By Isaiah (64.12.117.14) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 06:42 am:

It is cute, it is jazzy, and it is so Chaka Khan - but is it done in the spirit of the original version by Marvin Gaye???(smile!)

Actually, I dig the instrumentals by the Funk Brothers, as the drumming seems to give it a funkier feel, but therein lies my question... Was this song truly meant to be FUNKY??? I don't think so, because, as the Motown sound was something Marvin was attempting to escape by doing his own production, in his own voice, I don't know that funky was what he was after... That is what the spiritual message of the song seems to convey to me...

The same can be said for many of the countless remakes of other songs on that legendary album, such as Milira's version of Mercy, Mercy Me, which was extremely jazzy and funky, but which missed the point of the song, I think... I am speaking, now, about a young person who, perhaps, had never heard the original version of the song, nor had a clue of the original artistic intention... What might their idea of what is conveyed by these versions, and others, be??? Clearly the lyrics are in tact, and so is the melody, but the strong spiritual intentions of these songs, would they still resonate with that young person???

Peace!
Isaiah

By BankHouseDave (195.93.34.12) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 07:19 am:

Ho there, Isaiah. I agree with you all the way. I hated Chaka's version of the song when I first heard it. Now I find by concentrating on what the guys are doing, it is growing on me. As you know, there was an original mix of the song (and the album) that was a lot more Motown than the final release. I know we all grew up (if we grew up at all - I'm not making any claims here) with the smooth version, but I wonder whether it would have had any less impact or longevity if we'd had the 'Detroit mix' from the off.

By Uptight (69.161.239.218) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 10:30 am:

Isaiah, what's up? Chaka performed it in her own style, the way an artist should interpret a song. (I love her scatting on it.) Yet I believe she retained much of the song's original sentiment.

Dave, the "Detroit Mix" of MG's album might have had a tiny bit less of an impact. As you will remember, the released version sounds less distorted, has tighter edits and additional MG vocal overdubs. Although the "Detroit mix" is refreshing to hear now, the released LP sounds technically more up to industry standards.

By DyvaNaye (209.212.74.211) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 11:13 am:

It was a Chaka version of What's Going On....she finessed it.

By BankHouseDave (195.93.34.12) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 11:32 am:

I think you're right, Uptight.

Dyva, it's certainly true that Chaka took hold of the song and made it her own. It's one huge perfomance, but it hit me like Montserrat Cabaille singing Blowing In The Wind (no she didn't). I was a bit shell-shocked there for a while.

By motownboy (67.117.47.229) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 12:10 pm:

I like Chaka's version very much, although it did take a few spins for me to get into it. She kind of starts out a bit too mellow and detached, but when she gets to the first chorus, she jumps into the groove and never let's it go. I get goose pimples toward the last minute-and-a-half of her version.........

BTW - Montserrat Cabaille singing Blowing In The Wind, would sound like Mrs. Miller singing "The Girl From Ipanema" which she actually DID!!!

By jus4me (152.163.253.70) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 12:15 pm:

I saw her singing it on ELLEN last Friday and she tore it up. That was my first time hearing it. What cd is that on. I have to have it.

By BankHouseDave (195.93.34.12) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 02:25 pm:

Motownboy:

I count myself lucky to have missed that one.

By Uptight (69.161.239.218) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 06:43 pm:

jus4me: We forgot to mention Chaka's version is on the CD soundtrack & DVD of "Standing in The Shadows of Motown," the documentary about the Funk Brothers. Check it out.

I wish I had caught her performance on Ellen.

By NY-DELL (38.117.188.10) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 06:58 pm:

WE'RE ALWAYS GONNA HAVE ABSTRACT VOCALIST....THE SAME WAY WE HAVE ABSTRACT ARTIST....THOSE OF US THAT ARE VOCALIST AND/OR MUSICIANS SHOULD KNOW AND RESPECT THAT....I PERSONALLY CAN'T THINK OF ANY ARTIST AROUND WHO WOULD HAVE DONE IT LIKE MARVIN....REMEMBER HE HAS THE LUXURY OF DOING IT FIRST AND EVERYONE WHO DOES IT AFTER WILL FOREVER BE CRITIQUED......LET ME PLAY DEVIL'S ADVOCATE....LET'S SAY IF DAVID RUFFIN OR EVEN JEFFREY OSBORNE HAD DID IT FIRST.....WHAT WOULD PEOPLE SAY ABOUT MARVIN'S RENDITION....THERE WOULD BE PEOPLE SAYING....THEY DON'T CARE FOR HIS VERSION ?....MUSIC IS A LANGUAGE WITH MANY DIALECTS AND JUST LIKE IN EVERY DAY LIFE WE MUST LEARN TO CO-EXIST WITH THIS VAST MUSICAL DIVERSITY WE'RE BLESSED WITH.

