Marvin gaye give it up

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This is due to the lawsuit for copyright infringement filed by Marvin’s family against the creators of “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke’s 2013 smash featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I. One listen makes it clear where the inspiration (if not more) for that 21st century recording came from. Instead, he coolly stood at the bar, greeting friends.” Suddenly, “Got To Give It Up” blasted out of the club’s sound system, “and everybody dragged Marvin to the dance floor.” Ritz continued, “Watching Marvin move, I could feel the pain of his self-consciousness.

Among those making merriment and noise, he said, was the host of TV’s Soul Train. It was particularly strange watching him mouth the words of the song which is the story – Gaye’s story – of a wallflower.”

Gaye Marvin - Got to Give It Up Lyrics

Holland, Dozier, Holland

How sweet it is to be loved by you

I needed the shelter of someone's arms and there you were

I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were

With sweet love and devotion

Deeply touching my emotion

I want to stop and thank you baby

I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you

I close my eyes at night

Wondering where would I be without you in my life

Everything I did was just a bore

Everywhere I went it seems I'd been there before

But you brighten up for me all of my days

With a love so sweet in so many ways

I want to stop and thank you baby

I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you

You were better for me than I was for myself

For me, there's you and there ain't nobody else

I want to stop and thank you baby

I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you

Got to Give It Up

Recording History

"Got to Give It Up" was initially a song titled "Dancing Lady," performed during Marvin Gaye's live concerts.

Thicke and Pharrell Williams were taken to court by the Gaye estate and ordered to pay nearly $5 million in damages in 2018.

Song Legacy

Even after decades since its release, the song is frequently played in various venues and is recurrently used in commercials and films. In the United States, it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and held that spot for a week.

“Marvin and his drummer Bugsy Wilcox had been fooling around on this groove at Marvin’s studio – just keyboard and drums,” Stewart told Harry Weinger, who supervised the reissued, upgraded version of the double album in 1999. The second part is an instrumental continuation of the first, something that was unusual for pop songs of the time.

Song Content

Marvin Gaye played multiple instruments in the recording of this song, including keyboards and percussion.

Marvin had performed the sellout U.K. show in early October ’76; Motown had recorded it for release, intending a single LP. Gaye insisted that this was to be a double album – but there wasn’t enough live material from the Palladium concert for that.

Consequently, to fill the fourth side of vinyl, the star worked on a new song with Motown engineer/producer Art Stewart, a colleague for several years.

The studio version wasn't made until 1976.

Album Inclusion

Despite being recorded in a live setting, "Got to Give It Up" was debuted in Gaye's first-ever live album, "Live at the London Palladium," in 1977.

Chart Performance

The song was an enormous hit in multiple countries.

Naturally graceful, he felt awkward as he barely lifted his arms and feet. Despite his initial reluctance, the song eventually became one of the biggest hits of his career.

Song Structure

The song is unique in structure. I knew we had a number one record from jump street. A noteworthy example is Robin Thicke’s 2013 hit song "Blurred Lines," which was accused of copying the sound of Gaye's song.

Some years before, Aaliyah had done a straight cover of “Got To Give It Up,” albeit taken at a slightly slower tempo. Some were straight interpretations, including instrumental versions by saxmen David Sanborn and Pharaoh Sanders, while others were built on samples, especially drawing on the rhythmic components of the original. It was also a Top 10 single in the U.K., while Live At The London Palladium was the second-highest charting album of Marvin’s career in the U.S., a Top 3 entry during 1977.

More unusual was a version sung in Portuguese (and entitled “Fuzuê”) by Sandra de Sa, part of her Motown tribute album, Pare, Olhe, Escute (Stop, Look, Listen) in 2002.

In Divided Soul, David Ritz recalled a night two years after the release of “Got To Give It Up” when he, Gaye and several friends were at a San Francisco disco. Playing “milk bottle and spoon” was Frankie Beverly, from another popular, non-Motown band, Maze.

“I left the mics open to give it a live flavour,” added Stewart. “Motown was screaming disco at me,” he told his Divided Soul biographer, David Ritz. “Disco disco disco disco! Still, the success of the song helped him regain some financial stability.

I couldn’t be bothered. So, two years later, a federal jury awarded more than $7 million to the late Motown superstar’s children for the infringement, and the case has become a marker and encouragement for others who have, in their view, suffered similar plagiarism.

The irony is that, in 1976, Gaye was not enthusiastic about making such a piece of music in the first place.

On background vocals were Gaye’s wife Jan and brother Frankie.