"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"

One perfect song, six exceptional versions

Rock ’n’ Roll with Me is an email newsletter presenting one or more of my favorite danceable rock ’n’ roll songs, from the sixties onwards, along with some fun facts and memories.

PLEASE hit the ‘like’ button at the bottom if you enjoy today’s post, and hit the ‘comment’ button if you have thoughts and reactions. We writers live for feedback, and it lets others know this newsletter might be worth reading.

HOT TIP: For best playing of the videos, click on the post title and open it in a separate browser window. Videos then play in the browser (not on YouTube) and you avoid the adverts.

---

Our song of the day

You can’t keep a great song down. It will find the ideal humans to realize its perfection and to channel it as a gift to the world.

Today’s song is “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and I offer six examples of how the perfect song is a gift that keeps on giving.

I could give a raft of examples, but today we are going to hear versions from the following artists: Gladys Knight and the Pips; Marvin Gaye; Tom Jones with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Paul Weller and Amy Winehouse; and Tina Turner.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the song came from the inspired hands of two Motown stalwarts — Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Barrett was the co-writer and performer of Motown’s very first hit single in 1959, “Money (That’s What I Want),” while Norman had collaborated on hits for such artists as Marvin Gaye and the Marvelettes as a member of the Motown songwriting team. Following Norman’s success co-writing and producing the Temptations’ 1966 hit single “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” he took over producing and composing duties for the group and soon formed a remarkably prolific songwriting partnership with Barrett.

During their eight-year tenure with the Temptations, this dynamic duo managed to churn out a gobsmacking string of Temptations hits, including “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next to You”, “Ball of Confusion,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me),” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” as well as hits for other artists, such as Edwin Starr’s “War,” Marvin Gaye’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” and, of course, our song of the day, which was recorded by four different Motown acts and went all the way to number one for two of them. Not surprisingly, Norman and Barrett were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.

Gladys Knight and the Pips were the first to release a single of the song, in September 1967, although not the first to record it. (The Miracles and Marvin Gaye versions were recorded earlier but would be released the following year.) After hearing Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” Norman decided he wanted to produce a song that would “out-funk” Aretha. I don’t know if that’s even possible, Aretha being Aretha, but this was one heck of a good try as this version went to the top of the charts, stayed in the top 10 of the Hot 100 for almost two months, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018. Here’s Gladys and the Pips — Merald “Bubba” Knight, William Guest, and Edward Patten — performing the song on The Midnight Special in 1973. I dare you to stay sitting during this performance!

The most iconic version, and the one most people will recognize, is Marvin Gaye’s. Released as the fourth song on his In the Groove album, it got so much radio play that Motown was forced to release it as a single two months later, in October 1968. It stayed at the top of both the Billboard Pop Singles and the R&B charts for seven straight weeks, was inducted for its “historical, artistic and significant” value into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and was ranked number 80 in Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Although I love the recorded version, I think you’ll enjoy this live concert version in which Marvin sets the scene for the song with a phone call onstage — and then sings his heart out:

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles were the first to record the song, in August 1966, but their version was not released until 1968 as the first song on side two of their Special Occasion album. Motown boss Berry Gordy had not considered it strong enough to put out as a single. I was happy to see that the group still got the chance to perform it, as they do below with Tom Jones on his This Is Tom Jones TV show in February 1970. I think Tom and Smokey are wonderful complements to one another in both voice and style, and they seem to be having a lot of fun:

Of course, the best songs cross genres, and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is no exception. Rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival included an 11-minute cover jam in their 1970 commercially and critically successful Cosmo’s Factory album, which was later edited into a single and became a minor hit in 1976. The band disbanded in 1972, which seems such a shame when you hear their unique sound and see their joie de vivre in this performance:

I didn’t know that phenomenal singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse and rocker/soul singer Paul Weller had performed the song together on Jool’s Annual Hootenanny in 2006 until I ran across a video of it on Nic Briscoe’s post about Amy Winehouse yesterday. (I highly recommend Nic’s substack here.) It was a surprise pairing that, like that of Tom Jones and Smokey Robinson, seems like it might not work but then turns out to be a real treat, especially with back-up singers, an orchestra and, of course, Jools on piano.

Last but never least, we have the incomparable Miss Tina Turner performing the song on her Twenty Four Seven Millenium Tour in 2000. If there’s one thing you can say about Tina, she always put on a phenomenal show. If I could turn back time, I would beg, borrow, and steal to get tickets to this. In one word — wowza.

Some fun facts

• Are you kidding? I’m exhausted from writing and dancing. That’s it for today. See you in the next post.

Questions for discussion in the comments

1. Which version is your favorite, and why?

2. If you could be a Pip, a Miracle, or a backup singer and dancer with Tina, which would you be?

3. If you did a cover of the song, what genre/subgenre would you choose? (Don’t say karaoke! That’s not a genre.)

4. Should we all dress like pop stars in real life? Wouldn’t that be more fun?

5. Any other musings, mumblings, misguided ramblings?