By Don (68.77.40.21) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 10:18 pm:

Well, I think she did a very fine redition in the Standing In The Shadows Of Motown film. At times I used to think her voicing became irritating for me of how she use to mistreat the lyrics to her song. Then I realized, and it had dawned on me?
When a person who has been singing the same songs even her own, it tends for a singer to get somewhat laid back. But getting back to her rendition to Marvin's song it was A-OK. I don't think she was being cute. From a musicians point of view, people THINK she's has a MEZZMO SOPRANO VOICE.

By Uptight (69.161.239.218) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 08:23 am:

Right, Don. She wasn't trying be be cute while singing such deep lyrics. She did what any real singer should do--put herself into it, give it personal meaning, and reveal a special part of herself.

By Don (68.75.62.91) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 01:11 pm:

Thanx Uptight.

By MagyarEd (209.163.98.49) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 07:16 pm:

I didn't initially care for Chaka's renditon of "What's Going On" on the Funk's SITSOM CD & DVD.
Like BHDave and Motownboy, I came to appreciate the Funks and Chaka on this performance after listening a few times. And when Chaka and the Funks won a Grammy in 2003 for the tune, well, I sort of thought, what the heck do I know????

I don't think that Marvin intended this song to be funk.
And I don't think it was intended to be a gospel/spiritual masterpiece either.

What's Going On", in my opinion, is a social and political statement by Marvin that worked at that time.

But...what the heck do I know???

By Isaiah (205.188.117.14) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 10:41 pm:

Hey Uptight and Don, how y'all!!

Listen, apparently, I misled...(smile!) I dig the song, but like BigMoney, I thought, particularly while watching SITSOM, that Chaka was putting another kinda subliminal spin on the song... She's a great Diva, so nick-nack-patty-wack sounds great coming from her pipes... So I had to reassess for myself was it just about feeling good about a song, or respecting the the "aura" of the song, and the artist who created it...

Like I said, I don't think Marvin created the song with the intent of making folk pat their feet and rock their heads, as much as desiring to make them meditate on the issues of the world... I don't know nor do I care whether he thought he had a masterpiece on his hands... That's presumptuous, and pretentious analysis of one's art... Marvin, I think, was a deeper cat than to think like that... We, the fans and public, think on that level, but artists are trying to get in your head not knowing where that will lead, but hoping it leads you and I to the same destination their art has taken them...

Other than that, I have zero problems with Chaka Khan's rendition of Whats Going On... I am simply asking the question I asked, because it occured to me that it did not move me to that state of serious contemplation as Marvin's version still does... Now, on another note, listening to Aretha and the Sweet Inspirations version of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready, is like listening to the song and spirit Curtis Mayfield envisoned when he wrote that song... It is gospel, and it is spiritual, and the ladies do it so much justice, and bring so much ethereal substance to it, that it sounds like a sweet sermon... So NY-Dell, I fully accept an artist doing another artists songs... I would hope that they would, even in doing things their own way, capture some of the essence of what the artist was trying to convey in the first place - perhaps, take it up to another level... It seems Aretha has an incredible knack of doing that, doesn't she???(smile!) I love it, because it means the Queen truly respects subject matter of other artists songs...

Peace!
Isaiah

By Vickie (64.236.243.31) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 11:20 pm:

Chaka made that song her own...

I love it.......

By BankHouseDave (195.93.34.12) on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 04:39 am:

I think you hit the nail on the head again, Isaiah. Marvin's song was wistful, thoughtful - a lost soul asking for answers. Chaka turns it into some kind of joyous anthem. Her approach is infectious in the end. When you let it take you with it, the undertones of tragedy start to come through again. Much of this still has to do with the inspired counterpoint of Dave Van De Pitte's string part (even when played on a machine).

By Uptight (69.161.239.218) on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 05:14 am:

Thanks, Isaiah. I figured you didn't dislike Chaka's performance and were asking a general question.

btw: "What's Going On" was written by Al Cleveland, MG, and Renaldo "Obie" Benson. It is a great song to begin with. Recorded performances of this song, like the one led by Chaka Khan, are welcome renditions.

Now, when Miss Aretha recorded the song "Wholly Holy" (written by the same three guys!), she took it to a "whole" 'nother level--probably a more spiritual or gospel level than the writers envisioned. Many writers appreciate the heights a singer/artist can take their songs. Much like a good actor can take a writer's scene to a deeper level, a professional singer like her will definately enhance a song's meaning in her performance.