Marvin Gaye, Trouble Man | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 81^st edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Trouble Man” by soul icon, Marvin Gaye. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 81^st edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Trouble Man”, performed by 🎙 Marvin Gaye. 

via GIPHY

“I come up hard, baby, but now I’m cool / I didn’t make it, sugar, playing by the rules.” Woo! 🎙 Marvin Gaye = soul musician extraordinaire and icon. Even though Gaye’s life was cut tragically short in 1984, his impact on music is gigantic – LEGENDARY.  Gaye has hits in the 1960s (🎵 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”), 1970s (🎵 “Let’s Get It On”) and saw a career resurgence in the 1980s (🎵 “Sexual Healing”).  For our intents and purposes, we stick in the early 1970s – specifically 1972 – for 🎵“Trouble Man”, which graced Gaye’s original motion picture soundtrack for 💿 Trouble Man. “Trouble Man” was the main attraction from the soundtrack, and among Gaye’s 18 top 10 hits! Specifically, “Trouble Man” peaked at no. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973 – impressive!

More impressive than the charting history, of course, is this masterpiece by Marvin.  His voice is heavenly; godsent 😇. His falsetto is pure and incredibly ripe.  He doesn’t restrict himself to falsetto only.  We get his full-fledged, gritty middle register too.  One of the fine features of “Trouble Man” is the melody. It is both rhythmic and tuneful.  The most rhythmic section is the famous bridge, where Gaye’s agility is extremely impressive:

“I know some places

And I see some faces

I got good connections

They dig my directions

What people say that’s okay

They don’t bother me, no.”

Of course, lyrically, “Trouble Man” is nothing short of the vibe, particularly how the trouble man is characterized (“There’s only three things for sure / Taxes, death, and trouble, oh / This I’ve known, baby /… Ain’t gonna let it sweat me, babe.” Last but not least, the music – the production – is glorious. Gaye wrote and produced, by the way. “Trouble Man” exemplifies the classy, sophisticated, orchestrated sound of the 70s.  Piano, strings, vibraphone, saxophone, additional wind instruments… a brilliant arrangement! Furthermore, there is jazz in the mix too – WOO! 🎵 “Trouble Man” is epic to the nth degree!

via GIPHY

🎙 Marvin Gaye • 💿 Trouble Man • 🏷 Motown • 🗓 1972

Marvin Gaye, “Trouble Man”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 81 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Motown; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]