A wise person once stated that music is the language of the soul. Music serenades me—coaxes me ever so softly to become one with the sensual melodies that soothe my raging soul. The tempo entices me as it matches the rhythm of my mind, meeting and engaging in a slow dance with another. Music excites me, and sometimes, music angers me. Music provokes me to think, to feel, to just be. Music strips me down to my bare self—exposing my vulnerabilities and truths. Then, it builds me back up, layer by layer, as I become empowered by the soul-stirring lyrics that remind me of the rich history embedded in my culture and my community.
I am reminded of love. My soul is awakened and enthralled in “soul-searchin’ storytelling” about unconditional love, beautifully centered between the margins of soul lyrics or deeply-rooted pain laced with unwavering courage and strength. I am reminded of the power embedded in music—power for change, soul revolution, empowerment and healing. Music sparks soul revolutions within me time and time again. Music reminds me of myself—a black woman being. Music calms me when my world’s storms are raging. It empowers and gives me a voice in my silence. When music is damn good and takes me there—the space where glimpses of freedom exist in the crevices—it brings me closer to divinity, my authentic self. Although Marvin Gaye passed away six years before I was born, his timeless soul music has played an instrumental role in cultivating my passion for music and soul-searchin’ storytelling.
Soul is in the music that has been an integral part of my life since I was a girl growing up in Wilcox County, Alabama, a rural area about forty-five miles outside of Montgomery.
Soul music aided in cultivating my passion for storytelling. I remember sitting on my grandmother’s front porch with wooden boards and meshed screen as she and other women relatives would hum along with Marvin Gaye’s I Want You album. The scattered oak trees in the yard would dance to the rhythm of the wind as my mind danced to the rhythm of Marvin Gaye’s feel-good and “ain’t nothing wrong with love” tunes. His music invited me into his experience.
He sang of the sweetness of being in love and being loved. My 10-year-old self would tap my feet on the wooden floorboard of my grandmother’s front porch to the sensual groove, “Come Live With Me Angel.” I watched intently as my grandmother’s eyes glimmered with vivid memory of a love that still reigned supreme in her soul. That song sweet-talked her something deep and metaphorically grabbed her by her willing hand to a sacred place in her soul’s memory; it made her remember love, pure and unconditional. My ten-year-old mind could not fathom love on that caliber, but I remembered the feeling. It became well acquainted with the soft rhythm of my heartbeat and traveled to the depths of my passionate soul and sought residence there. The feeling never left me. It transformed my world with heightened awareness. Each experience yielded inspiration. Inspiration bred unwavering passion. Passion led me to understand the power of music, more specifically soul music.
Marvin Gaye’s music remains timeless and revolutionary. I find myself continuously learning and gathering new experiences from his music as I grow older. The art of storytelling passionately deposited in his songs encouraged me to think critically about what’s going on in the world like war in America and being Black in America. Providing and promoting that level of awareness in the framework of a song awakened me. The lyrics urged me to become socially conscious. As I rhythmically bobbed my head, snapped my fingers, and tapped my feet on the wooden floorboard of my grandmother’s front porch, I became one with the music. Marvin Gaye sang to me and I became deeply engulfed in the lines of his feel-good-ain’t-nothing-wrong-with-love and socially conscious tunes.
Intensity grew over the years as my love for music and appreciation of his art became more synonymous with glimpses of freedom.
The What’s Going On album revolutionized my mind and soul. Marvin Gaye masterfully crafted this album in 1971—at the height of the Black Power movement. The significance and concept of blackness are profoundly embedded in the melodies that reflect music in the time of revolution and empowerment. The coherent messages threaded throughout the album coerced me to awaken the power that had lain dormant for years—the power of blackness and the power of being. I am reminded of my ancestors—my people who had fought courageously and defended their blackness unapologetically (and mine). I am reminded of the socioeconomic climate and disparities existing amongst black people in the inner city. Ironically, the blues comforted and gave me a voice in my quietude as Marvin Gaye paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality of being Black and surviving in this callous world.
More than 40 years later, the unified messages conveyed in Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On are more relevant than ever.
The passion and heart-wrenching pain wrapped around his vocals incite a revolution in my soul. “Save The Children” strengthens my weary spirit when living becomes limited for the black being. Police brutality is at an all-time high; blood escaping the bodies of unarmed black youth and painting the pain of the black experience on the cracked concrete for all to see. What’s Going On melodiously reverberates the significance of blackness—black lives have and always will matter. The war is raging in the communities of black folk, but Marvin Gaye extends a mellifluous reminder that there is power in unity and loving one another, more importantly, the power in loving ourselves. What’s Going On calms me when my world’s storms rage from the blatant disregard of black lives and experiences colored in blackness, truth, love, and the unwavering pursuit for freedom in all aspects.
The finger snaps gradually formed into a powerful fist in mid-air over the years when I listened to “What’s Going On.” It gathered my being and taught me the importance of being socially conscious and my inherent responsibility to promote social awareness in my community via storytelling.
In 2016, my grandmother and I sit on her front porch with wooden boards and meshed screen listening to two of the greatest albums of all time, I Want You and What’s Going On, just as we did when I was younger. However, our worlds have shifted. It is my grandmother now who watches me intently as my eyes glimmer with fervency. I am reminded of love. I am reminded of a deeply-rooted pain. I am reminded of the power of revolution, healing and liberation. I am reminded of myself. I am encouraged to just be in the soul-stirring world of Marvin Gaye’s art that he graciously entrusted with me to make my internal world and the external world better. Instead of rhythmically bobbing my head and tapping my feet on the wooden floorboard, I remained still as the soul music engulfed my being. The scattered oak trees were still now. My mind was still, too; it fathomed peace—peace that derives from music in the time of revolution and empowerment.
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