Ten Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Vol. 5): I Heard It Through the Grapevine (#8)

Tweet

It looks like semi-smooth sailing for the rest of the winter from the doctors' perspectives. I hope and pray everyone else has that good fortune. Let's celebrate with some music! Here's another song that's such a classic tune that you might not know that version "we all know and love" was a cover version. #8: I Heard It Through the Grapevine Something got in the water in the late 60s when all these bands started recording long songs. Take, for instance, the great Creedence Clearwater Revival, who put "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" on their classic Cosmo's Factory album. Their rendition was just over eleven minutes long. The California Raisins were probably young grapes when that song started! Ah, Marvin Gaye. As my late, lamented friend, Tim Wilson, used to say, he was THE GREATEST soul singer ever. Wilson's rationale was simple: Gaye sang a song about water pollution ("Mercy Mercy Me [The Ecology]"), and, in Tim's words, "Women were taking their clothes off as fast as they could" to the song! But Marvin Gaye wasn't the first one to get the gossip. The first released recording of the song was later heard on a midnight train to Georgia. That's right, Gladys Knight and the Pips had the first released version of the tune. (I say "released version" because Picky Wedia states that the Miracles actually recorded it first, but Berry Gordy wouldn't let them release it.) If you look at these three versions -- the original Gladys Knight & the Pips funky version, the incredibly soulful Marvin Gaye classic, or the rocking jam from CCR -- you'll see that one great song can inspire a number of great interpretations. I Heard It Through the Grapevine Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong Originally recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips, 1967 Famously covered by Marvin Gaye, 1968 Also covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970 I bet you wonder (can't have a Pips song without Pips moves!!):