"Come Live with Me Angel" (sometimes written "Come Live with Me, Angel") is a smooth soul song by soul singer

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. The song was co-written by singer-songwriter

Leon Ware Leon Ware (February 16, 1940 – February 23, 2017) was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy ...

and lyricist Jacqueline Dalya-Hilliard for the former's album ''

Musical Massage ''Musical Massage'' is an album by Leon Ware released in 1976. This was his second solo album and his only release for Motown's Gordy Records subsidy. Background By 1975, Ware was signed to Motown as a solo artist. He started working on demos f ...

''. However, Ware gave it to Gaye as he showed interest in it, as well as the other songs Ware had written with Arthur Ross. The song first appeared on Gaye's album ''I Want You'' as the second track.

Background

Ware recorded the song with singer

Minnie Riperton Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You" and her four octave D3 to F7 coloratura soprano range. She is also widely known for her use o ...

Ritz (2003) with plans to release it as a single and include it in his second album, tentatively titled after the original name of the song, which was called "Comfort".Torres (2003) The album would later be titled ''

.'' One day, at Gaye's house, Gaye was in a room listening to music, and Ware was in a different room playing an unreleased record on his cassette tape that had three duets Ware did with Riperton. Gaye reportedly heard it through the wall and came to Ware and asked him, "What is that you’re playing?" “It’s my new album," Ware replied. Subsequently, Ware invited Gaye to listen to the record, and soon enough, the inspired Gaye convinced Ware to give him the songs for his upcoming album, promising that he would "do the whole thing," and willingly agreed. One of the songs they had listened to was the original version of "Come Live With Me, Angel".

Composition and lyrics

The song is in the key of B minor. The influences of the song derived from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

R&B/Soul Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

, which was Ware's usual songwriting style. Gaye's rendition features slightly altered lyrics by Gaye from Ware's original version. In Gaye's version, "Come Live With Me, Angel" finds Gaye serenading "Papa's lil' sweet angel," promising to understand her moods while pleading her to live with him and offers her sex "Three times a day/In all the ways, baby."

Recording

The basic track of the song was recorded for Ware, with him present in Sunset Room at Motown Recording Studios on May 23, 1975.

Overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

sessions for the rest of the instrumentation and vocals took place on June 12, July 1, and July 3, 1975. Gaye overdubbed his vocals at Marvin's Room on January 30 and February 4, 1976, replacing Ware's and Riperton's

harmony vocals Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chora ...

Releases

The song first appeared on Gaye's 1976 album ''I Want You'', released on March 16, 1976. I Want You > Overview All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved on August 29, 2008. In 1995, a re-recorded version of the song by Ware was featured on his seventh album ''Taste The Love'' as the album's opening track. In 2001, UK label

Expansion Records Expansion Records is a British record label founded by Northern Soul DJ Richard Searling and Soul Bowl owner John Anderson. In 1989, DJ Author & Journalist Ralph Tee joined the label, both he and Searling run Expansion Records. Label hist ...

made Ware's ''Musical Massage'' album available on CD for the first time. The CD included previously unreleased tracks, including the original version of "Come Live With Me, Angel".

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

then followed suit by releasing their own pressing of the album in 2003. Motown issued a

Deluxe Edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of Gaye's ''I Want You'' album in the same year, which included an unedited mix of the song that features a missing

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

section and several choruses of the trumpet solo played by Chuck Findley. Motown never issued Gaye's version of the song as a single in Gaye's lifetime. However, in 2016,

Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in the country regarding music distribution. The company is resp ...

and Captain Vinyl released "Come Live With Me, Angel" alongside

Meli'sa Morgan Joyce Melissa Morgan (usually spelled Meli'sa; born December 6, 1964) is an American R&B/Soul singer–songwriter. Morgan had a string of urban contemporary hits from the mid–1980s to the mid–1990s. Most notable include her cover version of ...

's original version of "Fool's Paradise" on

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...

exclusively to the Japanese market.

Cover versions and samples

In 1994, South African singer Audrey Motaung covered "Come Live With Me, Angel" on her album ''Colours Can't Clash.'' In 2003, Hip hop/Rap group

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released th ...

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

"Come Live With Me, Angel" on their song " Wanna Get to Know You" from their album '' Beg for Mercy.'' In 2012, American musician

Mndsgn Ringgo Ancheta, better known by his stage name Mndsgn (pronounced "mind design"), is an American record producer and singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Biography Mndsgn was born Ringgo Ancheta in San Diego, California and was rais ...

sampled "Come Live With Me, Angel" on his song "Yahlubba(nu)" from his album ''Feels.''

Personnel

Gaye's version, personnel per David Ritz and Harry Weinger.Weinger (2003) * Lead and background vocals by Marvin Gaye * Moaning and sighing vocals by Gwanda Hambrick * Instrumentation by various studio musicians, some of which include, drummer

James Gadson James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...

, bassist

Chuck Rainey Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,00 ...

, guitarist

David T. Walker David T. Walker (born June 25, 1941) is an American guitarist, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued fifteen albums in his own name. Career David T. Walker was born to ...

and trumpeter

Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities ...

* Orchestral arrangements by

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (June 14, 1932, Manhattan, New York City or possibly (unconfirmed) Winston-Salem, North Carolina – March 9, 2004, Chicago) was an American composer whose interests spanned the worlds of jazz, dance, pop, film, ...

* Rhythm arrangements by Leon Ware * Produced by Leon Ware, Hal Davis, Marvin Gaye and Berry Gordy, Jr. * Recording engineering by

Art Stewart Arthur Stewart (February 6, 1927 – November 11, 2021) was an American baseball front-office executive and scout. He began his Major League Baseball (MLB) scouting career with the New York Yankees in 1953. He later joined the Kansas City Roya ...

and Fred Ross

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

Richard Torres
(2003). ''Romantic Obsession''. ''I Want You''. Deluxe edition liner notes. UMG Recordings, Inc. Harry Weinger (2003). ''Romantic Obsession'' sidebars. "The Dance". ''I Want You''. Deluxe edition liner notes. UMG Recordings, Inc.

David Ritz David Ritz (born December 2, 1943 in New York City) is an American author. He has written novels, biographies, magazine articles, and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole. He has coauthor ...

(2003). ''I Want You''. Deluxe edition liner notes. UMG Recordings, Inc.

External links

*
Come Live With Me Angel
"on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

*
Comfort
on Discogs Marvin Gaye songs Songs written by Leon Ware 1976 songs Soul songs Jazz-funk songs