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Introduction

When I first heard the song in the summer of 1995, I wanted to understand the inspiration or challenges that led to its composition. It was a masterpiece that was a true reflection of the proverbial challenge which turned into an opportunity. Actually I wish it had been born under different circumstances since it appeared out of violence from his father, the death of his partner, and casualties in the Vietnam War of 1970, not to mention the racial discrimination felt throughout America. At a personal level, I was affected by the loss of my grandfather who did not have any formal education since this was preserved for the white elite back then.

“Don't punish me with brutality” (Edmonds, 2003) and “Talk to me” (Turner, 2000), a scenario that gave him a chance to express himself in order for me to triumph despite the odds. I relate this to the apartheid in South Africa, where many perished but the rest were steadfast in their quest for freedom. Marvin Gaye and former president Nelson Mandela could share the same platform as their success emerged from the ashes of failure. Actually, several artists also rose to fame as a result of the apartheid, including Miriam Makeba and Leleti Khumalo who featured in Sarafina (Edmonds, 2003).

Thesis

In What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye addresses the issues of family strife, death, and neglect and states that love was the only answer to hatred as opposed to war. He further stresses the importance of dialogue and the benefits of shunning brutality or punishment as a remedy for wrong-doing. In an attempt to reach out to the black audience, he talks about their long hair as a tenet for uniqueness and not an ingredient for discrimination. Due to the ability to resonate with the rest of the world, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of soul music. This paper aims to prove that this thesis is true on a global level since it focussed on the lost American dream, the pathetic military plight and on the fact that Marvin Gaye is one of the greatest musicians of his time.

1. The lost American dream

Having fought in the Vietnam War in order to achieve the American dream of freedom and economic prosperity for all, he returns to an America plagued by poverty, drug abuse, police brutality, forsaken children, civil disobedience, and urban decay. On his return, he discovers that the America whose values he has been defending is plagued by poverty, police brutality, drug abuse, abandoned children, urban decay, and civil unrest. The song immediately hit the top of the 1970 billboard and stayed there for a while since it could not be compared with anything Gaye had produced or America had heard before (Turner, 2000).

2. The Pathetic Military Plight

The plight of the military was captured by his songwriter Benson Renaldo, who saw the police manhandle and arrest a group of black protestors. After some were killed in the showdown, he came up with “don’t punish me with brutality, rather talk to me” lines. It is worth noting that they had been written a few years earlier and only Gaye had the audacity to sing them. He did this amid losing his friend and partner to brain tumor. This victory was claimed at the jaws of defeat since he had decided to hang his boots unless he was accorded the freedom he deserved without having to check with the Motown authorities (Edmonds, 2003). The occasional letters from his brother in Vietnam contributed a great deal to his music since he wanted people to know what exactly was going on. Upon polishing and revising the lyrics, Gaye recorded his song in 1971 at the Hitsville in Motown, USA. This location later saw the emergence of boy bands such as Boys 2 Men, who followed in his footsteps (Turner, 2000).

3. The Greatest Musician of His Time

Apart from being a kind man, Gaye was an exceptionally talented musician. He was a skilled producer, pianist, songwriter, vocalist, and disk jockey. This is demonstrated in his later album, Sexual Healing, that he produced almost single-handedly (Edmonds, 2003). He also worked as a radio presenter in Detroit while polishing his musical skills, in 1966. In his busy schedule, he still managed to record world-class hits that we all identify with. In an attempt to compare him to the greatest musicians, it was concluded that his music stayed in the Billboard Top 100 hits longer than the songs produced by Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Rolling stones. In addition, his 1994 documentary sold over two million copies in one month. The musicians who collaborated with him also rose to great heights under his guidance. He managed to train other artists, such as the Funk Brothers, Ken Sands, Norman Whitfield, and Van Dyke (Turner, 2000).

Conclusion

With his exceptional talent and compassion to the political and cultural issues affecting America, Marvin Gaye rose to the top of his career by beating the raising issues that other artists were afraid to talk about, which made him one of the greatest musicians of his time. After a decade of hard work amid great tribulations, in the late sixties, Marvin Gaye asked himself serious questions about where the world was heading and what could be done about it in a classical masterpiece - What’s Going On (Edmonds, 2003).