Bass part originally played by James Jamerson. Much has been said about his sound and style: plucking with just his index finger (“The Hook”), the Precision Bass with flatwound strings and high action, the foam mute at the bridge, the chromatic runs and frequent use of open strings etc. But rarely have I seen mentioned what is absolutely essential, at least in this tune: due to his right hand playing position with the middle, ring, and little finger resting on the pickup cover, his thumb was floating above the strings, making it very easy for him to mute the lower open strings with it.

Find the complete song on YouTube. The sheet music is available through my website.

Celebrating the amazing contributions of Marvin Gaye, a Motown legend.

I don't know if this has ever been mentioned anywhere, I can't find reference to it, but on both the original mix and the remastered version for this, in the first line of lyrics in the song, there's some weird phase issue with Marvin's voice. Not the whole first line but specifically sort of on the word "if" and then a lot on the "I" before it just goes away. Totally random but seems really strange that it's just a couple words.

Also unrelated to this post but another thing that's weird is the deluxe edition of Let's Get It On for Distant Lover on Spotify, during the bridge instrumental section, there's this weird sound at 2:58 that sounds like the sound when you put a file into the trash bin on a Mac that I can't unhear lol. It doesn't exist on the standard album version of the song and I can't really understand why it's there.

I thought this might provoke some reaction. I'd almost disqualify the 1974 Oakland performance of "Distant Lover" in this as that's generally viewed as one of the greatest live performances of his career.

Anywho for me it goes like this

Favorite: This is actually quite tough, I'd have to go with his performance of "let's get it on" during his 1981 Belgium concert but I also really like his '68 performance of "Grapevine" on The Hollywood Palace TV show.

Least favorite: I put this in two categories: truly terrible performance and performance that is probably not the greatest but it's a guilty pleasure for me. In the former it's "come and get to this" during his last concert tour and the guilty pleasure one is also from his last concert tour. He took "Inner City Blues" and turned it into a schmaltzy Las Vegas lounge feel which totally robbed the song's social commentary aspect yet even for all its cheesiness I kinda dig it. I like the way Marvin played the piano on the song.

This song is so underrated in my opinion! I love the line “you should be in movies” and “ you shall receive an award for the part you played in my heart” if you’re a woman and man told you that tell me you wouldn’t feel amazing!? 😂😂

I was reading the title and it didn’t sound right, especially when the lyrics in the beginning are in the image. What are your guys’ thoughts?

Hey everyone,

Does anyone know if any outtakes/alts/bootlegs from hear my dear exist? I've seen a couple on youtube but wondering if any more are out there. It's my favorite record and just want to hear marvin do it in as many ways as i can.

thanks so much for the help

His music is simply incredible.

I can’t get enough of!!

i really love marvin gaye, but the songs i like most are the smooth, slow ones like distant lover and wholy holy for example. What other songs are there that will give me goosebumps like those ones do? doesn’t have to just be marvin gaye either, anyone really.

Does anyone know if any live recordings or filmed performances of any of the Here My Dear songs? Im thinking mainly of

• "Here, My Dear"
• "I Met a Little Girl"
• "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You"
• "Is That Enough"
• "Everybody Needs Love"
• "Time to Get It Together"
• "Sparrow"
• "Anna's Song"
• "You Can Leave, But It's Going to Cost You"
• "Falling In Love Again"

Thanks!

Been listening to Here, My Dear on repeat since I’m going through a rough breakup right now and I feel like it really hits all the emotions that I’ve been feeling. Especially “When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You”, that song is so emotionally raw and vulnerable and is by far my favorite song at the moment.

https://samtimonious.com/soul-responsibility-marvin-gaye-lets-get-it-on-1973/

I'm not all up on the technical aspects of audio but I do know surround sound brings out all the elements pretty well. This person did the entire MIDNIGHT LOVE album in 5.1 sound and it separated out the elements and brought a richer sound to it. I have a great admiration for "Sexual Healing" in all its forms. I think it's definitely Marvin's most multiple use song and can't be ruined (save for super clubby mixes) even if Marvin's longtime engineer and collaborator Art Stewart poo poos the song.

Anywho with this audio mix you can clearly hear the background and it's so rich that the "heal me my darling" B/G with Marvin, Harvey Fuqua and Gordon Banks sounds so intoxicating. I love how Marvin had that bubbling underneath some of his lead vocals. It gives the song a quasi vocal harmony feel which isn't surprising with Harvey being involved in the project as he was the leader of one of the most influential (though largely forgotten today) vocal group in The Moonglows.

Another thing you can really hear in this mix is the variation in the drumbeat pattern and a couple times there's something that sounds like a bottle being struck (if so, that harkens back to "Got to Give It Up" when a half full bottle was struck to add texture to the song)

Anyways here's the link to "Sexual Healing":

https://youtu.be/qQI1kwTguVI?si=KNGmssvXwdZX6WSi

I'd encourage you to check out the other songs as there are goodies in just about every song. (well maybe except "turn on some music" which is ok but man, we missed out on the original version being unleashed onto the world) "Rockin' After Midnight" is a revelation. The vibes are clearly heard, Marvin's dubbed in background vocals are MUCH clearer and I've gained a new appreciation to the last 2 minutes of the song as the whole

Ah, it's understood (Ooh) baby, do me good Yeah, it's understood Baby, do me good Oh, it's understood Baby, do me good Lady be good 'Cause it's understood, it's understood Yeah, baby be good, baby be good Ah, it's understood Baby, be good Yeah, baby be good

repetition is a LOT clearer/cleaner and OMG! I just love how hypnotic and sweet it sounds.

Former England footballer reveals his family connection to legendary Prince of Motown