There are two things people think of when people say “Detroit!” cars and Motown. So to celebrate the Ford Mustang's 50th birthday I thought I would post a cool video of the song Nowhere to Run with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. (The Vandellas are Annette Beard and Rosalind Ashford.) The video was shot on a live Ford Mustang production line in 1965 at the Ford Rogue plant. Checkout the music video of Marth and the Vandellas singing while Ford Mustangs get assembled and put together.
Marth and the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” – Ford Mustang Plant
Pretty cool, right? It was shot while 1965 Ford Mustang's were getting built on the assembly line. Martha Reeves on filming in the Ford Mustang plant and how they did some of the first music videos ever;
Berry [Gordy] had the brilliant idea to make the first videos ever. He took us to the Ford Motor Company and they built the Mustang while we sang Nowhere to Run We had to get on the line and off the line. The guys, the workers that were there were complaining, “Get these women out of here! We're trying to make a car, we are trying to do our work.” They didn't stop the line they would just make us jump on and off as it was moving. We walked through the paintline we walked through where they put the tires on and everything. We got a firsthand view of just how cars are made, and they made this car in the 2 minutes and 54 seconds we sang Nowhere to Run.”
Eddie Holland the one of the songwriter's for Nowhere to Run even used metallic parts to get the unique sound in the song;
We went to the garage in the back of the studio. There was old chains back there, and we wanted something that would give a different clacking sound. Then you start putting on the beat “clank, clang, clang.”
“He held that chain and beat until his hand actually bleed, making the sound that you hear and the rhythm.” said Martha Reeves. So they really worked hard to get a metallic sound for Nowhere to Run. It worked when they shot the video on the Ford Mustang assembly line.
Martha and the Vandellas more famous songs are probably Dancing in the Street, Heat Wave, and Jimmy Mack. However Nowhere to Run is a well known and respected song of this Motown group.
Nowhere to Run – Behind the Scenes
Anyway, Happy Birthday to the Ford Mustang. Hope the Mustang is around for another 50 years. I hope you liked this little juicy tidbit of Detroit car and music history. Let me know what you think of the music video and if you like this post please share it.
As a side note if you haven't seen the documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” you MUST rent it or watch it immediately. It's about the legendary Funk Brothers who were the musicians who played on ALL of the Motown songs. It is a must watch for fans of Motown music or any musician out there.
