He could really put that stuff away, and then sit down and still be able to play." Motown conductor David Van De Pitte said that Jamerson "always kept a bottle of Metaxa in his bass case. Jamerson was brought in after Gaye saw him playing with a band at a local bar. The laid-back atmosphere in the studio was helped by constant marijuana smoking by Gaye and the musicians. When Fontaine protested that he was just "goofing around", Gaye replied: "you goof off exquisitely, thank you." Once Gaye heard Fontaine's riff, he told Fontaine to go home. The opening saxophone line, by musician Eli Fontaine, was not originally intended for the song. He brought inoriginal Motown in-house studio musicians such as James Jamerson and Eddie Brown, with musicians he recruited himself. Marvin Gaye was inspired by recent successes of his productions for The Originals, and decided to produce the song himself. He was also influenced by emotional conversations shared between him and his brother Frankie, who had returned from three years at the Vietnam War, and his cousin Marvin's death while serving troops.ĭuring phone conversations with Motown boss Berry Gordy, who was on holiday in the Bahamas at the time, Gaye told Gordy that he wanted to record a protest album, to which Gordy said: "Marvin, don't be ridiculous. Gaye asked himself: "'With the world exploding around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?'"
It was the city's worst unrest until the Rodney King riots of 1992. Nearly 4,000 members of the California Army National Guard came into to control the situation, which resulted in 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage. A minor roadside argument escalated into a fight with police, and six days of civil unrest followed. On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for dangerous driving. Gaye was inspired by social injustices committed in the US, including the 1965 Watts riots. He initially thought the song's would be good for the group The Originals, Benson convinced Gaye to record it himself. we measured him for the suit and he tailored the hell out of it." In 1970, Benson gave the untitled song to Marvin Gaye, who added a new melody and changed the song and added his own lyrics.īenson later said Gaye "added some things that were more ghetto, more natural, which made it seem like a story than a song. I'm not protesting, I want to know what's going on.'" "I said 'no man, it's a love song, about love and understanding. "My partners told me it was a protest song", Benson said. He later discussed what he witnessed with friend and songwriter Al Cleveland, who soon wrote and composed a song to reflect Benson's worries.īenson wanted to give the song to his group, but the other Four Tops turned it down. 'Why are they sending kids so far away from their families overseas? Why are they attacking their own children in the streets?'". Upset by the incident, Benson told author Ben Edmonds the he asked, 'What is happening here?'. While there, Benson witnessed police brutality and violence in the city's People's Park during a protest held by anti-war activists, in what was described later as 'Bloody Thursday'.
The song's inspiration came from Benson, a member of the Motown group the Four Tops, after their tour bus arrived at Berkeley on May 15, 1969. Gaye's lyrics explore themes of racism, drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. The narrative in the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. The album is a concept album, with most of its songs mixing into the next, and has been categorized as a song cycle.
It was the title track of his album What's Going On?, released in May 1971. The song marked Gaye's departure from the Motown Sound of his previous output, towards more personal material. The song was co-written by Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye, and produced by Gaye himself. Obie Benson (second from left) with The Four Tops. Here's the history of one of the most important songs of the 20th century, 50 years on:
Marvin Gaye co-wrote 'What's Going On' about the issues of the time, but little did he know that over 30 years after his death, tragically it still sounds as if it could have been written yesterday.
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