"Far Cry" is the infamous unfinished recording that was included on 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 ...

's 1981 final Motown album, '' In Our Lifetime''. The song, essentially a funk-styled instrumental, featured a vocally conscious Gaye mouthing words while playing multiple instruments, including the drums and keyboards, on the first part of the song. The brief second half features a jazz instrumental with Gaye playing piano and drums and singing in falsetto, while his fellow instrumentalists, bassist Frank Blair and guitarist

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

, accompany him. The song's release among the eight original recordings on ''In Our Lifetime'' angered Marvin to the point where he severed ties with Motown, his home for twenty years, leaving the label for Columbia. As he told his biographer

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 ...

"I hadn't completed it....The song was in its most primitive stage. All I had was this jive vocal track, and they put it out as a finished fact. How could they embarrass me like that? I was humiliated. They also added guitar licks and bass lines. How dare they second guess my artistic decisions! Can you imagine saying to an artist, say Picasso, 'Okay, Pablo, you've been fooling with this picture long enough. We'll take your unfinished canvas and add a leg here, an arm there. You might be the artist, but you're behind schedule, so we'll finish up this painting for you. If you don't like the results, Pablo, baby, that's touch!'"Andrew Flory
"Marvin Gaye as Vocal Composer"
in Mark Stuart Spicer, John Rudolph Covach (eds), ''Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music'', University of Michigan Press, 2010, pp. 63-65.

The song was later sampled for a song by rappers

U-God Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 10, 1970), better known as U-God, is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for his deep voice and rhythmic flow tha ...

and

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

, who used parts of Gaye's vocals from the song for the single "Dance With Me" from one of his mixtapes in 2004. The re-release of ''In Our Lifetime'', includes a six-minute version of the song that includes more of the jazz segue of the song, which was cut off on the album's initial release.

Personnel

*All vocals, drums, keyboards, synthesizers and piano by Marvin Gaye *Bass by Frank Blair *Guitar by Gordon Banks

References

{{authority control 1981 songs Marvin Gaye songs Songs written by Marvin Gaye Song recordings produced by Marvin Gaye