Motown Songs You Should Know

Musicians from a golden age from the 60’s through to the 80’s still going strong today. Bringing in elements of soul, jazz, and blues not to mention some disco beats. It’s an element of music which has defined generations, has added soundtracks to life and continues to inspire musicians and fans around the world today. Even the Stranger Things cast have gotten in on the act.

Motown has done more than that, in a time of American history when civil rights were being defined for African-Americans, Motown played a key role in racially integrating popular music in America.

As the famed label hits it’s 60th anniversary, here are five of Motown tracks of all time, with some all-time favourites.

1. My Girl, The Temptations (1965)

The song was written by the famous Motown performer and songwriter, Smokey Robinson, while his band ‘The Miracles’ were touring with The Temptations.
‘My Girl’ was arranged simply to accentuate vocals and make the words easier to understand. This set the template for future Temptations releases, as they continued this trend.

The song was the first of four US #1s for the Temptations and the first #1 song for a Motown Male Vocal Group.

2. What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye (1971)

‘What’s Going On’ was written by famed songwriter Al Cleveland, member of the Four Tops Renaldo “Obie” Benson, and Marvin Gaye. This was the first time Gaye had been involved in the songwriting process.

The song was intended to make a serious political statement. At the time, the US was involved in Vietnam. The lyrics are based on stories told to Gaye by his brother who served there. The song started a series of politically themed songs from Motown staples including Stevie Wonder and The Temptations. “What’s Going On” featured on one of the first Motown albums to perform well as, usually, Motown’s success came through singles. The album focuses on social injustice in the USA and the wider world.

The song was written during a particularly difficult time in Gaye’s life; his marriage to Anna Gordy was falling apart, he was grieving the death of his singing partner Tammi Terrell who had collapsed into his arms on stage before being diagnosed with a brain tumor, drug abuse was pervading the inner city and Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy had all been gunned down. Gaye could no longer hide behind his traditional love songs.

3. Dancing in the Street, Martha & the Vandellas (1964)

Released in the summer of 1964, Dancing in the Streets immediately became a huge hit and could be heard across the USA. Although it was originally intended to be nothing more than a dance song and pop hit, the song was heard by the Civil Rights Movement and adopted as the political organisation’s anthem. This led to numerous Radio Stations banning the song from airwaves.

However, this didn’t stop the song’s popularity. Fans of the song included none other than The Rolling Stones. Their hit song Street Fighting Man was heavily influenced by the track. The lyrics “Summer’s here and the time is right/ For fighting in the street” were directly influenced by the Motown hit.

4. Heard It Through the Grapevine, Marvin Gaye (1968)

Marvin Gaye was not the first person to record the song for Motown. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles recorded it as did the Isley Brothers though neither were released. After that Gaye recorded the song. It wasn’t released initially as it was considered too bluesy and unlikely to become a hit. Eventually, the song was released by Gladys Knight & The Pips as a Gospel Rock song. After Knight’s version reached the Number 2 spot the song was added to Gaye’s album In The Groove but not as a single. Only after the album track started getting played on the radio did Motown decide to release the song as a single.

Almost a year after Knight’s version reached #2, Gaye’s Heard It Through the Grapevine stormed to #1 across the USA. The song was Motown’s longest-running #1 song until Lionel Richie & Diana Ross’ duet Endless Love. The song was #1 for seven consecutive weeks in the USA and #1 for three weeks in the UK. It was Gaye’s first #1 song and made him a star, his next #1 wasn’t until 1973 with “Let’s Get It On”.

The song was written by Barrett Strong & Norman Whitfield, credited with several hits for Motown. Classics such as; “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”, “Just My Imagination”, “War” and “Money (That’s What I Want)”. Whitfield told Gaye to sing higher than his normal range which led to his voice sounding strained, adding emotional depth to the already devastating lyrics.

5. Money (That’s What I Want), Barett Strong (1959)

Money was the first of Motown’s songs to become a hit and helped the label get started. The song reached #23 in the US Top 100 and #2 in the R&B Charts. However, it didn’t become a hit until it was rereleased by Anna Records in early 1960 which had better distribution networks than Motown at the time.

Although Strong had a very successful career as a songwriter with Motown, “Money” would be his only hit as an artist.

Motown’s famous house band, The Funk Brothers, had not been developed when “Money” was recorded. The label scrambled to create a band to flesh out the track and many of the recording musicians on the track would become mainstays of Motown. Most famously Brian Holland played drums on the recording and would become a member of the famous Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland.

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