FRIDAY FLASHBACK "What's Goin' On"

Marvin Gaye's flashpoint...

FRIDAY FLASHBACK “What’s Goin’ On,” the Motown/Tamla single released this week in 1971 by the multi-talented singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye—the “soul music” pioneer who opened the genre to orchestral, jazz, and pop expressions while baring his raw soul in song. He was a prolific, very creative but tormented soul who spoke to so many and gave a voice to many more. The lyrics were triggered by police brutality at Berkeley’s Peoples Park in California, witnessed in 1969 by song co-writer Obie Benson of The 4 Tops—who rejected it. “My partners told me it was a protest song,”  Benson said later, "I said 'no man, it's a love song about love and understanding. I'm not protesting, I want to know what's going on.’” The song was passed around before Gaye tailored it and created the trailblazing recording we have today. The politically-avoidant Motown president Berry Gordy hated it, saying it was the worse thing he ever heard while complaining that Gaye’s Dizzy Gillispie-style scat singing made it sound “old” and unhip. Gaye went on strike, refusing to record anything else until Gordy recanted and released it. It’s now one of the cornerstone works of popular music and a flashpoint for the Civil Rights Movement.

Here's my acoustic (unedited board tape) "coffee house version" of this evergreen song. I hope MG found peace beyond his mortal coil.

#marvingaye #motown #tamla #berrygordy #soulmusic #singersongwriter #civilrightsmovement #fourtops #coffeehouse #johnnyjblair #singeratlarge #williamsportpa #pennsylvania #obiebenson