What's Going On?
|
Artist:
|
Marvin Gaye
|
|
Genre:
|
Protest songs
|
|
Decade:
|
1970's
|
|
Title:
|
What's Going On?
|
|
Author:
|
Mark
Hawkins
|
Designed with a somber jazz-inspired tone, "What's Going On" addressed the political and social troubles of the world and black-on-black crime in a soulful, introspective way, contrasting to the more dramatic socially conscious records made by Sly & the Family Stone and The Temptations over the previous three years. The song originated from an idea by Four Tops member Renaldo "Obie" Benson, who, witnessing stressful conditions while on tour in Europe, began writing a song to express his feelings. Once back in the United States, Benson and Motown songwriter Al Cleveland prepared an initial rough version of the song, and invited Marvin Gaye as a third collaborator on the song. Gaye, depressed from the death of singing partner Tammi Terrell and strongly considering a retirement from performing, planned to produce "What's Going On" as a single for The Originals, but Benson and Cleveland convinced Gaye to record it himself.On the finished track, as Gaye musically ponders on the state of the world and the Vietnam war, a party can be heard going on in the background, from which Gaye's voice is purposely detached. The partygoers are portrayed by Detroit Lions players Mel Farr and Lem Barney, whose acquaintances Gaye had made during his failed 1970 tryout with the team. He threatened to commit suicide several times after bitter arguments with his father. On April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday, Gaye's father shot him after an polemic that started after his parents squabbled over disarranged subsidiary documents. Gaye was killed by a gun he had offered to his father. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor. Spending his final years in a retirement home, he died of pneumonia in 1998. Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He was inducted to Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990.
Views:
452
Comments:
0
|