"You're the Man" is a song composed by 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 ...

and songwriter

Kenneth Stover Kenneth C. Stover (born August 21, 1948 in Athens, Georgia, United States – December 2010, in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American Motown songwriter, producer, and singer. He contributed background vocals on Marvin Gaye's 1971 album '' What's Going ...

and released on the

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 ...

subsidiary, Tamla, in the summer of 1972. Composed primarily on the basis of the 1972 presidential election, the song was supposedly the first release from Gaye's next album, ''You're the Man'', but the song's modest success forced Gaye to shelve the album in protest.

History

Recording

In 1972, Gaye's success with the socially conscious album '' What's Going On'' helped in pressuring Motown to give the musician more creative autonomous control of his music, leading to a $1 million deal being offered by Motown, which made him for a time, the most lucrative R&B artist ever. Gaye responded by putting himself constantly in the studio working on a multitude of projects. One of the projects was another album focusing on social matters and further into politics, which was only hinted at in ''What's Going On''. Gaye and his band, which consisted of members of

Hamilton Bohannon Hamilton Frederick Bohannon (March 7, 1942 – April 24, 2020), often credited and known professionally simply as Bohannon, was an American percussionist, band leader, songwriter, arranger, and record producer, who was one of the leading figures ...

's group, went into the studio in the spring of 1972 to record a song inspired by the political election of the year. Gaye, who was being hounded by the

federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

for failure to pay

back taxes Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or n ...

, felt that the government wasn't looking out for people's best interests and upon the election, also felt that no politician would help to ease any difficulty concerning US citizens.

Composition

"You're the Man" is a demand song in which Gaye calls out to potential candidates for president of the United States, particularly

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 pres ...

, asking them if they really have a plan to "right all the wrongs" of the past administration and bring about change. In the same breath, however, Gaye berates the political system with the line, "politics and hypocrites is turning us all into lunatics". Gaye then mockingly chants "you're the man" to the candidates. Gaye himself years later would admit that he didn't trust the government or the political system. The song is an example of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

music, a genre which Gaye started to flirt with on ''What's Going On'', particularly with the song, " Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", which features common stylistic elements with "You're the Man". Like in "Inner City Blues", Gaye performs with multi-tracked vocals, with his

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

providing the lead while his tenor provides the background vocals in three distinct ranges. One version of this song, later issued on the deluxe edition issue of ''

Let's Get It On ''Let's Get It On'' is the thirteenth studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on August 28, 1973, by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records on LP. Recording sessions for the album took pla ...

'', has Gaye singing in

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

as the lead, and adding lyrics offering up an opinion that "maybe we should have a lady president", probably a reaction to the news of

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional distr ...

running for president that year. In the final minutes of the song, Gaye not only implores the subject candidate to fight for peace but also for the decriminalization of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

, asking "what about marijuana" before saying "what about peace/peace in the land?"

Release

Gaye would say later that his view on politics ran against the views of Motown CEO

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

and that they would have "semi-violent disagreements". Gordy's response to "You're the Man" was to not promote the song, fearing a backlash against a portion of Motown's conservative fan base. Gaye in turn felt that Motown hadn't totally gotten behind the record, and as a result, shelved the rest of the album, which included compositions such as "Woman of the World", "Where Are We Going", "Piece of Clay" and "The World Is Rated X". The reaction from R&B audiences was more swift than pop audiences, reaching the top ten on the former, eventually peaking at #7 while pop audiences that received the record, pushed it up to #50 before it dropped, probably due to demand from Motown's Quality Control to drop the song from its playlist, fearing backlash. Gaye would work on more unfinished projects throughout 1972 before releasing the '' Trouble Man'' soundtrack and the following year, focused on sexuality with ''

'' abandoning his earlier social messages. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said of the song "Marvin, a proven force in the soul renaissance, shows how and why once again." Rap act

Digable Planets Digable Planets () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987. The trio is composed of rappers Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, Mariana "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira, and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving. The group is notable for their contributions to the subgenre ...

recorded the tribute song, "Marvin, You're the Man", based on this song, for the 1994 tribute album, '' Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye''.

Versions

In the years since his

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, Motown has issued "You're the Man" on several compilations. For decades, the original monophonic single and the 1974 Marvin Gaye Anthology were the only available versions. Some compilations, such as 1995's ''The Best of Marvin Gaye'' and 2001's ''The Very Best of Marvin Gaye'' include a version of this, sourced from the original 45 but with the two parts edited back together to create a single 5:47 track. The 2001 Deluxe Edition of ''

'' included two further contemporaneous versions. The so-called ''Alternate Version 1'' (7:24) is a radically remixed version of the same take as the single version, with many different instrumental and vocal overdubs and lasting about a minute and a half longer. The so-called ''Alternate Version 2'' (4:44) is a different take with quite different instrumentation and arrangement, and somewhat different lyrics. The full album was released by Motown on March 29, 2019.

Chart performance

References

{{Marvin Gaye singles 1972 songs 1972 singles Protest songs Funk songs Marvin Gaye songs Songs written by Marvin Gaye Tamla Records singles Song recordings produced by Marvin Gaye Songs against racism and xenophobia Songs about Richard Nixon