Nathan De Villa
Song Artist - History
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The original - Renaldo “Obie”, Al Cleveland and Marvin Gaye.
The original was released on January 20, 1971. The title
track of Gaye's groundbreaking 1971 Motown album What’s
Going On, and it became a crossover hit single that reached
#2 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts.
In October 2001, a group of popular recording artists under
the name "Artists Against AIDS Worldwide" released an
album containing multiple versions of "What's Going On" to
benefit AIDS programs in Africa . Jermaine Dupri and Bono
produced the radio single version, and performers
included Britney Spears, Ja Rule, Nas, Christina
Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado,Fred Durst of Limp
Bizkit, Destiny's Child, Wyclef Jean, Backstreet
Boys, Monica, Gaye's own daughter Nona, and many other
popular artists.
The song was recorded before the September 11, 2001
attacks, and it was decided afterwards that a portion of the
song's would help the American Red Cross' September 11
fund as well.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1c5b3jB1FY
“Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother…”
Lyrics
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“…Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today…”
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“…Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What's going on…”
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Powerful Line
“What’s Going On” is quite convincing because the song talks about how people
always fight, so much that it causes wars between countries nowadays. For
example this song was also dedicated to the 911 victims, and speaking of
911 the mastermind of the attack was Osama Bin Laden, and from that point
people think wrong about the middle east just because of Osama. The song
mentions how we brutalize other people and that there are too many people
judging, fighting, dying, so to stop this we should make peace. Peace is so
called “lovin” in the song.
I chose this song because…
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All Stars – What’s Going On Cover had a great meaning
AIDS situation in Africa
911 incident in New York
Tribute
(All stars) which included the top artist back in 2001
Was recommended
Bibliography
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_Going_On_(so
ng)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_Going_On
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thebigchill/whatsgoin
gon.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1c5b3jB1FY