“You goof exquisitely.”

Nice little piece HERE on Marvin Gaye's classic What's Going On.

I always knew Berry Gordy didn't want Marvin to make the album, but I didn't know about this wager:

Even after “What’s Going On” became Motown’s fastest-selling single, Gordy had doubts about releasing an entire album of message songs. So he made a bet with the singer: If Gaye could finish his album in 30 days, Motown would release it, and Gaye would gain creative control of his career. If he couldn’t, Gaye would put the tux back on and start singing love songs again.

Gaye accepted the wager. With the clock ticking, he assembled a ragtag creative team. Rather than rely on Motown’s slickest songwriters, he chose underdogs, even co-writing tracks with the company’s elevator operator, a closet lyricist.  

Here's my favorite bit:

The saxophone intro on “What’s Going On” was a fluke. When saxophonist Eli Fontaine heard the song for the first time, he improvised the riff for fun. When Fontaine then signaled that he was ready for a real take, Gaye told him to go home; they already had what they needed on tape. Fontaine protested that he’d just been goofing around. “Well,” Gaye replied, “you goof exquisitely.”