Soldier's Plea

Annotation

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 contained several Vietnam War and Civil Rights references, 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. Also note that in 1972 Gaye recorded the song "I Want to Come Home for Christmas" about a Vietnam P.O.W., which took an anti-war perspective. Released on 8 May 1962, the song "Soldier's Plea" (Tamla Records # 54063) featured as the first single taken from Gaye's second album That Stubborn Kinda' Fellow. Coming so soon after the major chart success of The Shirelles' "Soldier Boy", this has largely been considered either an answer record - from the perspective of the soldier, rather than the sweetheart back home - or an attempt to cash in and reach the charts on the back of The Shirelles' hit. If so, it failed, as this single did not chart. Some also viewed this record as an answer to The Supremes' "Your Heart Belongs to Me", released on the same day, and same record label. This song does not mention Vietnam, and maybe it is too early to be specifically about that conflict, although undoubtedly attention on Vietnam grew during this period. This is another example of an early Motown Records political release. The lyrics started with a patriotic message, with the soldier saying that "I'm over here fighting to keep us free" and "we all must do our share" - very different from Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On about the hell of war and mistreatment of veterans, and thus an excellent representation of how views on the war changed over a period of ten years, from 1962 to 1971. The song then continued with the story of a soldier missing his girlfriend.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

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, 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. Also note that in 1972 Gaye recorded the song "I Want to Come Home for Christmas" about a Vietnam P.O.W., which took an anti-war perspective. Released on 8 May 1962, the song "Soldier's Plea" (Tamla Records # 54063) featured as the first single taken from Gaye's second album That Stubborn Kinda' Fellow. Coming so soon after the major chart success of The Shirelles' "Soldier Boy", this has largely been considered either an answer record - from the perspective of the soldier, rather than the sweetheart back home - or an attempt to cash in and reach the charts on the back of The Shirelles' hit. If so, it failed, as this single did not chart. Some also viewed this record as an answer to The Supremes' "Your Heart Belongs to Me", released on the same day, and same record label. This song does not mention Vietnam, and maybe it is too early to be specifically about that conflict, although undoubtedly attention on Vietnam grew during this period. This is another example of an early Motown Records political release. The lyrics started with a patriotic message, with the soldier saying that "I'm over here fighting to keep us free" and "we all must do our share" - very different from Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On about the hell of war and mistreatment of veterans, and thus an excellent representation of how views on the war changed over a period of ten years, from 1962 to 1971. The song then continued with the story of a soldier missing his girlfriend.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: While I'm away darling I hope you'll think of me / Remember I'm over here fighting to keep us free / Just be my little girl and always be true / And I'll be a faithful soldier boy to you / They say I'm now a man and by god it's hard / But I don't think I'll make it dear, if you don't play your part... / We all must do our share... / The only thing that is grieving me is leaving you

Notes

Tamla 54063, yellow globe label, "Tamla Records, Detroit, Michigan", matrix ZTSC 82821 / DM-V 004101, stamped "D.J. Copy"; "Soldier's Plea" (Stevenson, Gordy & Williams), 2:25, Jobete-BMI; produced by Stevenson & Williams; vocal accompaniment by the Love-Tones. [From the record sleeve and labels] Label (the collection's copy, stamped "D.J. Copy"): Tamla 54063 (ZTSC 82821), Jobete – BMI, DM-V 004101; label time 2:25; produced by Stevenson & Williams; vocal accompaniment by the Love-Tones. [From the record label]

About the artist

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

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Patriotic

In collections

Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years] · US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years]