I'm going to be a songwriter. It's hard to think of anything that feels better than another person's tongue on your body. Gaye felt the song's moody flow would be perfect for The Originals. In May 1969 their tour bus arrived in San Francisco where he saw police attacking a crowd of hippies over a disused urban lot called People’s Park. Lady A But I can do it with music."[13]. "[20], The Absolute Sound described the album as “a brilliant psychedelic soul song-cycle. Born in 1822, songwriter James Lord Pierpont composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the holiday standard. According to Soundscan, it has since sold in excess of 1.6 million copies since sales tracking began in 1991. 10pm - 1am, Baby, It's Cold Outside In 1973, Marvin finally answered What’s Going On with Let’s Get It On. The F.D.A. [38] In 2004, the album's title track was ranked number four on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Most of Motown's Quality Control Department team also turned the song down, with Balk later stating that "they were used to the 'baby baby' stuff, and this was a little hard for them to grasp. As a Catholic, Kerry held certain policy views that conflicted with the moral beliefs of his Church. For other albums by this title, see. That September, Gaye approached Gordy with the "What's Going On" song while in California where Gordy had relocated. [34] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was less impressed. The narrative in the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. [15], The album's original mix, recorded in Detroit at both Hitsville and Golden World as well as United Sound Studios, was finalized on April 5, 1971. In 1973, Marvin finally answered What’s Going On with Let’s Get It On. 4 Non Blondes – Whats Going On Lyrics. And I say, hey hey, hey hey I said hey, what's going on? "Slant Magazine Music Review: Marvin Gaye: MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide, "The Classic: Marvin Gaye: What's Going On", "Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (album review 3)", "Marvin Gaye: What's Going On : Music Reviews", "BBC – Music – Review of Marvin Gaye – What's Going On – 40th Anniversary Edition Review", "What's Going On [40th Anniversary Edition] Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic", "The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever List, 1997", "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 20, 1971", "British album certifications – Marvin Gaye – What's Going On", "American album certifications – Marvin Gaye – What's Going On", "500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Marvin Gaye, 'What's Going On. R eaders may recall that during the 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry led the Democratic ticket. 4 Non Blondes – Whats Going On Lyrics. Why are they attacking their own children in the streets?'". The follow-up single, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", peaked at number-four on the Hot 100, and also went number-one on the R&B chart. The work was considered groundbreaking for its honest treatment of children’s emotions, especially anger, and it won the 1964 Caldecott Medal. It won't happen again. makes you think you're going to read a book written for the masses. [16][10] Gordy himself denied this claim, stating he loved the song's jazzy feel but cautioned Gaye that the sound was out of date of the sound of the times and also feared the loss of Gaye's crossover audience by releasing the political song. Marvin Gaye's protest anthem 'What's Going On' was a powerful and groundbreaking song at the time of its release in 1971, but fast forward nearly 50 years later and it is sadly still just as relevant for the world in 2020. Also included was a recording of Gaye's first live concert performance after two years away from the stage following Tammi Terrell's illness and death, performed at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall in his native Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1972. [12] At one point, Marvin sat propped up in a bed with his hands in his face. [17] "Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)", which took its title from a United Airlines tag, "fly the friendly skies", dealt with dependence on heroin. It was the city's worst unrest until the Rodney King riots of 1992. Scientists have families too! However, it is still a fascinating and friendly read. “The police was beating on the kids, but they wasn’t bothering anybody. Nearly 4,000 members of the California Army National Guard came into to control the situation, which resulted in 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage. You really should be pretty comfy with science if you're going to read this without feeling overwhelmed. He later discussed what he witnessed with friend and songwriter Al Cleveland, who soon wrote and composed a song to reflect Benson's worries. Here's the history of one of the most important songs of the 20th century: The song was co-written by Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye, and produced by Gaye himself. Oct. 26, 2015. I'm not a poet. Gaye was inspired by social injustices committed in the US, including the 1965 Watts riots. What's Going On was ranked number 6 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, one of three Gaye albums to be included, succeeded by 1973's Let's Get It On (number 165) and 1978's Here, My Dear (number 462). I turned the TV on, and there it was: a song I had written for a movie theme titled Generation was playing right then (the song was performed by Rare Earth). The song marked Gaye's departure from the Motown Sound of his previous output, towards more personal material. Download 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' on iTunes, 3 June 2020, 14:07 | Updated: 4 June 2020, 09:25. The laid-back sessions of the single were credited to lots of "marijuana smoke and rounds of Scotch". [24], According to Paul Gambaccini, Gaye's death in 1984 prompted a critical re-evaluation of the album, and most reviewers have since regarded it as an important masterpiece of popular music. The work was considered groundbreaking for its honest treatment of children’s emotions, especially anger, and it won the 1964 Caldecott Medal. "Motown was about music for all people—white and black, blue and green, cops and the robbers. [42] The album is Gaye's highest-ranking entry on the list, as well as several other publications' lists. Benson said later that Gaye tweaked and enriched the song, "added some things that were more ghetto, more natural, which made it seem like a story and not a song ... we measured him for the suit and he tailored the hell out of it. Jamerson was brought in after Gaye saw him playing with a band at a local bar. This led to internal tensions among U.S. bishops about how to handle the matter of Holy Communion for Catholic public officials who publicly and persistently diverge from Catholic teaching on issues like … Benson eventually convinced Gaye that it was his song. You're not. It eventually became a huge success, reaching the top of the charts within a month, staying at number-one for five weeks on the Billboard R&B charts. What's Going On, Prince Adam's Red Hot Dance Mix ! In 1994, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States for sales of half a million copies after it was issued on CD. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [and] the rewired blues of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. Video by Slackcircus. The song marked Gaye's departure from the Motown Sound of his previous output, towards more personal material. Benson later told author Ben Edmonds, "I saw this and started wondering 'what was going on, what is happening here?' First Who, Then What—get the right people on the bus—is a concept developed in the book Good to Great. "[10][9] During this time, Gaye had been deeply affected by letters shared between him and his brother after he had returned from service in the Vietnam War over the treatment of Vietnam veterans. [36], A remastered deluxe edition with 28 additional tracks was released on May 31, 2011, to similar acclaim. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. And I'm so grateful for that, Lise! [5] However, his pursuit of a tryout was stopped after the owner of the team advised him that any future injury would derail his career. Gaye returned to Hitsville to record the rest of What's Going On, which took a mere ten business days between March 1 and March 10. So proud of you," she wrote sharing a photo of the three Jonas brothers. [11], Gaye had also been deeply affected by the social ills plaguing the United States at the time, and covered the track "Abraham, Martin & John", in 1969, which became a UK hit for him in 1970. Marvin Gaye’s classic ‘What’s going on?’. I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. One question led to another. “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things— while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. In a revised 2020 list, this time voted on by musicians instead of music critics, the album moved up to the top spot, replacing The Beatles' Sgt. This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.” —Ecclesiastes 7:27–29 This suggests that an unnamed author was presenting the wisdom of … The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. What's Going On was generally well received by contemporary critics. Gaye recorded the album between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California. With the huge spark of protests in the US and around the world against racism following the death of George Floyd, the subject of police brutality and racial injustice is just as big a problem today as it was then. “They had the Haight-Ashbury then, all the kids up there with the long hair and everything,” he told MOJO. "[8][9] Returning to Detroit, Motown songwriter Al Cleveland wrote and composed a song based on his conversations with Benson of what he had seen in Berkeley. One question led to another. Those who build great organizations make sure they have the right people on the bus and the right people in the key seats before they figure out where to drive the bus. One question led to another. When Fontaine said he was "just goofing around", Gaye being pleased with the results replied, "Well, you goof off exquisitely. In 1970, Benson gave the untitled song to Marvin Gaye, who added a new melody and changed the song and added his own lyrics. The song was released without Gordy's knowledge, and it sold over 200,000 copies within a week. Written in collaboration with Ed Townsend, the title song was an instant smash. During phone conversations with Motown boss Berry Gordy, who was on holiday in the Bahamas at the time, Gaye told Gordy that he wanted to record a protest album, to which Gordy said: "Marvin, don't be ridiculous. Gaye asked himself: "'With the world exploding around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?'". It was his first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers. Police brutality. The song had strong jazz, gospel, classical music orchestration, and arrangements. Written in collaboration with Ed Townsend, the title song was an instant smash. In 2001, a deluxe edition of the album was released, featuring a recording of Gaye's May 1972 concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Broad-ranging surveys of critics, musicians, and the general public have shown that What's Going On is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time and a landmark recording in popular music. ", later crying out, "save the babies". The song was co-written by Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye, and produced by Gaye himself. Written Result (with name): Engineering Services (Main) Examination, 2020; Notice: 05 Posts of Assistant Legal Adviser in Enforcement Directorate; Notice: 11 Posts of Company Prosecutor in Ministry of Corporate Affairs; DAF: Combined Geo-Scientist (Main) Examination, 2020; Advertisement No.16 - 2020; Written Result: Engineering Services (Main) Examination, 2020; Interview Details: 07 Posts of Deputy … He described the incident to music writer Ben Edmonds in the 2001 book, What’s Going On: Marvin Gaye and the Last Days of The Motown Sound: These questions translated into a song Benson wrote with Cleveland, an in-house Motown composer. Born in 1822, songwriter James Lord Pierpont composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the holiday standard. "Right On" was a lengthy seven-minute jam influenced by funk rock and Latin soul rhythms that focused on Gaye's own divided soul in which Gaye later pleaded in falsetto, "if you let me, I will take you to live where love is King" after complying that "true love can conquer hate every time". Mother, mother Everybody thinks we're wrong Oh, but who are they to judge us Simply because our hair is long Oh, you know we've got to find a way To bring some understanding here today The central theme of "What's Going On" and the album of the same name came from Marvin Gaye 's own life. “Even though ‘Go Your Own Way’ was a little angry, it was also honest,” Nicks wrote in the liner notes to the Rumours reissue in 2013. Reviewer Eric Henderson of Slant stated the song had an "understandably mournful tone" in response to the fallout of the late 1960s counterculture movements. 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