How can we get Marvin Gaye's falsetto voice into the Smithsonian? Is there some kind of aural-hologram technology capable of this? It needs to be tangibly displayed in the greatest of museums for all who appreciate the elevation of souls.
This song was recorded in 1970 - nearly half a CENTURY ago.
And it is still 100% current.
Certain culturally-proud Americans are puffing ash from their noses in rage at Colin Kaepernick and his supporters for doing what they're doing to bring attention to police brutality. They think the protest is too disrespectful, too this, too that.
Well, maybe you should've listened to this sublimely smooth, melodic soul song from 47 years ago, saying exactly -- EXACTLY -- the same thing in the nicest, coolest way possible. Maybe then you wouldn't be dealing with African Americans kneeling during "your" anthem.
You know how many African Americans are in the military right now, fighting questionable wars for a country where their lives are still disrespected? You know how many African Americans were fighting in Vietnam during the release of this song?
"What's Going On" is still going on...
All one person wanted was for people to listen.
I'll quote lyrics for you:
"Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on"
In 1970, almost 15 years after Montgomery, picketing was still considered the "wrong way" to protest. It was too controversially assertive. It also happened to be like every other kind of peaceful protest since Ghandi, since Thoreau - a pleading attempt to get the intransigent side to talk. But they refused. They would rather ignore the issue by outraging about the method of protest.
Look at even the creation of "What's Going On." The song's first draft was written by Obie Benson of the Four Tops.
Per Wikipedia: Benson wanted to give the song to his group but the other Four Tops turned down the request. "My partners told me it was a protest song,' Benson said later, 'I said 'no man, it's a love song, about love and understanding. I'm not protesting, I want to know what's going on.'"
Benson had to bring the song to the courageous Marvin Gaye, who was in the midst of his own crisis. Marvin had come to the point where he reflected, "With the world exploding around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?" "What's Going On" was the answer. Similar to the Beatles a generation earlier, a career of writing love songs proved the perfect transition to the writing of Love songs. Love in the universal sense, in the spiritual sense.
For only love could conquer hate.
That's ideally true. And it's true in the ultimate long run.
But practically, in this case, you apparently also needed proof.
It was too easy in 1970 to disregard the claims that there was some kind of systematic abuse of power going on in American police forces. It happened in the shadows, when nobody who could do anything about it was looking. The song was a hit, a cultural landmark that said its piece with utmost clarity and radiance. But nothing changed...
Decades later, the Rodney King video still failed to convince certain culturally-proud Americans that their fellow citizens had valid claims. Still, no conversation, and absolutely still no accountability. The acquittal of those maniacal officers was a seminal moment in the fracturing of our society.
But now, we have cellphone video after cellphone video, dashcam video after dashcam video, bodycam video after bodycam video: A tidal wave of proof.
And certain culturally proud Americans still don't want to talk.
We're not stupid. It's not about the proof, or the protest.
As Bastille Day teaches us, eventually the conversation happens, one way or another.
Are we doomed to be ruined by the same type of pride?
Marvin's falsetto was so pure.
