21st May 2011 What's Going On

Occasionally, by chance or coincidence, something I see, hear or read, would seem to urge me to write it down or write about it.

 

Last night, while I was all dressed up and with nowhere to go, because my date had phoned to say he had been delayed and wouldn't be able to pick me up for diner till an hour later, I put on an old record, one I like to listen to once in a while when I can't be bothered spending time choosing. It's Marvin Gaye's 'What's going on'.

 

This album never failed to stir up jumbled emotions in me. For 35 minutes and 38 seconds, I listened right through the 9 songs, all marvelously perfect. For the first time, I wondered when this record came out and since I still got time to spare, I consulted Internet. Here came the coincidence. 'What's going on' (without the interrogative) was first published on the 21st May 1971. That makes today it's 40th year.

 

Marvin Gaye began recording this disc some months before, when his brother came back from the Vietnam War. He instilled in all the songs his stupefied views. It's the liverish and angry gaze towards those who paid no regard to what's happening around them. The war, the ecological disasters and the social injustice are some of the themes of the lyrics, with the purpose of waking up the conscientiousness of those who listen.

 

'What's going on' first appeared as a Single, in January 1971, and was then already a success. It's also the melody that opens and closes the album where all the songs are memorable. The proof that it's one of the greats in the music history is that it's music has always been a temptation of lovers of versions. Some of the songs had been converted to hymns, like the well known 'Mercy, mercy me', or 'Save the children', which Marlena Shaw fabulously interpreted. Others are invitations for experimenting, like 'Flying high' which the Digable Planets honoured with it's Jazzy Hip-Hop. Or 'Inner City Blues' which had attracted people like Gil Scott-Heron, Etta James or Sarah Vaughan.

 

40 years today. Some would buy 'What's going on', listen to it for the 1st time, and feel these angry words talking to them with urgent force. I am afraid nothing, or very little, has changed.

 

Tags: marvingaye, yietnamwar

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