For this paper, we had to pick a song mentioned in the book“Party Music: The Inside Story fo the Black Panthers’ Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music” by Rickey Vincent. There were some songs mentioned that were very popular such as “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, but there were also songs that weren’t as popular but from artists that were also well known. Our assignment was to choose a song and write an analysis on it, talking about the history of the song itself, like who wrote and produced it, and to also talk about the meaning behind the song. All of the songs in this book had to do with African-American oppression in some way, and their fight for equality.

The song I chose was “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. This song stood out to me because Marvin Gaye is a well known artist, but this song isn’t played as much as his other hits. I liked this song because of its soulful lyricism and the deep meaning behind it. After researching for this paper, I learned so many things about not only Marvin Gaye, but more about what was going on during the time this song was written in the 1970’s. This song put me in the shoes of someone who is facing a struggle I could never imagine. While writing the analysis of this song, I had it playing in the background constantly. With every repetition I caught on to lyrics I missed the previous times. I found myself with tears in my eyes from feeling the hurt that Marvin Gaye was expressing in this song. The messages told in this song form the seventies are still relatable today.