Wednesday September 22, 2021 “What’s Goin’ On” Marvin Gaye
The number six song on the RS 500 Best Songs is the classic “What’s Goin’ On” by Marvin Gaye.
Inspired by an incident of police violence witnessed by Renaldo “Obie '' Benson of the Four Tops he presented Marvin Gaye with this song he had written with Motown staff songwriter Al Cleveland. And Gaye made the song his own, overseeing the arrangement and investing the topical references to war and racial strife with his own private anguish.
Up to this point, 1970, Marvin Gaye’s musical career at Motown was built on pop tunes that he had so successfully recorded, sometimes as duets with female voices. He was going through a difficult time creatively and wanted to move on to something more topical and contemporary which Motown President/Founder Berry Gordy soundly objected to. That backlash along with Marvin’s crumbling marriage to Gordy’s sister was a huge stumbling block in getting “What’s Goin’ On” recorded and released.
The opening saxophone was a throwaway by Eli Fontaine hired for the session but sent home after his ‘goofing around’ piece because Gaye said ‘you goof off exquisitely.’ The great bass line that runs through the song was done by James Jamerson who was so intoxicated that he had to play lying on the floor. James frequently had to do this. Gaye plays piano and keyboards and two members of the Detroit Lions football team provided the conversational opening.
“What's Goin’ On” was eventually released without Gordy’s knowledge and within a month was the number one on the charts and the fastest selling single at Motown. It would stay at number one for four weeks and ultimately sell two million copies and inspire a Marvin Gaye album of the same name.
Stay safe and well...some songs are classics because their songs resonate for a long time. This one sadly just continues to reflect the times we live.