Just finished David Ritz's book abt Marvin Gaye, Divided Life. Someone had to tell the story this way: a starbio recipe for Teacake. It's a tasty story. There are morsels of source material, special selections from what must be hour after hour of rolling tape conversation b/t the author and his hero.
But there has to be a another way, too.*
So we'll be waiting on the mail for Mercy, Mercy Me: the Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye by Michael Eric Dyson, hoping that he's found a way to write about someone whose records are greater than the sum of his contradictions.
In the mean time, I'll be starting a string of posts that exploit Marvin's contradictions without trying to resolve them into a narrative. It's 'cause Marvin's all over the place and cannot be confined. All I'll do is leave a small pile of blue stones for him.
Let me drop the first stone, then. Not sure Marvin's on the track, but its in the pile for the reals.
- The Moonglows, "The Ten Commandments of Love"
So come to me when I am lonely
Kiss me when you hold me tight
Treat me sweet and gentle
When we say good night
Oh, how happy we will be if we keep the ten commandments of love
* Just look at John Szwed's book abt Sun Ra, Space is the Place, for another way to cook up a story about a crazy man.
NB: New thread dedicated to capturing Marvin's reach (which is all over the place at once).
P E A C E
No comments:
Post a Comment