Post by Motown Honey on Jun 11, 2008 23:05:38 GMT -5
DID WE UNDERSTAND MARVIN GAYE? by William Fredrick Cooper
(Taken from the Forthcoming Novel INCONCEIVABLE: THE DIVIDED SOUL OF RAYMOND WALLACE)
He did the best he could... But did we understand him? Taking us by the hand, we frequented his conflicting world of high spirituality and hot sex. Flying the friendly skies while mired in confusion, the splendid songs emanating from a rebellious mind touched and teased the very core of us. In life and death he was a puzzle, but we all agree that Marvin Gaye was truly unforgettable.
This enormously gifted man was a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Buried in an enigma? You could say that as well. Like Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker and Phyllis Hyman, in the battles with his demons lay the beauty of his works. A genius misunderstood.
From the early Motown days, to his duets with another talented yet tragic voice (Tammi Terrell), I appreciated his sound. His music filled with mirth and merriness, how did we know that was only surface material? How did we know that his father never loved him, and he adored his mother so much that no other woman measured up? How did we know he was labeled as effiminate in his adolescence? (Boy, don't I know that feeling all too well...sigh. ) No one could ever tell us that his vocal muscle sounded, in his own words, inadequate. Therein lies a piece of the puzzle: insecurity.
An insecurity that produced magic, for he was never satisfied with conformality. For those of us who lived through his music, perhaps in that place only reserved for his gift we can imagine this happening on June 1, 1970:
"Marvin Gaye, still mourning the death of Tammi Terrell, entering the Motown recording studio, giving everybody five on the black hand side while saying "What's going On." Turning his mourning into a powerful message, he turned a simple salutation into a whale of a song."
Then, at the demand of a studio that originally rejected this song, for ten intense days in 1971, he completed what was, in the opinion of many, the greatest R&B album ever recorded. That he failed to win a Grammy for this landmark project is the biggest travesty in popular music history. The social ills that exist today were forecast then by a prophet. Did we understand it then? Do we now? If we did, then all we would do is give each other LOVE.
(Maybe Barack Obama will play this album on January 19th, 2009... I sure hope so.)
WE SURE UNDERSTOOD HIS SEX THROUGH SONG, DIDN'T WE? My woman sure loves to ball when I say "Let's Get It On." Mmm, the thought of it makes me hard as I type this... But when I say to her "I Want You, the right way.." she rarely says no. Delightfully dancing in something deep and delicious, how many brothers asked their ladies "where did you get such sweet sugar?" when she took control of the d***? Mixing and moaning to Marvin's magical melody, we loved her, in and out, up and down, all night long, f******....having sex... and making love. Our need for sexual healing satisfied by her gripping it with pleasurable p****y muscles while purring in our ear, by daylight we finally understood. Many babies were made to the music of Mr. Gaye.
Therein lies the paradox: His musical sophistication was forged from his love of Jesus and wanting to help him find a cure to what's incurable (today's world), yet his aura was constructed in sex. Heaven and what's right battling Hell in a handbasket in such a thing of artistic beauty. Suffering while successful, the end came before we made sense of it all.
April Fool on us all.
My mother didn't fall for the joke. Remembering my brother and I bringing her the news on that tragic April day in 1984, after crying all night, she went out and purchased all his records.
Through his music, Marvin Gaye still lives, for us to understand his uniqueness in our own special way. Thank God for his greatness.
******************************************************************************************************************************************
I got this from a group I belong to, I thought yous would like to read what others think of Sir Marvin
(Taken from the Forthcoming Novel INCONCEIVABLE: THE DIVIDED SOUL OF RAYMOND WALLACE)
He did the best he could... But did we understand him? Taking us by the hand, we frequented his conflicting world of high spirituality and hot sex. Flying the friendly skies while mired in confusion, the splendid songs emanating from a rebellious mind touched and teased the very core of us. In life and death he was a puzzle, but we all agree that Marvin Gaye was truly unforgettable.
This enormously gifted man was a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Buried in an enigma? You could say that as well. Like Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker and Phyllis Hyman, in the battles with his demons lay the beauty of his works. A genius misunderstood.
From the early Motown days, to his duets with another talented yet tragic voice (Tammi Terrell), I appreciated his sound. His music filled with mirth and merriness, how did we know that was only surface material? How did we know that his father never loved him, and he adored his mother so much that no other woman measured up? How did we know he was labeled as effiminate in his adolescence? (Boy, don't I know that feeling all too well...sigh. ) No one could ever tell us that his vocal muscle sounded, in his own words, inadequate. Therein lies a piece of the puzzle: insecurity.
An insecurity that produced magic, for he was never satisfied with conformality. For those of us who lived through his music, perhaps in that place only reserved for his gift we can imagine this happening on June 1, 1970:
"Marvin Gaye, still mourning the death of Tammi Terrell, entering the Motown recording studio, giving everybody five on the black hand side while saying "What's going On." Turning his mourning into a powerful message, he turned a simple salutation into a whale of a song."
Then, at the demand of a studio that originally rejected this song, for ten intense days in 1971, he completed what was, in the opinion of many, the greatest R&B album ever recorded. That he failed to win a Grammy for this landmark project is the biggest travesty in popular music history. The social ills that exist today were forecast then by a prophet. Did we understand it then? Do we now? If we did, then all we would do is give each other LOVE.
(Maybe Barack Obama will play this album on January 19th, 2009... I sure hope so.)
WE SURE UNDERSTOOD HIS SEX THROUGH SONG, DIDN'T WE? My woman sure loves to ball when I say "Let's Get It On." Mmm, the thought of it makes me hard as I type this... But when I say to her "I Want You, the right way.." she rarely says no. Delightfully dancing in something deep and delicious, how many brothers asked their ladies "where did you get such sweet sugar?" when she took control of the d***? Mixing and moaning to Marvin's magical melody, we loved her, in and out, up and down, all night long, f******....having sex... and making love. Our need for sexual healing satisfied by her gripping it with pleasurable p****y muscles while purring in our ear, by daylight we finally understood. Many babies were made to the music of Mr. Gaye.
Therein lies the paradox: His musical sophistication was forged from his love of Jesus and wanting to help him find a cure to what's incurable (today's world), yet his aura was constructed in sex. Heaven and what's right battling Hell in a handbasket in such a thing of artistic beauty. Suffering while successful, the end came before we made sense of it all.
April Fool on us all.
My mother didn't fall for the joke. Remembering my brother and I bringing her the news on that tragic April day in 1984, after crying all night, she went out and purchased all his records.
Through his music, Marvin Gaye still lives, for us to understand his uniqueness in our own special way. Thank God for his greatness.
******************************************************************************************************************************************
I got this from a group I belong to, I thought yous would like to read what others think of Sir Marvin
Thanks!
