Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues."

I've always taught my kids and grandkids that history repeats it's self, always. No matter if we want to acknowledge that or not as human beings doesn't matter because it's a fact that cannot be ignored and the absolute truth I have of that is one song, "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye.

A song that so far can be dropped into any decade since it's creation and be relevant for that time and place because we are too ignorant to learn from our mistakes. For some reason we choose to keep doing the same things over and over, we cannot help ourselves and Marvin is telling us this. Now I don't claim to know why we do this or how we stop it, but I do know that we will in fact keep doing this no matter how many protests, no matter how many wars, no matter how many decades pass we cannot change because we will not allow ourselves to change, for some reason there will always be people that push the agendas of greed, racism, war and control over others. Now I hope and pray for the sake of my grandchildren and future generations that I am wrong but based on just this song alone I can see it's overwhelming truth, it's beautiful link to each time period over and over. I have awoken to this song as my morning alarm for at least the past 35 years maybe longer just to see if that particular day would be different, but alas the news has never shown me different.

Maybe the media are part of the problem as some would have you believe, but in reality you, me, we are the problem. Your T.V. has an "Off" button on it and you have the power to hit it. You also have the power to use your own brain the way it was meant to be used and decide for yourselves right and wrong, I believe we are all born with this abilty and somewhere along the line we discard it just to start taking things at face value ignoring our inner dialouge when it tells us, "This guy might be full of shit." Marvin did his best to tell you, the lyrics are all right there...

"Rockets, moon shots

Spend it on the have nots

Money, we make it

Fore we see it you take it

Inflation no chance

To increase finance

Bills pile up sky high

Send that boy off to die

Oh crime is increasing

Trigger happy policing

Panic is spreading

God knows where we're heading".

You just chose to ignore them. Or maybe you've never heard the song (and if you have'nt then you're missing out on one the greatest albums ever written. "What's Going On" 1971), and you should have a listen for yourself. Or you can just keep ignoring all the problems and keep looking at the ground as he is warning in the epic Opus that it is. As it opens with the mellow drum and piano your mind is imediatley drawn into the beautiful melody as his voice slowly comes into play. You feel the pain in his voice of witnessing first hand what people in his life have been through, loss of finances, loss of family to the Vietnam War, the brutality of Police, it's heart wrenching and eye opening. Only a few people have ever possesed the ability to put their own emotions directly into us through song, and Marvin accomplished this beautifully and directly with a no nonsense accountabilty that apologized to no one. He had so much more music ahead of him, but I'm glad he isnt here to see that no one got the messsage, It would've broken his heart.