The songbook · 1962 to 2026
Motown songs, Northern Soul rarities,
and modern hits in a 1964 suit
Motown songs are the engine of every night we play: 1960s Detroit soul built on backbeat handclaps, call-and-response vocals, and horn stabs that mark the chorus. Below is the real songbook our Motown tribute band performs live, zone by zone, with the durations we actually play them at.
“A Motown song works on a live dancefloor because the backbeat belongs to the guests: handclaps on two and four that anyone can join without thinking.”
Cecelia Monroe · music director
“If the room can answer the singer back, the song belongs in the set. Call-and-response is the whole trick.”
Theo Whitfield · arranger & bandleader
Try the desk
Build a night from this songbook
Every song listed on this page sits in the desk below. Pick the occasion, set the mix, and watch the sets chart themselves.
The program desk
Build your show program
Pick the occasion, set the mix, choose a length. Your show program prints here, set by set.
Your Velvelettes Revue
·
Songbook blend:
The first dance
Recommended package
Three zones, one book
The songbook, zone by zone
Runtimes are as performed live, not the record. Every chart is by our bandleader, Theo Whitfield.
Zone one
Classic Motown '64
The core of the book. Detroit and the wider 60s soul canon, played straight, with the horn stabs where the records put them.
| Song · artist | Time |
|---|---|
| Dancing in the Street · Martha Reeves & the Vandellas | 3:25 |
| Heat Wave · Martha Reeves & the Vandellas | 3:10 |
| Get Ready · The Temptations | 3:15 |
| My Girl · The Temptations | 3:45 |
| Ain't Too Proud to Beg · The Temptations | 3:30 |
| Stop! In the Name of Love · The Supremes | 3:15 |
| Baby Love · The Supremes | 2:45 |
| You Can't Hurry Love · The Supremes | 3:00 |
| Reach Out I'll Be There · Four Tops | 3:20 |
| I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) · Four Tops | 2:55 |
| I Heard It Through the Grapevine · Gladys Knight & the Pips | 3:50 |
| Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours · Stevie Wonder | 3:05 |
| My Guy · Mary Wells | 3:30 |
| Please Mr. Postman · The Marvelettes | 3:10 |
| The Tracks of My Tears · Smokey Robinson & the Miracles | 3:35 |
Zone two
Northern Soul dancefloor
The fast rarities the all-nighter crowds kept alive. Short, four-to-the-floor, built for a packed room. Ten from the crate:
| Song · artist | Time |
|---|---|
| Out on the Floor · Dobie Gray | 2:40 |
| The Snake · Al Wilson | 3:15 |
| Tainted Love · Gloria Jones | 2:45 |
| There's a Ghost in My House · R. Dean Taylor | 2:25 |
| Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) · Frank Wilson | 2:35 |
| Heaven Must Have Sent You · The Elgins | 2:50 |
| Seven Days Too Long · Chuck Wood | 2:25 |
| This Old Heart of Mine · The Isley Brothers | 3:10 |
| Time Will Pass You By · Tobi Legend | 2:55 |
| Long After Tonight Is All Over · Jimmy Radcliffe | 2:55 |
The full crate runs deeper; ask the booking office for the current Northern set.
Zone three
Soul, but 2026
Modern hits re-charted as if they were cut in 1964: live horns, real handclaps, three-part harmony where the synths used to be.
| Song · arrangement | Time |
|---|---|
| Uptown Funk · Bruno Mars, charted 1964-style | 3:30 |
| Treasure · Bruno Mars, charted 1964-style | 3:00 |
| Leave the Door Open · Silk Sonic, revue arrangement | 3:50 |
| Valerie · Amy Winehouse arrangement | 3:20 |
| Crazy in Love · Beyonce, horn-line chart | 3:25 |
| Love on Top · Beyonce, revue arrangement | 3:35 |
| Blinding Lights · The Weeknd, 60s soul chart | 3:15 |
| Levitating · Dua Lipa, 60s soul chart | 3:10 |
| As It Was · Harry Styles, revue arrangement | 2:55 |
| Golden · Harry Styles, horn-line chart | 3:10 |
| Perfect · Ed Sheeran, string-and-horn chart | 4:00 |
| Thinking Out Loud · Ed Sheeran, soul chart | 3:40 |
| All of Me · John Legend, revue arrangement | 3:50 |
| Espresso · Sabrina Carpenter, 60s chart | 2:55 |
| Flowers · Miley Cyrus, horn-line chart | 3:15 |
A definition worth keeping
What is Northern Soul?
