"Picket lines and picket signs, don't punish me with brutality, talk to me, so you can see, what's going on"Ten days is all it took for Marvin Gaye to record What's Going On. Ten days for an album that would have everlasting influence on how artist would address social issues in their music. The albums is sang from the perspective of Marvin Gaye's brother when returning to America. Gaye's brother was Vietnam War veteran who had exchanged letters with him during the war. However the idea for the album was inspired much earlier while Gaye was watching the Watts Riots on TV in 1965 but he dropped the idea until the Vietnam War.
In contrast to his pop hits prior Gaye takes a more soulful approach to this album. Instead of choosing to focus on dark aspects of life he chooses to appeal to people's emotions. He wants to show that we're all human and hopefully that would lead to peace. In addition to the obvious soul influence there are heavy hints at gospel throughout that reaches a peak with the song "God Is Love," which is Gaye's version of an old gospel song.
The album opens with the title track of the album and a song that went on to help define Gaye's career "What's Going On." The track discuss how the youth take a stand for an issue and are only met with resentment from both sides. There are older people from generations past telling them not stir the water and cause trouble. Then there is the opposition that meet peaceful protest with riot gear, although in 2015 we've upgraded tanks. He points out that the right thing to would just simply talk to understand what the issue is. He brings hope to the situation with "For only love can conquer hate," as well as "you know we've got to find a way, to bring some loving here today."Greeting protesters with guns and tear gas won't bring peace it'll just bring hate and escalate the situation.
"What's Happening Brother," is from the eyes of Marvin's brother Frankie who served in the Vietnam War. A soldier returns home after several years and is able to see America with fresh eyes that only lead to a barrage of questions. One of the earliest is still relevant today "are things really getting better, like the newspaper said?" Today all we hear about is this post racial America and how race relations have gotten better. But, have they really when they're still burning black churches and killing black people for being black. Have things really gotten better or have they gotten worse? The news isn't in the business for informing people anymore, it's to make money now and if that means spreading some lies, they're okay with it. Another statement that stands out in the song is "can't find no work, can't find no job, my friend, money is tighter than, it's ever been." While the recession may technically be over black communities are still hurting. Others may have recovered but there's been no help for the black community. We simply fight to survive like we always have. Sadly we sometimes succumb to the issues we fight.
Marvin Gaye in this case did succumb to the issues he was fighting. He chose drugs to escape them, if only temporarily. It's the way a lot of people escape. In the song "Flyin' High," he chose to use heroin as his escape. It's evident that he was just tired from life in the opening lines "Flying high without ever leaving the ground, rest of the folks are tired and weary." He's aware that his addiction is a problem. However he can't really fight it "So stupid minded I can't help it, so stupid minded, but I go crazy when I can't find it." He even sees the drug as end "self destruction's in my hand," he knows it's killing him but he can't seem to pull himself away. If you've ever known a drug addict you know they aren't always lucid, but when they are they want to stop because they know what they're doing is wrong. They just can't even when they know it's killing them.
The song "Save The Children," opens with Gaye asking another question "I just want to ask a question: who really cares, to save a world in despair?" The song takes aim at people who claim they want to save the world but never actually do anything to save it. He wants the world to be around for children to enjoy but doesn't see that happening. People claim they're making the world a better place but a lot of the time it seems that they're actually out to make more money for themselves. No matter how much talk they do it seems they don't really care about the future and because of that "little children today, are really going to suffer tomorrow." Gaye is just wondering who really cares about children and who is just exploiting them for their own gain.
"Right On," is a heavy funk that encourages good people to continue their work and people who are struggling to keep fighting. "For those of us who tend the sick, and heed the people's cries, let me say to you, right on," shows Marvin's respect for these people. Throughout the album he displays a disdain for people who exploit others and doesn't seem to have much hope. Here he acknowledges the good people that keep hope alive for him and many others. It only makes sense that it's the most upbeat track on the album. At the end of the song he once again promises that love is the only the conquer hate and "if you let me, I will take you to live where love is king."
The last song on the original version of the album "Inner City Blues," is Marvin's way of trying to depict the ghetto plight to those who were unaware. The song is also called "Make Me Wanna Holler," because the situation can be enough to make you yell out in frustration sometimes. The first verse talks about how for a lot of people in the ghetto our money is spent before we even get it. We already know where every dollar is going before the check is even written. The second one talks about how inflation and major financial changes have no effect on us but burying us further in debt. It also touches on the fact that a lot of poor black people join the military only for the government to still treat them poorly. The 4th verse acknowledges the fact that crime is rising but the bigger problem is police, "crime is increasing, trigger happy policing." While it's true that crime has increased it's due to nonviolent crime. Violent crime has actually dropped but police are killing more civilians than ever before. That's the just the world we live in even 44 years after this album was released. The song ends with the opening verse of "What's Going On," completing the loop of the album because we're simply trapped in the same cycle of violence, racism and oppression.
Gaye created an album with forced happiness. He tried to keep some of the tracks upbeat but it just didn't work. He paints a dreadful portrait where the only hope is to turn to God in vain or a needle in the vein. Gaye states God is love several times on the album but he still questions why God would let these things happen. In the end he turns to drugs but wants to stay clean to help the world. The fact that the album ends and starts with the exact same verse is also beautiful symbolism. No matter how things change it seems as if we're destined to repeat some things over and over. Throughout the album Marvin leads us through people protesting change and being ignored, they turn to drugs to cope, they want to get clean so they turn to God, they return to the old life and realize how pitiful the situation is so they return to protesting and the cycle starts again.
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