A TRIBUTE TO MARVIN GAYE
(04/02/1939 – 04/01/1984)
I could never tell you the way I felt when the news of Marvin Gaye death came to my hears, explained to me Carl MacIntosh (of Loose Ends) years ago in Paris when being said how he tended to sound like him at times. I was chillin’ home while listening to KissFM when they interrupted their programs all of a sudden, he said. It was something like 1 in the morning and it left me in real state of shock for a while which seemed like never ending. God surely remembers how he wouldn’t be the only one feeling like this…
Marvin, he was a friend of mine,
And he could sing a song,
His heart in every line,
Marvin sang of the joy and pain,
He opened up our minds,
And I still can hear him say,
Aw talk to me so you can see,
What's going on,
Say you will sing your songs,
Forevermore (evermore),
Gonna be some sweet sounds,
Coming down on the nightshift,
I bet you're singing proud,
Oh I bet you'll pull a crowd,
Gonna be a long night,
It's gonna be all right,
On the nightshift,
Oh you found another home,
I know you're not alone,
On the nightshift…
(taken from the Commodores ‘Nightshift’ on Motown)
I couldn’t exactly say where I was at this fatidic Apr.1st 1984, although I may affirm that the info came to me at about the same time, the pictures of my few transient meetings with THE soul legend coming brutally back to my mind. I guess we were somehow programmed to do so, although nothing would never be planned such as the very first time we saw each other. I mean, I didn’t have anything to do with the music business at the time apart from DJing here or there and that’s exactly what I was doin’ that night while replacing a friend of mine at some club in London when I saw him next to the booth. Man, I couldn’t believe this and the only thing I could say when realizing that this was him should have been ‘You?’, the man smoothly responding ‘Yes, myself’ with a warm smile before disappearing the minute after…
I happened to cross his path a few months later while spending a few days at friends of mine by the North Sea without the the foggiest knowledge of the man’s location. I was like watchin’ the horizon from the ‘strand’ by the beach when all of a sudden I saw him standing next to me. I guess he was like myself searching for fresh air to breathe coming from the sea and it was quite surprising to meet each other on such conditions. I then told him how much his contributions blessed my soul with my words of non English spoken raised kid at the time and he sincerly looked like touched – it’s only much later on that I would understand the situation – askin’ me in return where I did come from and what I was doin’ in Oostende. As far as he was concerned, he said to me that he was also havin’ some time by some friend of his in the area, meanwhile collecting ideas for recording some new material. I guess I was somehow too shy to ask him further details. I mean, this was none of my business, not to mention the fact that this was neither not my job at the time and this is something which he has probably appreciated as I realized later on when ending up havin’ a drink with him. This would be the very last time I saw him…
Marvin didn’t seem that much talkative, although it was obvious that his mind was full of many things. I guess he was that kind of (troubled) man you might have some understanding of while havin’ a look at his uncomparable skills as an Artist – and by this, I mean not only as a performer but also an author – and this, further more than what one might have read here or there, knowing that those are things at some time which can’t simply be fully expressed with single words.
Now with the time, I would tend to see Marvin’s existence as a line made of unceasing ups & downs purely based on emotions. And this is probably what makes his contribution so vibrant as well as it would have been the fuel of such a moody behaviour, based on contradictory feelings, not to say internal demons. A sort of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde unhidden version if you allow me the expression leading to those extremes including the ultimate one on Apr 1st 1984 which Marvin’s existence’s been made of…
Marvin, you was on friend of us… MFSB
Biography
- Marvin Gaye, My Brother by Frankie Gaye with Fred E Basten (backbeat Books, Apr. 2003)
- Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz (Da Capo Press, Sept.1991)
- Mercy, Mercy Me – The Art, Loves & Demons of Marvin Gaye by Michael Eric Dyson (Basic Civitas Books, March 2004)
INDAMIXWORLDWIDE.COM: Only the best, No time for the rest!
INTERVIEW
