Marvin Gaye

[desdemona]

New biography explores singer's 'Art, Loves & Demons'

Marvin Gaye's voice was a remarkably versatile instrument, sometimes gossamer, sometimes guttural, always expressive and emotional.

It could sound angrily bereft ("I Heard It Through the Grapevine"), fatalistic ("That's the Way Love Is"), rapturous ("You're All I Need to Get By"), carefree ("Too Busy Thinking About My Baby"), sadly perplexed ("What's Going On"), cold-hearted ("The End of Our Road") and -- perhaps most famously -- meltingly, yearningly erotic, as on one of the most celebrated love-man songs ever, "Let's Get It On."

Away from the voice, there was the face, handsome and matinee-idol smooth, and the sheer talent. Gaye was a fine drummer, a terrific pianist and a natural arranger, multiplying his vocals to summon forth the doo-wop bands and gospel choirs of his youth. His vocal mannerisms have been widely influential: Listen to a Michael Jackson "hooo!" and you're hearing Marvin Gaye.

And yet, as Michael Eric Dyson observes in his new biography, "Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves & Demons of Marvin Gaye" (Basic Books) -- or, as Dyson calls it, a "work of bio-criticism" -- Gaye was a troubled man.

His father, a Pentecostal preacher, beat him; an uncle sodomized him, according to the book; he had two messy marriages and lost his great singing partner (and romantic interest, according to Dyson's sources), Tammi Terrell, to a brain tumor; and he was forever torn between sex and God, a duality that emerged triumphantly in his music but sent the singer into a maelstrom of drug abuse.

He was a flawed genius.

read the article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/0...gaye/index.html

Edited June 9, 2004 by method77

[desdemona]

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 - Ya

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

Father, father, 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 - Uh

Right on baby

Right on baby

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[method77]

excellent track!

[DudeAsInCool]

There are several competing projects in Hollywood based on two books, one owned by his former atty, and another owned by Berry Gordy. He was a complicated man, with alot of private demons, but ultimately transcended them in his messages to the world. Sad he was murdered by his own father. He was a brilliant singer...