Sound”. The single was a breakthrough hit, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number 1 on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. It also garnered the group’s only Grammy Award nomination for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording for 1964, making the Vandellas the first Motown group ever to receive a Grammy Award nomination.
The irresistible Holland-Dozier-Holland song was propelled not just by the voices of Martha Reeves and her fellow Vandellas, but by the throaty baritone sax of Mike Terry. He was a key Motown session man in its early days, spending five years there from 1960 before moving across town in Detroit to join Golden World Records. Terry played on other such great Tamla hits as the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself,” the Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart Of Mine,” and Kim Weston’s “Helpless.”
Recorded on June 20, “Heat Wave” — the “(Love Is Like A)” prefix was added later — was on the street just three weeks later. Its progress to national prominence was aided by the weather that early summer: as the temperature rose, radio weather reports were often accompanied by the track.
“Heat Wave” took a month to make its R&B chart debut and another month to climb to the top of that chart, taking over from another early Motown staple, Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips – Pt.2.” Then Martha, Rosalind, and Annette were immovable for a month. What’s more, where their first soul hit “Come And Get These Memories” had faltered at No.29 pop, they now had a fully-fledged crossover success, as “Heat Wave” climbed to a Hot 100 peak of No.4.
Video
Lyrics
Whenever I’m with him
Something inside starts to burning
And I’m filled with desire
Could it be the devil in me
Or is this the way love’s supposed to be?
It’s like a heat wave
It’s burning in my heart
I can’t keep from burning
It’s tearing me apart
Whenever he calls my name so softly and plain
Right then, right there, I feel that burning flame
Has high blood pressure got a hold on me?
Is this the way love’s supposed to be?
It’s like a heat wave
It’s burning in my heart
I can’t keep from burning
It’s tearing me apart
Sometimes I stare in space
Tears all over my face
I can’t explain it, don’t understand it
I ain’t never felt like this before
Now this funny feeling has me amazed
Don’t know what to do, my head’s in a haze
It’s like a heat wave
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Ha oh yeah
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Oh yeah
I feel it burning right here in my heart
Don’t you know it’s like a heat wave?
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Oh
Don’t you know it’s like a heat wave
Burning right here in my heart?