Sexual Healing

Infobox Single
Name = Sexual Healing


Artist = Marvin Gaye
Album = Midnight Love
B-side =
Released = September 1982
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Ohain, Belgium; 1982
Genre = Soul
Length = 4:05
Label = Columbia
Writer = Marvin Gaye, Odell Brown, David Ritz
Producer = Marvin Gaye
Certification = Platinum (RIAA)
Last single = "Heavy Love Affair"
(1981)
This single = "Sexual Healing"
(1982)
Next single = "My Love Is Waiting"
(1983)
Misc = Audiosample
Upper caption = Audio sample
Name = Sexual Healing
Audio file = Sexual Healing.ogg

"Sexual Healing" is a 1982 song recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye on the Columbia Records label. It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown that year, following the release of the "In Our Lifetime" album the previous year.

Original version

Released off his seminal 1982 album, "Midnight Love", the song not only became his biggest hit in five years, but also brought Gaye back to the top of the pop music world five years after his last big hit, "Got to Give It Up".

By holding the number-one spot of the "Billboard" Hot Black Singles chart for ten weeks, it was the longest-running R&B number-one single of the 1980s. "Sexual Healing" eventually hit number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in January 1983. It also became an international and global hit reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart—giving Gaye his first UK top ten hit in five years since "Got to Give It Up"—and number one on the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart where it stayed at the top spot for six consecutive weeks.

Furthermore, the single garnered him his first gold certificate by RIAA for sales of over a million copies (it has since been certified platinum by the RIAA) and finally won Gaye, after being nominated for a Grammy Award no less than ten times in his career, the first Grammy Awards of his multi-dimensional career, winning him Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male and Best R&B Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist) in 1983. It also won him his first American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single in 1983. The song was later ranked #231 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Content

The music and lyrics were composed by Gaye, Odell Brown, and David Ritz. The song discussed a man's aching for finding sexual salvation with his woman—hence the title "Sexual Healing". According to Ritz, when he interviewed Gaye for an autobiography, he noticed comic book pornography in Gaye's room and mentioned to the singer that he "needed sexual healing" causing Gaye to tell Ritz to write a poem, after noting the rough draft of Ritz's lyrics, Gaye wrote his share of the lyrics and recorded the song while in Ohain, Belgium. The final mix was recorded in Waterloo, Belgium, the site where Gaye addressed CBS Records executives about the song. Some saw the song as Gaye's harmonious plea to sex in the form of him preaching the word of gospel, marrying his divided soul.

The song's last two lyrics, barely audible as the audio fades out, are "Please don't procrastinate/It's not good to masturbate."

Covers versions and references

Since its release, "Sexual Healing" has become one of the most influential singles in pop music having been covered by several artists including Phish and blue-eyed soul singers such as Michael Bolton. It has also become a staple for hip hop samples by artists such as Big Daddy Kane (his 1989 song "Smooth Operator" samples a bit from the song using interpolations of Gaye singing "operate" from the track) and Erick Sermon (who sampled the song on his 2001 song "I'm Hot"). Rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony interpolated Gaye's "Get up, get up, get up, get up/Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up" chant from "Sexual Healing" for their 1995 hit "1st of tha Month". The back beat was also sampled for a remix of Keith Sweat's 1996 hit "Twisted".

Master P used elements of the song on "Bourbon and Lacs" for 1997's "Ghetto D", a song about the lives of "playas" in the New Orleans area. In 1993, alternative rock band Soul Asylum contributed a cover to the AIDS benefit compilation album "No Alternative". American/Jamaican dance group Max-A-Million also performed a modern version of "Sexual Healing", which was an R&B-type remix of the original reggae rendition Max-A-Million recorded. This version performed by Max-A-Million, which included the original lyrics only featured a more upbeat rhythm and rap-like verses of the songs (that were added) proved to be a popular and well-known mix of the song, especially to the younger audience who at the time may have not heard the original reggae mix. It was released in 1996 and was well-received by R&B fans.

The song has been covered by Ben Harper in a many of his live concerts and remains one of his most popular songs.

In 2002, Darren Hayes recorded a cover during a Capital Radio session.

In 2005, English singer-songwriter Kate Bush released her Celtic-accented cover of "Sexual Healing" as the B-side to "King of the Mountain", her first new material in twelve years. That same year Clam (featuring VDC) released a cover.

The song was also covered by the English indietronica group Hot Chip as the B-side to their 2006 single "Over and Over".

In July 2006, the song received notoriety in Australia, when "Today Tonight" performed a report on the controversies of music and how some songs encourage kids to have sex at a young age, with the Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons" and Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" being heavily criticized. The report went further to criticize "Sexual Healing" as another song that encouraged kids to have sex back in the 1980s. However, many music gurus and fans would normally recognize the song to be a "classic hit from a legendary singer."

In 2007, this song was remixed by Alibi vs. Rockefeller with a new music video featuring three female dancers dressed as nurses (Lauren Ridealgh, Bayley Darling, [ [http://www.motmodels.co.uk/models/model_detail.asp?model_id=4241 http://www.motmodels.co.uk/models/model_detail.asp?model_id=4241] "Motmodels.co.uk"] and Stephanie Fitzpatrick). It charted at number thirty-four on the UK Singles Chart. There are two versions of this video: one version is censored and the other uncensored for late-night viewing, with the latter version being twelve seconds longer. The song was featured on the Abercrombie & Fitch July 2007 Playlist.

The song was also covered by German singer Sarah Connor and American singer Ne-Yo.

The song is also featured on the video game "" on the radio station .

Most recently, the original version of the song made a cameo appearance in the 2007 live action film "Transformers" in which Bumblebee plays while pretending to break down at some romantic spot, while Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) drives Mikaela Banes (played by Megan Fox) home, thus hinting at his obvious sexual interest in her.

Credits

*Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
*Background vocals by Marvin Gaye, Harvey Fuqua and Gordon Banks
*Guitars by Gordon Banks
*Drums, keyboards, synthesizers, synthesizers, organ, orchestra bells, glockenspiel, bells, finger cymbals, bongoes and congas by Marvin Gaye
*Written by David Ritz, Marvin Gaye and Odell Brown
*Produced by Marvin Gaye

Charts

References