I Want to Come Home for Christmas

Annotation

As discussed above, Marvin Gaye, born in Washington D.C. (2 April 1939), helped shape the sound of the Detroit-based Motown Records in the 1960s, and thus he became one of the most influential soul singers of the era. In the early 1970s with the album What's Going On, which included the Vietnam War songs "What's Happening Brother" and "What's Going On", he worked on his own production, breaking away from the Motown team. It introduced the concept album to R&B, while it contained innovative music, using gospel, jazz, soul, and classical orchestration, as the songs flowed seamlessly together. Note that Gaye also released the Vietnam-related song Soldier's Plea (1962). In 1972 Marvin Gaye and Forest Hairston wrote the wonderful song "I Want to Come Home for Christmas". Originally intended for release as a single on Tamla Records # 54229, backed by the song "Christmas in the City", Motown cancelled it. The song only appeared on a handful of compilations, such as Christmas in the City. It is written from the point of view of a 'prisoner of war' (P.O.W.) - military classification for those held captive in Vietnam, also having the status of 'missing in action' (M.I.A.). The US government…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Born 2 April 1939, Washington, DC, USA. Died 1 April 1984, Los Angeles, California, USA

Themes

Christmas · P.O.W. · Soldier's Perspective · Anti-War

In collections

Christmas Songs · P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs