The Motown songs that George Harrison adored: “All my favourite records on the jukebox”
If you look at all of the iconic artists who came from Motown Records, there is no denying that it’s one of, if not the, most important record labels to ever exist.
Berry Gordy managed to put together a label that was constantly churning out hits, essentially specialising in the kind of thing that those nearby are able to dance and move to, putting their worries behind them – if you had to describe the sound of Motown, you would describe it as the sound of community, even during a time when America was incredibly divided, and community was difficult to come by.
When he was talking about the music he made and why it was so important, Berry Gordy reflected on the unifying element of the sound. “Motown was about music for all people,” he said. “White and Black, blue and green, cops and the robbers. I was reluctant to have our music alienate anyone.”
Plenty of people agreed with Gordy’s assessment, one of the most influential of which was George Harrison. It’s no secret that Harrison wasn’t exactly short on money after the success of The Beatles, and so what’s a music-loving millionaire to buy? Well, of course, he put a jukebox in his house and filled it with his favourite songs.
“It’s so much easier to have all my favourite records on the jukebox at once,” he said. “It saves me going through piles of records to find the ones I want. Then, when I get sick of them, I just throw them out and put some new ones in.”
There was a healthy mix of music on Harrison’s jukebox, but two of the artists who appeared more than once were legendary Motown signings. The first was The Miracles and the second was Marvin Gaye, both of whom were able to channel that connection which Berry Gordy referred to when talking about what Motown was capable of bringing listeners. No doubt Harrison will have been a fan of more songs from the label than just the four that appeared here, but these are some of his highlights.
The two by The Miracles were ‘My Girl Has Gone’ and ‘The Tracks of My Tears’. The latter is a great example of how effectively The Miracles could make sad music that you could dance to. They were effectively The Smiths before The Smiths were a thing, as they could take these sad themes surrounding someone pretending to be happy when they’re sad, but channel it into music which was undoubtedly pretty happy.
Perhaps one of the most famous Motown signings was Marvin Gaye, who put out plenty of music that George Harrison liked, but two of his favourite songs were ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ and ‘Pretty Little Baby’. The former was released in 1965 and saw Gaye sing about what it is like to be in a painful relationship. His voice was perfect for this kind of song, as he was able to well and truly inject emotion into every word he sang.
This was a style of music that inspired community, and one of the many members of said community was George Harrison. While he liked a lot of the music which came from the label, the four songs which well and truly sat with him were those above by Marvin Gaye and The Miracles.
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