Greetings and salutations! After a busy week at work and having one of my posts backlinked by a much more reputable (and widely-read) local blog, I'm going to be spending the weekend in Detroit visiting friends. In honor of the Motor City, here's the legendary Motown artist, Marvin Gaye, and my favorite song from his seminal 1971 album, What's Going On
"What's Happenin Brother," like many of the tracks on the album, was inspired by Marvin's brother Frankie and his experiences from a 3-year tour in Vietnam. The album is told from the point of view of a returning veteran coming home to an America in the early 70's in tumult, reeling from social strife, injustice, corruption, poverty, pollution and a host of other maladies. While all the songs on the album are classics, I'm especially taken by the poignancy of "What's Happening Brother" - listen for the lyric "And tell me, friend/How in the world have you been?" - always sends chills down my spine:
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