Gaye co-wrote “What’s going On” back in the 70’s, in his own questioning of war and police brutality.
The week got off to a fiery start in Toronto, Canada, at the city’s annual Pride Parade. BlackLivesMatter TO, sequenced second, immediately preceding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his marked, first time participation of a sitting PM, staged a surprising yet peaceful 30-minute sit-in during the parade. BLM proposed a list of specific demands, outlining inclusion of visible minorities, the exclusion of formal police promotion within Pride, and asserted that their asks be agreed to and signed by officials before they would proceed along the route. Pride’s Executive Director obliged, having no choice. In the post-parade fallout BLM’s actions were immediately tagged ‘disruptive’ or a ‘hijack’ by many including the media, causing harsh and divisive discourse even amongst friends.
This was followed and dramatically underscored with the intense heightening of brutalities Black mothers and sons continue to suffer at the hands of egocentric police officers, the murders of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. And in purposeful and retaliative sniper fire 5 officers were killed in and 7 injured in Dallas, Texas, reportedly by at least one lone gunman, an army veteran. Ironic. To where will this escalate? It’s important we seek peace and understanding.
Marvin Gaye co-wrote a track called “What’s Going On” back in the 70’s, in his own questioning of war and police brutality in his time. It grew to become a classic that is even more profound today.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Gaye discussed what had shaped his view on more socially conscious themes in music and the conception of his eleventh studio album – “In 1969 or 1970, I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say…. I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home. 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. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.”
Here’s how the song came about. While traveling on his tour bus with the Four Tops on May 15, 1969, member Renaldo “Obie” Benson witnessed an act of police brutality and violence committed on anti-war protesters who had been protesting at Berkeley’s People’s Park in what was later termed as “Bloody Thursday”. A disgusted Benson later told author Ben Edmonds, “I saw this and started wondering ‘what was going on, what is happening here? One question led to another. Why are they sending kids far away from their families overseas? Why are they attacking their own kids in the street?” 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. Benson sent the unfinished song to his band mates but the other Four Tops turned the song down. Benson said, “My partners told me it was a protest song. 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 presented by Benson and Cleveland to Marvin Gaye while finding him at a golf game. Returning to Gaye’s home in Outer Drive, Benson played the song to Gaye on his guitar. Gaye felt the song’s moody flow would be perfect for The Originals. Benson, however, felt Gaye could sing it himself. Gaye responded to that suggestion by asking Benson for songwriting credit of the song. Benson and Cleveland allowed it and Gaye edited the song, adding a new melody, revising the song to his own liking, and changing some of the lyrics, reflective of Gaye’s own disgust. Gaye finished the song by adding its title, “What’s Going On”. 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.” During this time, Gaye had been deeply affected by letters shared between him and his brother after he had returned from service over the treatment of Vietnam veterans.
Marvin Gaye had also been deeply affected by the social ills that were then plaguing the United States at the time, even covering the track, “Abraham, Martin & John”, in 1969, which became a UK hit for Gaye in 1970. Gaye cited the 1965 Watts riots as a pivotal moment in his life in which he asked himself, “with the world exploding around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?” One night, Gaye called Berry Gordy about doing a protest record while Gordy vacationed at the Bahamas, to which Gordy chastised him, “Marvin, don’t be ridiculous. That’s taking things too far.”
“What’s Going On” also became the title of Gaye’s eleventh studio album, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It was an immediate success upon release, both commercially and critically. Worldwide surveys of critics, musicians, and the general public have shown that What’s Going On is regarded as one of the landmark recordings in pop music history, and one of the greatest albums of the 20th century. The album was ranked number six both on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, and in the magazine’s update nine years later.
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today
Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on
In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on
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
Oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on
Right on baby
Right on baby
