I Heard It Through the Grapevine
I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Eng. "It came to my ears", "I heard [the rumor]") is a 1966 rhythm and blues - and soul song, composed by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong was written and developed in two versions to a million seller within the same record company.
History of origin
The Whitfield / Strong team of authors was supposed to close the creative gap left by the successful trio Holland-Dozier-Holland after leaving the Motown Corporation for process-related reasons . The record company accused the trio of writing no more songs since December 1967 and therefore sued the team on August 29, 1968 for breach of contract. Whitfield / Strong were already in the founding phase of the Motown corporation as employed writers or performers on the payroll. Whitfield delivered his first composition in November 1962, the first hit composition followed in May 1963. Both composers had worked with different partners until 1966, Whitfield with Eddie Holland, Strong with William Stevenson. I Heard It Through the Grapevine is considered the second song on which Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong worked together. Obviously for the first time both collaborated on Too Busy Thinking About My Baby , the original of which appeared in June 1966 on the Temptations LP Gettin 'Ready .
Chronology of the versions
The question of which title of I Heard It Through the Grapevine is considered the original and which is the cover version can only be answered according to the recording date.
Miracles
The original of I Heard It Through the Grapevine was recorded on August 16, 1966 with Smokey Robinson & the Miracles . The text about the rumors of a betrayed love affair reflects the personal experiences of the author Barrett Strong and fits into the relationship-oriented text concept of the Motown group. I Heard It Through the Grapevine means something like It came to my ears. However, the quality control that took place on Friday showed that the original of the Miracles was not marketable and accordingly it was not published. The title remained unpublished in the archives for over 32 years and was only brought onto the market in the course of the publication of rare titles. That is the reason why the Miracles are rarely mentioned as original interpreters in the specialist literature.
Gladys Knight & The Pips
Then, on April 10, 1967, the first cover version was created with Marvin Gaye , but it was only released on October 30, 1968 with a considerable delay. Gladys Knight & the Pips were only in recording studios on June 17, 1967, two months after Marvin Gaye. However, the version of Gladys Knight was released as the first version of the song on September 28, 1967, a year earlier than Marvin Gaye's version of the song. Gladys Knights' version initially sold 1.5 million copies, with 2 million sold by 1969. Rhythmically, only Knight's version is an up-tempo song.
Marvin Gaye
The request for a more timely release of the version by Marvin Gaye was strictly rejected by label owner Berry Gordy due to the continued success of the Knight version despite the completely different arrangement. That was the reason for the long archiving of this version, which after publication on October 30, 1968 also became a million seller and sold three million copies by the beginning of 1969. Experts were surprised that Motown released the Gaye version relatively quickly after the Knight version reached second place on the pop hit parade on December 16, 1967.
The unusual intro presents an obsessive, repetitive electric piano figure, which is accompanied by a rattlesnake-like sounding tambourine . Whitfield's masterly production work also includes violin arpeggios . All three Funk Brothers drummers took part in Gaye's recording , namely Benny Benjamin , Richard Allen and Uriel Jones . At first, the text makes it probable that Gaye does not enter into a confrontation with his cheating partner, but that he only imagines this confrontation; In the middle part, shame and humiliation overwhelmed him and lead to the accusation that he would have liked to have learned the facts from his partner directly and not through other rumors. At the end you learn that she has not only left him, but is leaving with his successor. In Knight's version, neither the rumors nor the grief seemed to matter much. All three versions were instrumented by the Funk Brothers .
Analysis of the chronology
The chronological sequence of the recording and publication dates shows that the original is from the Miracles, but was not published in time. The second recording was made by Marvin Gaye, but remained in the archives for 1 ½ years. The third recording with Gladys Knight, on the other hand, was released three months after the recording session as the first of all previous versions, so that the public had to give the impression that it was the original. This also led to confusion in the specialist literature, which sometimes assumes that Gaye recorded the title as the original and that his version was the first to fail quality control. Rather, the Miracles were the first to not pass quality control, because their original was initially not published at all.
Statistics and cover versions
I Heard It Through the Grapevine is the only title for the Motown group that achieved million seller status in two versions. This made him a milestone in the record history of the Motown group. It is also the only song that took first place in the Billboard charts three times, namely with Gladys Knight (6 weeks in the R&B charts, number 2 in the pop charts), Marvin Gaye (7 weeks each in R&B - and the pop charts) and the electro- funk musician Roger Troutman in August 1981 (two weeks in the R&B charts).
I Heard It Through the Grapevine was covered many times over the following decades. Among others by the Temptations (1969) or Ike & Tina Turner (1969). Creedence Clearwater Revival released a cover version on July 25, 1970, but reached the charts as little as Undisputed Truth in July 1971. This was followed by the Average White Band (1976), Joe Cocker (1978) and the Slits (1979), the Flying Pickets (1984), Tuxedomoon (1987), the Soultans (1996), Brandy (2004), the Kaiser Chiefs (2005) and Amy Winehouse in a duet with Paul Weller (2006). On February 17, 2012, Sarah Connor sang the song at the ultimate chart show , which has since been part of her repertoire in live performances.
In 2005, Stefan Gwildis published a German version with the title That Can't Be Serious . An Austrian Austropop version was published by Ostbahnkurti in 1984 ; the song is called Wo Hamma Denn Den Fahrschein , but it deals with fare dodging and only uses the melody. BMI lists a total of 31 versions, the title received a BMI award.
There is no reliable evidence to support the claim that the Isley Brothers also recorded a version of this while at Motown. Even Bronson cannot prove that the Isley Brothers recorded their version after the Miracles, but that it is still hidden in the archives.
The version of the song by Marvin Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Rolling Stone chose I Heard It Through the Grapevine in 2005 at number 80 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time .
Web links
- I Heard It Through the Grapevine . Lyrics on lyricsdepot.com .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerald Posner: Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power. 2005, p. 206
- ↑ Gerald Posner: Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power. 2005, p. 224
- ↑ Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. 1985, p. 249
- ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records. 1985, p. 244
- ↑ Gerald Posner: Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power. 2005, p. 224
- ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records. 1985, p. 262
- ^ Only the CD The Ultimate Rarities Collection 1: Motown Sings Motown Treasures from September 22, 1998 transported the original of the Miracles to the public
- ↑ Gordy initially only allowed the publication on the Gaye album In the Groove , which appeared on August 26, 1968
- ↑ Gerald Posner: Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power. 2005, p. 224
- ↑ Sarah Connor with I Heard It Through The Grapevine
- ^ I Heard It Through the Grapevine . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Broadcast Music Incorporated
- ↑ Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. 1985, p. 249
