‘What’s Going On’: The power of Marvin Gaye’s missing question mark
Every artist has creative license to do whatever they want regarding lyrics. No matter how much the audience might think that a tune means one thing, the only person who truly knows the meaning behind every line is the person who wrote it, and it’s their call whether they keep things close to the chest or give smokescreen answers to what their masterpieces actually mean. Although Marvin Gaye was known for making the kind of soulful jams that made Motown one of the biggest labels in the world, ‘What’s Going On’ became one of the most important political statements without changing any of the words.
In a perfect world, Berry Gordy could have expected Gaye to be making the same R&B tunes until the sun burned out of the sky. He was already the poster child for what their brand of singers were supposed to be, and even though he started off as a drummer, ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ showed the world the pure heartache that he had in his voice.
But failed relationships and two-timing girlfriends were far from the only thing going on then. The world had become a much darker place in the wake of the Vietnam War, and with only years removed from the March on Washington in 1963, Gaye was still seeing many black people getting treated like dirt for no good reason.
So when he decided to make ‘What’s Going On’, it was practically a cry for help. On every line, Gaye is pleading for some peace and for everyone to see the raw pain and hurt that they are bringing into the world by sending young men off to die. Even though Gaye asks a lot of questions throughout the tune, though, the title is not one of them.
Whereas some may look at the title as something that anyone could absent-mindedly ask one of their friends, it’s not exactly a greeting. No, Gaye is looking to open people’s eyes to what was really going on in the world, hoping that someone might hear him amid all of the gunfire happening half a world away or the internal racism still prevalent in various corners of America.
Then again, the beauty of ‘What’s Going On’ goes much deeper than the lack of punctuation. Although Gaye touches on more overt topics regarding racism in ‘Inner City Blues,’ ‘What’s Going On’ is perfect in how it doesn’t overtly say what he’s so concerned about. When he sings about too many mothers crying and too many brothers dying, he could easily be talking about people coming home from war in body bags or people in the city who are getting profiled based on the colour of their skin.
And considering the amount of internal strife going on right now most could afford to take a few cues from Gaye’s words. It’s so easy for people to talk about the idea of peace and love as a stale hippie proverb, but outside of the Flower Power reputation, it’s much more important for people to look at the world they live in and see if it’s the life that they want for the next generation coming up.
Although some passive listeners don’t listen past the title, ‘What’s Going On’ is not a song about asking what’s happening among friends. Gaye does ask a lot of questions that don’t seem to have clear answers, but whenever he gets around to that chorus, all he’s asking is for all of us to take a broader look at the world.
