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“What’s Going On” — Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” was released nearly 50 years ago during another time of political strife, but it could have been written yesterday.
Renaldo “Obie” Benson of The Four Tops started scoping out the idea for a song that would become “What’s Going On” after he witnessed a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War being violently broken up in Berkeley, California.
First, he took the idea to his fellow band-members. But The Four Tops, riding high in the charts at the time, were unwilling to take the commercial risk on a song with an overtly political message, and passed.
Undiscouraged, Obie Benson mentioned his idea to Motown songwriter Al Cleveland who had, among other things, written “I Second That Emotion” for Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. Between them, they worked up the song a little more, but still there were no takers.
Finally, it came across Marvin Gaye’s path who, inspired by stories of his brother’s experiences as a soldier fighting in Vietnam, altered the melody and added some lyrics of his own, making “What’s Going On” into the song we know it as today.
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother
There’s too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some loving here today
