Marv Gaye released his landmark album What's Gog On 50 years ago today. We hear om artists and activists who were eply spired by the album's mic and s msag.
Contents:
- MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ IS AS RELEVANT TODAY AS IT WAS 1971
- HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ CHANGED THE SOUND OF R&B FOREVER
- THE STORY OF MARV GAYE'S 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
- THE STORY OF... 'WHAT'S GOG ON' BY MARV GAYE
- 50 YEARS LATER, WHY MARV GAYE'S SEMAL ALBUM 'WHAT'S GOG ON' ENDUR
- REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
- PLEASE TELL ME “WHAT’S GOG ON”?: THE NTEMPORARY RONANCE OF MARV GAYE
- ‘MORE LIKE A STORY THAN A SONG’: HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ REMAS RELEVANT 50 YEARS LATER
- WHAT’S GOG ONMARV GAYETRACK 1 ON WHAT’S GOG ON PRODUCED BYMARV GAYEWHAT’S GOG ON IS AN EXQUISE PLEA FOR PEACE ON EARTH, SUNG BY A MAN AT THE HEIGHT OF CRISIS. IN 1970, MARV GAYE WAS MOTOWN’S TOP MALE VOL STAR, YET HE WAS TRATED… READ MORE JAN. 17, 19714 VIEWERS592K VIEWS85 CONTRIBUTORSWHAT’S GOG ON LYRICS[INTRO]HEY, HEY-HEYHEY, WHAT'S HAPPEN'?HEY, BROTHER, WHAT'S HAPPEN'?BOY, THIS IS A GROOVY PARTY (HEY, HOW YOU DO'?)MAN, I N DIG YEAH, BROTHER, SOLID, RIGHT ONWHAT'S HAPPEN'?HEY, MAN, WHAT'S HAPPENG?WOOEVERYTHG IS EVERYTHGWE'RE GONNA DO A GET DOWN TODAY, BOY, I'LL TELL YA[VERSE 1]MOTHER, MOTHERTHERE'S TOO MANY OF YOU CRYGBROTHER, BROTHER, BROTHERTHERE'S FAR TOO MANY OF YOU DYGYOU KNOW WE'VE GOT TO FD A WAYTO BRG SOME LOVG HERE TODAY, YEAH[VERSE 2]FATHER, FATHERWE DON'T NEED TO LATEYOU SEE, WAR IS NOT THE ANSWERFOR ONLY LOVE N NQUER HATEYOU KNOW WE'VE GOT TO FD A WAYTO BRG SOME LOVG HERE TODAY, OH (OH)YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE[CHOS]PICKET L (SISTER) AND PICKET SIGNS (SISTER)DON'T PUNISH ME (SISTER) WH BTALY (SISTER)TALK TO ME (SISTER), SO YOU N SEE (SISTER)OH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)YEAH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)OH, WHAT'S GOG ON[POST-CHOS]AH-AH-AH-AH (IN THE MEANTIME, RIGHT ON, BABY)WOO (RIGHT ON, BABY), WOOAH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA, YA-YA-YA-YA-YAWOO (RIGHT ON, BABY, RIGHT ON), WOOAH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YABA-DA-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOOBA-DA-BOO-BOO-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-BA-BA-DO[VERSE 3]MOTHER, MOTHEREVERYBODY THKS WE'RE WRONGOH, BUT WHO ARE THEY TO JUDGE SIMPLY 'E OUR HAIR IS LONG?OH, YOU KNOW WE'VE GOT TO FD A WAYTO BRG SOME UNRSTANDG HERE TODAY, OH-OH[CHOS]PICKET L (BROTHER) AND PICKET SIGNS (BROTHER)DON'T PUNISH ME (BROTHER) WH BTALY (BROTHER)COME ON, TALK TO ME (BROTHER), SO YOU N SEE (BROTHER)OH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)YEAH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)TELL ME WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)[POST-CHOS]WOO-OOH-OOH-OOH (RIGHT ON, BABY, RIGHT ON)AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA, YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YAWOO, WOO (RIGHT ON)AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YABA-DA-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-DOOBA-DA-BOO-BOO-BOO-DOO, BA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA[OUTRO]WOO (RIGHT ON, BABY, E ON, RIGHT ON)AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YAWOO (RIGHT ON)LISTEN, AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YADA-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-DOODA-BOO-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO49EMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUT
- MARV GAYE’S “WHAT’S GOG ON”
MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ IS AS RELEVANT TODAY AS IT WAS 1971
Marv Gaye's classic "What's Gog On," released 50 years ago today, changed the sound of R&B forever. Here's why. * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
Released on May 21, 1971, at the height of the Vietnam War, Marv Gaye’s album beme a monster, spawng three h sgl on s way to beg Motown’s bt-sellg album to date.
And the host of the weekly rad show “Soul Stori, ” I am stck by how many of the them Gaye explor rema as relevant today as they were when he first wrote about them 50 years ago.
HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ CHANGED THE SOUND OF R&B FOREVER
Marv Gaye's classic faced the forc shapg Amerin culture at the begng of the '70s. * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
For example, “Soldier’s Plea, ” the first sgle om Gaye’s send album, “That Stubborn Kda Fellow” 1962, offers a cidly romantic view of war:.
