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That's the Way Love Is (Isley Brothers song)
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Wikipedia article
'"That's the Way Love Is"' is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield.
Marvin Gaye recording
The single was later covered in a 1969 hit version by Marvin Gaye. It was his third consecutive million-selling solo hit after "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Whitfield took the up-tempo Isley Brothers record, and turned it into a slowed-down psychedelic soul opus. Like "Grapevine", Gaye delivers the song in an emotionally wrought fashion, approaching a preacher-like tone through which he tells a woman to "forget" her lover now that the lover has gone off to someone else.
Chart performance
The song peaked at #7 on the 'Billboard' pop singles chart and held the #2 spot for five weeks on the soul singles chart in October 1969'The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 9: 1969' [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records (it was held off by The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You"), eventually selling a million copies.
Personnel
;Isley Brothers version
* Lead vocals by Ronald Isley
* Background vocals by O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
* Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
;Marvin Gaye version
* Lead Vocals by Marvin Gaye
* Background Vocals by The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
* Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
;Temptations version
* Lead vocals by Dennis Edwards and Paul Williams
* Background vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and Otis Williams
* Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
;The Commitments version
* Lead vocals by Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball)
* Background vocals by Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle) and Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher)
* Instrumentation by 'The Commitments'
Cover versions
*The Temptations, as a B-side of "Psychedelic Shack" and released on their 1969 album 'Puzzle People'.
*The 1991 Alan Parker film 'The Commitments'.
*Performed at Live Aid by Paul Young and Alison Moyet.
References
Category:1967 singles
Category:1969 singles
Category:Songs written by Barrett Strong
Category:Songs written by Norman Whitfield
Category:Marvin Gaye songs
Category:Motown singles
Category:The Isley Brothers songs
Category:The Temptations songs
Category:Psychedelic soul songs
Category:1967 songs
Category:Song recordings produced by Norman Whitfield
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