[1960-1969 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1969, #88
I was listening to Marvin Gaye's I Heard It Through The Grapevine, trying to figure out what was so special about it. Gladys Knight and the Pips had a hit with the same song in 1968 - reaching #1, but Gaye's rendition made it his song above all others.
The best answer I could come up with is that Marvin's voice plays like an instrument: specifically, a saxophone. The raspy, higher pitch was the idea of his producer Norman Whitfield, and Gaye didn't like the idea at the time. But it works: listen, and imagine a saxophone, tuning out the words. You can hear the higher and the lower ranges bend the notes and make that vibrato sound. Nowadays, they use computerized sound techniques to achieve similar effects.
Beyond the technical, Marvin Gaye sings from the heart. Like a great actor, you forget you're hearing a performance, and instead hear and feel the character, identifying with him on a personal level.
It's so good, you won't even mind getting your heart broken by it.
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