THE STORY OF MARV GAYE'S 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
Marv Gaye's prott anthem 'What's Gog On' was a powerful and groundbreakg song at the time of s release 1971, but fast forward 50 years later and is sadly still jt as relevant for the world 2021." name="scriptn * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
Gaye repeats the affirmatn “right on” – a phrase distctly ground black urban vernacular – throughout the album and on a song bearg that name.
The ll and rponse munit a sense of shared ncern, shared stggle, and shared remptn – an ethos Gaye took om the gospel tradn that rms his mily. It would bee the first Top 10 LP for Gaye, a major rerdg artist who’d had many h sgl but hadn’t reached higher than number 33 on the Top 200 album chart. The album was unlike anythg prevly released by a Black superstar: Wrten and produced by Gaye (a first for any Motown artist not named Smokey Robson) and clockg at jt over 35 mut, secured his spot as one of mic’s leadg Black trs of the .
He wasn’t the first Black artist to produce challengg mic after assumg plete creative ntrol — Jam Brown had done and so had former Imprsns lear Curtis Mayfield — but Gaye, who butted heads hard wh Motown orr to pursue a new artistic directn (he was signed to the Motown imprt Tamla), was the first to do wh such a thematilly and milly hive statement.
THE STORY OF... 'WHAT'S GOG ON' BY MARV GAYE
Five s later, we're still to "What's Gog On." That's bee them om Gaye's album reflect some of the most signifint challeng and divisns we face as a society today. * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
If he had wanted to, Gaye probably uld have spent years astg on the 1968 succs of “I Heard It Through the Grapeve, ” a chart-toppg smash that, at one pot, was Motown’s bt-sellg sgle of all time. That probably would have helped Motown head Berry Gordy, who has said that he was “terrified” when Gaye first said he wanted to make a “prott album, ” sleep easier at night. But stead of vg to creative expectatns, Gaye cid to challenge himself and his dience by embarkg on a stunng mic reventn that rivaled what The Beatl had done a half- earlier wh “Rubber Soul.
” Gaye, who had once harbored aspiratns to be the Black Frank Satra, thoroughly transformed his sound and image, creatg a new chameleonic mil persona that would rry him through the ‘70s. In addn to reposng and rebrandg Gaye s before “rebrandg” beme a thg, “What’s Gog On” blend the polil and the relig a way no sger had managed to do sce Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” seven years earlier.
50 YEARS LATER, WHY MARV GAYE'S SEMAL ALBUM 'WHAT'S GOG ON' ENDUR
The tensn and loss that drove Marv Gaye wasn't lost on his peers: In the same year as What's Gog On, a wave of Black artists released explosive new work that put s polics ont and center. * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
” John Lennon rerd “Image” about a week after the release of “What’s Gog On, ” and although the former Beatle had already been tacklg polil them his solo work, ’s easy to image him beg fluenced and spired by Gaye’s foray to social nscns. The followg year, Gaye’s Motown labelmate Stevie Wonr would, like Gaye, assume creative ntrol of his reer and release “Talkg Book, ” which end a ne-year Top 10 dry spell on the album chart and began his n of ‘70s classics.
REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
* marvin gaye what's going on impact *
Cyndi Lper, Robert Palmer, and Angela Wbh all enjoyed chart hs wh remak of “What’s Gog On” tracks; the Strok vered “Mercy Mercy Me” as a B-si; and when D’Angelo burst onto the R&B scene 1995 wh his “Brown Sugar” album, he sound like the rernatn of Gaye, who was killed by his father 1984, on the day before his 45th birthday.
PLEASE TELL ME “WHAT’S GOG ON”?: THE NTEMPORARY RONANCE OF MARV GAYE
Anchored by CNN’s Don Lemon on Sunday, May 9th at 8pm, ET Promo clip: In 1971, while the Uned Stat was the midst of the Vietnam war and social unrt permeated the untry, Motown sger Marv Gaye took to the airwav wh a song of peace a... * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
Although he rerd a thematilly siar album, “You’re the Man, ” as a follow-up, that project was shelved and went unreleased until 2019, and Gaye would never aga make such an overtly album-length polil statement.
‘MORE LIKE A STORY THAN A SONG’: HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ REMAS RELEVANT 50 YEARS LATER
In memory of Marv Gaye who died on April 1, 1984—and whose 75th birthday would be April 2—here's the story behd the endurg classic "What's Gog On." * marvin gaye what's going on impact *
Curtis Mayfield veered to social nscns nearly one year before Gaye did wh his 1970 but solo album “Curtis, ” but like Jam Brown’s proclamatns of Black pri om the same era, sounds thoroughly of s time. Gaye uld release today, and s melodi wouldn’t be out of place, and lyrics like “Crime is creasg/ Trigger-happy policg/ Panic is spreadg/ God knows where we’re headg” (om “Inner Cy Blu”) would stg as acutely now as they did then. Reviews were somewhat mixed upon s release (like several other ‘70s Gaye albums, cludg “Let’s Get It On” and “Here, My Dear, ” s cril reputatn would grow over time), and spe lnchg three Top 10 sgl, the album wasn’t a naway chart h.
