Date of Award
5-2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Music
Department
School of Music
First Advisor
Dr. Samantha Inman
Second Advisor
Dr. Stephen Lias
Third Advisor
Mr. James Adams
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Court Carney
Abstract
Marvin Gaye’s first self-produced album, What’s Going On is a timeless work in American popular music. This thesis illuminates many of the intricacies that went in to the creation of the album and discusses its relevance during the Civil Rights Movement. Chapter 1 provides a background in popular music analysis and the genre of Soul music. Chapter 2 includes a biography of Gaye and a brief history of the Detroit record label known as Motown. The collaboration of musicians and engineers at Motown, along with Gaye’s influences from his personal life and music career, had profound effects on the outcome of What’s Going On. Chapters 3 and 4 provide analyses of individual songs from the album, discussing lyrics, form, harmony, and melody. Chapter 5 discusses the album as a whole by comparing it to a song cycle.
Repository Citation
Barnhill, Jacob, "Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and the Civil Rights Movement: A History and Analysis" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 234.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/234
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