Northern Soul is mid-1960s American soul music that found its dancefloor in the north of England: fast tempos around 100 to 130 beats per minute, a relentless four-to-the-floor stomp, and rare 45s that never charted at home but kept British all-nighters moving until sunrise.
On a live stage it is the middle of our mix slider for a reason. The songs are short, urgent and almost impossible to sit through, which makes them the fix for the mid-evening lull every planner knows. When a room starts drifting toward the bar, two Northern numbers bring it back.
Tainted Love was a Northern Soul record before it was a synth hit. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) sold for six figures as a one-of-a-kind 45. We play both with a live horn section, which is how they were meant to be heard.
Northern Soul, in numbers
| Tempo range | 100–130 bpm |
| Typical runtime | 2:25–3:15 |
| Era of the records | 1964–1971 |
| Rarities in our set | 10+ |
“Northern Soul is the emergency lever. Pull it and the floor fills.” · Theo Whitfield
One slider, three eras
How the mix tunes a night
Every crowd sits somewhere on a line between 1964 and 2026, and the mix slider is how we chart it before the first downbeat. It is the same control our music director uses in the planning call, and you can build your show program with it right now.
0
Classic Motown '64
Slider left. Grandparents lead the floor, the canon carries the night, and every lyric gets sung back at us. The usual home for anniversary parties and multi-generation weddings.
50
Northern Soul dancefloor
Slider center. Tempo up, songs shorter, the stompers stacked back to back. This is where galas peak and where we park set two on almost every dance-heavy booking.
100
Soul, but 2026
Slider right. Modern hits in 1964 clothing, so the under-30 table recognizes every chorus while the room keeps its vintage sound. The blend works across all our bands for hire formats.
The rebuild process
How we arrange modern hits 1964-style
A modern hit does not become a soul number by playing it on old instruments. Theo Whitfield rebuilds each one from the rhythm section up: the drum machine becomes a live backbeat with handclaps, the synth bass becomes an upright-influenced electric line, and the hook moves to a three-piece horn section voiced like a 1964 session.
Then the vocals are re-stacked for three voices. A lead line that belonged to one pop singer gets a call-and-response answer from Dot and Ruby, because that exchange is what makes a room feel spoken to rather than sung at.
The test is simple: if a guest who has never heard the original dances anyway, the chart stays in the book. If it only works as a reference, it goes back to the desk.
Five rebuilds guests request most
- 01Uptown Funk · the horn stabs were practically written for 1964
- 02Blinding Lights · the synth arpeggio becomes a baritone sax riff
- 03Levitating · re-cut as a Northern-style stomper
- 04Leave the Door Open · already a love letter to the era; we answer it
- 05Espresso · the surprise of every 2026 season so far
For the couples
The first-dance corner
Every wedding booking includes a first dance arranged for our horns, whether it comes from this songbook or from your own history. At Last, My Girl and All of Me lead the requests, but the charts we are proudest of started as a song we had never played. That arrangement is part of what makes us a live wedding band rather than a setlist on legs.
Still choosing? The journal keeps two working lists: forty first dance songs sorted by mood, and the best motown songs with notes on why each one holds a floor. Bring us a title from either and we will bring it to your night with live horns.
The songbook, live in your room
Hear these songs with a live horn section
Tell us your date and the crowd you expect. Our booking office replies within one business day with a program draft.