Tael
06-16-2004, 09:17 PM
Depending on whether I can actually find the karaoke for this, I'm thinking of doing a VAA group singing project. I'm sure some people here have heard the All-Stars United version of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?", which came out just after 9/11, as a tribute for the dead and to aid AIDS research. I recently discovered that I still had the song on a mixtape I did quite a while ago, and I noticed that this would make a great song for a group of about 15-20 voices (4 of them would have to be willing to attempt to rap, though).
Here are the lyrics for the people who aren't familiar with this version:
(What's going on)
(Tell me)
(People dying
People crying
Lord help us)
Mother, Mother
There's too many of you crying
Oh, brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
(That's right)
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some loving here today
Oh my father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some loving here today
Barricades can't block our way
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh what's going on
what's going on
yeah what's going on
Ah what's going on
What's going on in a world filled with pain
Where's the love for which we pray
What's going on
When our children can't play
Homeless can't eat
There's got to be a better way
What's going on
When we're politically blind
Can't see the signs of endangered times
What's going on
Ah tell me
What's going on in the world today
I'd rather be dead
Then turn my head away
we got this first world vision too comfy to lift our
Hands in the air and cry for a switch
Father, father
(Father help us, come on)
Everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Together we can all be strong
(united we stand, divided we fall)
Oh you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Barricades can't block our way
Don't punish me with brutality
Baby talk to me
So you can see
Yeah, what's going on
Hey, what's going on
Somebody tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on on-uh
What's going on 'cross seas
Every minute a child dies by the disease
In record numbers indeed
Got mommas crying out please
My baby hold on
My child ain't done nothing wrong
Still I want to holler
Ask them why they don't bother
Oh no, oh no
Make me turn to my father
And ask him why they all got a trapped soul, trapped soul
I can feel what was bothering Marvin
Why has the words forever remain
Dealing with these modern day problems
'Cause of ignorance surrounding me and my constituents
Too many infected
Too many lives diminishing
Nobody say Protestants, Jews, blacks, whites,
Latinos, and Asians
Pray together
Less fight
We better unite
As genocide chemical war
And the rich and the poor
Know that God delivers a cure
It's a shame our reality is devastaing
People praying for a cure
Dying while they're waiting
Ask the lord for the comfort and strength to face it
All the kids with dreams
Won't get the chance to chase it
Makes me sad
Think about the lives they would've had
Think about the orphan babies got no moms and dads
How can we sit back and not try to make it right
We gotta come togetehr
We gotta fight for life
Somebody tell me what's going on
(what's going on)
We got human beings using humans for a bomb
But everyone wanna live
Don't nobody want to die
You feeling me, right
I can't be watching people die (die)
And watching people cry
Let me break it down for a minute
If there's enough room here for you and me
There's plenty of room for humanity
Do doo do
Somebody tell me
What's going on
So... whaddya think?
Here are the lyrics for the people who aren't familiar with this version:
(What's going on)
(Tell me)
(People dying
People crying
Lord help us)
Mother, Mother
There's too many of you crying
Oh, brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
(That's right)
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some loving here today
Oh my father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some loving here today
Barricades can't block our way
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh what's going on
what's going on
yeah what's going on
Ah what's going on
What's going on in a world filled with pain
Where's the love for which we pray
What's going on
When our children can't play
Homeless can't eat
There's got to be a better way
What's going on
When we're politically blind
Can't see the signs of endangered times
What's going on
Ah tell me
What's going on in the world today
I'd rather be dead
Then turn my head away
we got this first world vision too comfy to lift our
Hands in the air and cry for a switch
Father, father
(Father help us, come on)
Everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Together we can all be strong
(united we stand, divided we fall)
Oh you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Barricades can't block our way
Don't punish me with brutality
Baby talk to me
So you can see
Yeah, what's going on
Hey, what's going on
Somebody tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on on-uh
What's going on 'cross seas
Every minute a child dies by the disease
In record numbers indeed
Got mommas crying out please
My baby hold on
My child ain't done nothing wrong
Still I want to holler
Ask them why they don't bother
Oh no, oh no
Make me turn to my father
And ask him why they all got a trapped soul, trapped soul
I can feel what was bothering Marvin
Why has the words forever remain
Dealing with these modern day problems
'Cause of ignorance surrounding me and my constituents
Too many infected
Too many lives diminishing
Nobody say Protestants, Jews, blacks, whites,
Latinos, and Asians
Pray together
Less fight
We better unite
As genocide chemical war
And the rich and the poor
Know that God delivers a cure
It's a shame our reality is devastaing
People praying for a cure
Dying while they're waiting
Ask the lord for the comfort and strength to face it
All the kids with dreams
Won't get the chance to chase it
Makes me sad
Think about the lives they would've had
Think about the orphan babies got no moms and dads
How can we sit back and not try to make it right
We gotta come togetehr
We gotta fight for life
Somebody tell me what's going on
(what's going on)
We got human beings using humans for a bomb
But everyone wanna live
Don't nobody want to die
You feeling me, right
I can't be watching people die (die)
And watching people cry
Let me break it down for a minute
If there's enough room here for you and me
There's plenty of room for humanity
Do doo do
Somebody tell me
What's going on
So... whaddya think?