In honor of African-Americans who have to have the strength, perseverance, and accept the struggle of being black, this open thread will be dedicated to Trayvon Martin and the Martin Family.
Redemption Song
The song urges listeners to “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,” because “None but ourselves can free our minds”. Lines were taken from a speech given by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia during October 1937 and published in his Black Man magazine.
Makes Me Wanna Holler
What’s Going On?
The song, which focused on major seventh and minor seventh chords, and was oriented in sounds by jazz, gospel and classical music orchestration, was mainly viewed as a meditation on the troubles and problems of the world,
The song’s inspiration came from Renaldo “Obie” Benson, a member of the Motown vocal group the Four Tops, after he and the group’s tour bus arrived at Berkeley on May 15, 1969. While there, Benson witnessed police brutality and violence in the city’s People’s Park during a protest held byanti-war activists in what was hailed later as “Bloody Thursday”. Upset by the situation, Benson said to author Ben Edmonds, “I saw this and started wondering ‘what the heck was going on, what is happening here?’ One question led to another. Why are they sending kids so far away from their families overseas? Why are they attacking their own children in the streets?”
In 1970, Benson presented the untitled song to Marvin Gaye, who added a new melody and revised the song to his liking, adding in his own lyrics. Benson later said Gaye tweaked and enriched the song, “added some things that were more ghetto, more natural, which made it seem like a story than a song… we measured him for the suit and he tailored the hell out of it.” Gaye titled it “What’s Going On”. When Gaye initially thought the song’s moody feel would be appropriate to be recorded by The Originals, Benson convinced Gaye to record it as his own song.
Gaye, himself, had been inspired by social ills committed in the United States, citing the 1965 Watts riots as a turning point in his life
We Are The People Darker Than Blue
People Get Ready
Keep on Pushing