John Cale’s favourite lyric is from a Marvin Gaye song
The Velvet Underground founder John Cale has always stayed abreast of the sonic times, never retreating to the classics as a comfort blanket for his own creation. However, one artist who has stayed with him through the decades and whom he never tires of hearing is Marvin Gaye.
Cale was in awe of the constant carousel of magnificent releases arriving out of Motown during the 1960s, and in his mind, nobody was more talented than Gaye. The late soul sensation was the jewel in the label’s crown and played a crucial role in bringing R&B to the masses. It wasn’t only his smooth voice that appealed to the Welshman, Cale also fell in love with the rich production and the sultry lyricism.
Gaye truly hit his stride in 1971 with his magnum opus, What’s Going On, and the album remains one of Cale’s all-time favourites. During an interview with Pitchfork, the former Velvet Underground musician revealed when he was 30, it was the record which soundtracked his life.
He recalled: “Anyway, the stuff coming out of Motown was the standard, just how they broke everything down: sometimes you’d have a bass, sometimes you’d have a guitar, sometimes you’d see a little phrase. When What’s Going On came out, I didn’t know how the arrangements happened, but I wanted to apply it to the artists that I was doing production for.”
It also includes the track, ‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’, which includes Cale’s favourite lyric of all time. Speaking to The Times, the Welsh artist was asked about the one lyric he wishes he had written. Cale replied: “‘Woah, ah, mercy, mercy me/ Ah, things ain’t what they used to be (ain’t what they used to be)/ Where did all the blue skies go?/ Poison is the wind that blows/ From the north and south and east/ Woah mercy, mercy me . . .'”
Furthermore, Gaye also directly influenced ‘There She Goes Again’, which appeared on The Velvet Underground & Nico. He told Uncut: “This was about the people living on 54th Street. The riff is a soul thing, Marvin Gaye’s ‘Hitch Hike’ with a nod to The Impressions. That was the easiest song of all, which came from Lou’s days writing pop at Pickwick – write in a style. Any song that came down the pipe was a jewel for us.”
For over 50 years, the music of Marvin Gaye has played a vital role in the life of John Cale, which is a testimony to the timeless nature of the back catalogue he left behind. Listen to ‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ below.