WHAT’S GOG ONMARV GAYETRACK 1 ON WHAT’S GOG ON PRODUCED BYMARV GAYEWHAT’S GOG ON IS AN EXQUISE PLEA FOR PEACE ON EARTH, SUNG BY A MAN AT THE HEIGHT OF CRISIS. IN 1970, MARV GAYE WAS MOTOWN’S TOP MALE VOL STAR, YET HE WAS TRATED… READ MORE JAN. 17, 19714 VIEWERS592K VIEWS85 CONTRIBUTORSWHAT’S GOG ON LYRICS[INTRO]HEY, HEY-HEYHEY, WHAT'S HAPPEN'?HEY, BROTHER, WHAT'S HAPPEN'?BOY, THIS IS A GROOVY PARTY (HEY, HOW YOU DO'?)MAN, I N DIG YEAH, BROTHER, SOLID, RIGHT ONWHAT'S HAPPEN'?HEY, MAN, WHAT'S HAPPENG?WOOEVERYTHG IS EVERYTHGWE'RE GONNA DO A GET DOWN TODAY, BOY, I'LL TELL YA[VERSE 1]MOTHER, MOTHERTHERE'S TOO MANY OF YOU CRYGBROTHER, BROTHER, BROTHERTHERE'S FAR TOO MANY OF YOU DYGYOU KNOW WE'VE GOT TO FD A WAYTO BRG SOME LOVG HERE TODAY, YEAH[VERSE 2]FATHER, FATHERWE DON'T NEED TO LATEYOU SEE, WAR IS NOT THE ANSWERFOR ONLY LOVE N NQUER HATEYOU KNOW WE'VE GOT TO FD A WAYTO BRG SOME LOVG HERE TODAY, OH (OH)YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE[CHOS]PICKET L (SISTER) AND PICKET SIGNS (SISTER)DON'T PUNISH ME (SISTER) WH BTALY (SISTER)TALK TO ME (SISTER), SO YOU N SEE (SISTER)OH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)YEAH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)OH, WHAT'S GOG ON[POST-CHOS]AH-AH-AH-AH (IN THE MEANTIME, RIGHT ON, BABY)WOO (RIGHT ON, BABY), WOOAH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA, YA-YA-YA-YA-YAWOO (RIGHT ON, BABY, RIGHT ON), WOOAH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YABA-DA-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOOBA-DA-BOO-BOO-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-BA-BA-DO[VERSE 3]MOTHER, MOTHEREVERYBODY THKS WE'RE WRONGOH, BUT WHO ARE THEY TO JUDGE SIMPLY 'E OUR HAIR IS LONG?OH, YOU KNOW WE'VE GOT TO FD A WAYTO BRG SOME UNRSTANDG HERE TODAY, OH-OH[CHOS]PICKET L (BROTHER) AND PICKET SIGNS (BROTHER)DON'T PUNISH ME (BROTHER) WH BTALY (BROTHER)COME ON, TALK TO ME (BROTHER), SO YOU N SEE (BROTHER)OH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)YEAH, WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)TELL ME WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S GOG ON (WHAT'S GOG ON)[POST-CHOS]WOO-OOH-OOH-OOH (RIGHT ON, BABY, RIGHT ON)AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA, YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YAWOO, WOO (RIGHT ON)AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YABA-DA-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-DOOBA-DA-BOO-BOO-BOO-DOO, BA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA[OUTRO]WOO (RIGHT ON, BABY, E ON, RIGHT ON)AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YAWOO (RIGHT ON)LISTEN, AH-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YADA-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO-DOODA-BOO-BOO-DOO, BOO-BOO-BOO49EMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUT
It only reached number six on the Top 200 album chart, and sred jt one Grammy nomatn, bt R&B vol performance, male, for “Inner Cy Blu (Make You Wanna Holler), ” which Gaye lost to Lou Rawls’ “A Natural Man. There may not have been a surpl of joy on “What’s Gog On, ” but by scendg so betifully to spair, Gaye created brand new hope for generatns to e.
His album beme an ternnected sue, a gallery of songs reflectg the state of the unn as Gaye saw , om neglected ghettos to the thrivg muny church, to the abed environment.
MARV GAYE’S “WHAT’S GOG ON”
Gaye relished the visibily, but hr knew that the real triumph was the way he transformed vexg social problems to an implorg emotnal appeal. Marv Gaye's prott anthem 'What's Gog On' was a powerful and groundbreakg song at the time of s release 1971, but fast forward 50 years later and is sadly still jt as relevant for the world 2021. Wh the huge spark of protts the US and around the world agast racism followg the ath of Gee Floyd a year ago, the subject of police btaly and racial jtice is beg discsed as much today as was back Gaye -wrote 'What's Gog On' about the issu of the time, but ltle did he know that over 30 years after his ath, tragilly still sounds as if uld have been wrten 's the history of one of the most important songs of the 20th century, 50 years on:.