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Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"

The spring of 1970 was a dark fourth dimension for Marvin Gaye. His beloved duet partner Tammi Terrell had died after a three-year struggle with a brain tumor. His brother Frankie had returned from Vietnam with horror stories that moved Marvin to tears. And at Motown, Marvin was stymied in his quest to address social bug in his music.

While he was pondering his next move, a song cruel in his lap that would provide a channel for all his sorrow and frustration.

The initial thought for "What'due south Going On" came to Four Tops member Obie Benson when he was in San Francisco in 1969.

"They had the Haight-Ashbury then, all the kids upwardly there with the long hair and everything," he told MOJO. "The constabulary was beating on the kids, but they wasn't bothering anybody. I saw this, and started wondering what was going on. 'What is happening here?' I question leads to another. 'Why are they sending kids and then far away from their families overseas?' And so on."

Benson shaped his tune with fellow Motown author Al Cleveland, then pitched information technology to the Four Tops. Simply they weren't interested in a protest song. Obie played a rough version to Joan Baez, who as well passed. He then brought it to Marvin Gaye, who loved information technology, saying it would be perfect for the Originals, a Motown vocal quartet he was producing.

Benson disagreed, giving Marvin an ultimatum. "I finally put information technology to him similar this: 'I'll give y'all a percentage of the tune if y'all sing it, merely if yous do it on anybody else you can't take none of it.'"

Marvin agreed, then gear up about earning his writer's percentage of the song. "He definitely put the finishing touches on it," Benson said. "He added lyrics, and he added some spice to the melody. He added some things that were more ghetto, more natural, which made it seem more similar a story than a vocal. He made it visual. He absorbed himself to the extent that when you lot heard the song you could come across the people and feel the hurt and pain. Nosotros measured him for the suit, and he tailored it."

Marvin was so thrilled by "What'south Going On" that he tracked downwards Berry Gordy while the boss was on vacation. "I was in the Bahamas trying to relax," Gordy recalled in a Motown documentary. "He chosen and said, 'Look, I've got these songs.' When he told me they were protest songs, I said, 'Marvin, why do you lot want to ruin your career?'"

All Motown artists went through a finishing school that taught them to carefully avert controversial topics in both their interviews and music. But since day one of his tenure at the label, Marvin Gaye was a rebel. He'd come to blows with Gordy over lesser things. He wasn't about to back down now.

To tape "What's Going On" and the concept anthology around it, Marvin drew from the full arsenal of local talent, from business firm arranger David Van De Pitte to the Funk Brothers. Paying for the sessions himself, Marvin drafted in extra players, including several Detroit Symphony members and two friends from the Detroit Lions football team to add together street chatter.

The record was full of innovative arrangements (Van De Pitte said, "My first thought was that it was never gonna wing, because this is not similar anything else that's been done at Motown earlier") and happy accidents. I example: the yearning sax effigy that opens the tape. Session man Eli Fontaine was warming up over the rail, when Marvin stopped the tape and told him he could become domicile. "We've already got what nosotros need," the singer said. Fontaine replied that he was merely goofing around. "Well, you goof exquisitely," Marvin said.

A more pregnant accident was the counterpoint lead vocal, which became i of Marvin's stylistic trademarks.

"That double lead phonation was a mistake on my office," engineer Ken Sands told Ben Edmonds. "Marvin cut two atomic number 82 vocals, and wanted me to prepare a tape with the rhythm track upward in the center and each of his vocals on dissever tracks then he could compare them. Once I played that stereo mix on a mono auto and he heard both voices at the same time by blow. He loved information technology."

Quality Control, the Motown board that passed inspection on all prospective singles, gave "What'south Going On" a thumbs down (at the company, only Stevie Wonder defended the song). Berry Gordy tried to block its release, calling it "the worst thing I've e'er heard." Merely while Gordy's interests were beingness drawn to the solo career of Diana Ross and motility pictures, "What's Going On" slipped out.

Information technology was an immediate awareness, catching on at radio in several major cities, and selling over a 100,000 copies in its starting time week. Information technology went to #2 on the Billboard Pop Chart (and #1 on the R&B Nautical chart) and paved the manner for the landmark album. Across any chart position, the vocal has become a timeless spiritual anthem.

As Marvin once said of information technology, "To be truly righteous, you lot offer love with a pure center, without regard for what yous'll get in return. I had myself in that frame of mind. People were dislocated and needed reassurance. God was offering that reassurance through his music. I was privileged to be the musical instrument."

—By Nib DeMain

From Performing Songwriter Issue 94, June 2006

Category: Behind The Song

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Source: https://performingsongwriter.com/marvin-gaye-whats-going-on/

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