Somehow, and by the grace of God, I was exposed to Marvin Gaye at an early age. I don’t think my dad had that tape in the truck – I only remember Jim Croce and the Commodores. And when I say tape, I mean 8-track… But I know we had some Marvin Gaye vinyl at the house.
I am no Marvin historian, but by 1983, Marvin already had a pretty good drug problem and his life was all about turmoil. However, he was asked to sing the National Anthem of The United States of America at the 1983 NBA All-Star game. If you have watched much of the Olympics, you’ve probably seen the Nike commercial. I submit that the Nike commercial is borderline disrespectful to Marvin’s performance that day. Take the three minutes and listen, really listen to the whole performance/song. Turn it up or put on some headphones and really listen to him, standing there with a drum machine in the background and a mic. Listen how the crowd reacts and how moved they were by his performance. Just stunning, absolutely stunning… As you probably know, Marvin was killed a year later – shot twice by his father.
And, the reason for this post – is awe and surprise. You can’t get this track on iTunes! You can sift through mountains of American Idol crap, but you can’t get this song on iTunes… The album that it is on is a partial album. Granted, it’s a four cd set, but this track is not included. WTF?
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