November 1,2007
Adam Weinstein
EN 101
In Marvin Gaye’s, 1971 hit song, “What’s Going On” a huge message is being displayed. During the song’s release, one the longest and most controversial wars was occurring: The Vietnam War. “What’s Going On” was a song meant to tell the world, Marvin Gaye’s view against it. Gaye was known as somewhat of a “hippie” and was speaking for him and most of his fans that were categorized as “hippies” as well. This song was released to make a statement, a statement against the war, in line 5, he says, “There's far too many of you dying”(Marvin Gaye) because Gaye believed too many people were dying for a cause that did not exist. He also believed his views along with many others weren’t taken seriously due to their lifestyle and the way the dressed, because he says in line 25, “but who are they to judge us, simply because our hair is long”(Marvin Gaye). In the chorus, Gaye also talks about letting protesters be given a chance to be heard and not punished, saying, “picket lines and picket signs, don’t punish me with brutality”(Marvin Gaye). “Picket lines and picket signs” signify the protesters against the war and “don’t punish me with brutality” means not to punish them by attacking and terrorizing them. This song was written to tell the government the war is wrong and there are more peaceful ways to solve a problem.
“What’s Going On” is an extremely powerful song and Marvin structures it quite well. Each verse displays a reason why fighting is not the answer to the conflict, such as the first verse saying, “there’s far too many of you dying”(Marvin Gaye) and the second verse saying, “for only love can conquer hate”(Marvin Gaye). These lines support Gaye’s views that war is not the answer. While the chorus, just shows Marvin’s view of the war being pure chaos, repeating, “what’s going on, what’s going on”(Marvin Gaye). These few words are meant to trigger ones mind and make one question if the war really should be happening. By repeating these few words, the question sticks in the mind, and truly makes one think about the situation more and more. Gaye’s goal for writing, “What’s Going On” was to let the United States here the other views of the country in a peaceful matter and to try to make the government know that war is not the way to go, it never solves anything.
Marvin Gaye does a great job of revealing his views without totally slandering the other sides. His message is displayed very peacefully without any aggression towards those who oppose. There is not one awful lyric written in the whole song about those who believe war is the answer. Marvin also does a great job making the song catchy, to where most of the public would listen, therefore singing along to his views and spreading the word. Making the song “catchy” gives a bigger audience to make the song popular and to make the lyrics more powerful. One thing Gaye should have done differently is making the song longer and expressing more cases as to why war would not solve the conflict. With more examples of peace being the answer, Gaye could make an even better argument.
After this song was released it took four more years for the war to be totally over, telling us that the song might have been effective but not as much too stop the war. Although the song didn’t completely stop the war at once, Gaye’s views were heard around the world due to his popularity as a musician, but the lyrics truly could relate to everyone in the United States. Gaye uses, “mother, mother” to imply that anyone’s child could be sent to war and could be at risk of dying. This makes the song a lot more effective. Mother’s who probably were not huge fans of Gaye, were realizing that this war could kill their sons, and for what cause? Gaye’s intentions were to open the country eye’s up using lyrics to relate to every American citizen and letting the country know everyone could be effected by the war, at some time or another. Using the lyrics to relate to every American citizen makes the song incredibly more effective. If everyone knows they can be effected more and more people start caring and more start acting and pursuing ways to stop war and violence. Gaye succeeded. Even though the war still went on, the song made people think about what really is going on, and people who didn’t care at all started caring and even some who were pro war were changed by this one song. To conclude, Marvin Gaye was a genius and through song and lyric he made one of the most important and influential political stands in history to date.
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