Marvin Gaye Finally Has His Own US Postal Service Stamp! I Wonder What He’d Say…

Would he ask, “What’s Goin On?” Or say, “What’s Happenin’ Brother”?  Maybe he would have suspected this day would come and say “Oh I Heard It Through The Grapevine”… followed by, “I’ll Be Doggone” upon looking at it for the first time!  ‘Did you hear you have your own postage letter stamp, Mr. Gaye!?  Naw Man, I’m “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby”.’

Or, maybe he would not like the likeness of himself and have the “Inner City Blues” (Make Me Wanna Holler)”.  And by-the-way, why didn’t they use a red wool cap on his head like on the “Lets Get It On” album cover?

Or he might say nothing much, like in “Trouble Man” or “T” Plays It Cool…

 If he went to the Post Office and tried to get a mat of them, and the postal worker at the counter didn’t recognize him and asked for “$8.18, please…”, Marvin might go, “Oh, Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)”.     

If they asked him to advertise the stamp, he could say to all of us, “Come Get To This!”, even.

He might be overjoyed and say, “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You”, Postal Service!  Marvin might view the honor with “Joy” and consider it the “Dream Of A Lifetime”. He’d say that you “Got To Give It Up” to the mail carriers and message the Postmaster General, “You’re A Wonderful One”!

 

He might suggest a “Diana & Marvin” stamp to bring the honor “All The Way Around”. “Gates” as we called him, would certainly have thought a stamp dedicated to “Save The Children” would be more appropriate.

The philosophical Marvin might reply to the interview question about how it feels to be honored with a postage stamp with, “That’s The Way Love Is”.

In his soft-spoken way he might advise, if you write a love letter with hopes of getting a little “Sexual Healing”, that you seal the deal by using his stamp on the envelope…

On behalf of Marvin, I thank the USPS Musical Stamp Director for “Your Unchanging Love”.

 

*Remember to check out my mothership blog, achilliad.wordpress.com for more general topics and opinion.  Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Valentine’s Time for Revisiting “Refections”

(Classic Holland-Dozier-Holland genius lyrics…)

I can dig it thoughout my own unrequited love story. Happy “Valentines’s Day”.

There are times in all of our lives when we need to meditate and reflect. Some now use the complicated verb “to chill” to describe the same need.   It is healthy for mind, body and soul.  I am in one of those periods now, which probably spawned my latest phantasmagoric “tune-wedgie”, “Reflections” by The Supremes.

Speaking of “soul” , that is what this music was labeled as back in the 1960s in America in Billboard magazine and on the radio..

When the record, “Reflections”, first came out in 1967, the intro sound was markedly different than their earlier, more melodious hits like the 1965 smash, “I Hear A Symphony”.  The intro was electro-spacey and Star Trek psychedelic for The Supremes, who had by then become known as Diana Ross and The Supremes.  Maybe it was at the same time that The Temptations’ “Psychedelic Shack”attacked the charts.  The sound of Motown was evolving.

Ms. Ross’ stage presence evolved as well. In the first performance below, in living “black and white” television, she was shyly portraying the song.  By the time of the next video, you can see her confidence and showmanship grow, exuding a playful and sneaky self-depricating smile that endeared generations of listeners and fans to this very day, in my opinion (IMO).

Check out, enjoy and compare these four performances:

 

and the outfit changes!

I love how Ms. Ross’s funky confindence grows into this song each time she sings it and how she seems to do the “boogaloo” between verses (a little neck movement thing and the dane of the day when you had to know how to do the latest dance in order to be hip and party hardy!) Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops did a similar jig.

This is the best one, IMO and Ms. Ross et-al get really into it as the song-story progresses!

See the confidence Ms. Ross and the ladies have in the second and third ones?  Mary, why did you hide behind her at one point? lol

Ross is so cute at 1:46 when she is into it and gives a little ad lib “Hoop!” Nice.

and this one with full French orchestra in back…Awesome.

This is Hall Of Fame and lifetime favorite music that I want to remind the world, especially the ” millennials” I worked among recently, about. History is important, whether is it conquering territory or music, the latter being much more soothing.

Always take time to “reflect” and pray because the music will heal your brain and your prayers will be answered.