| "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Side A of 2007 US reissue | ||||
| Single by Gladys Knight & the Pips | ||||
| from the album Everybody Needs Love | ||||
| B-side | "It's Time to Go Now" | |||
| Released | September 28, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | June 17, 1967 | |||
| Studio | Hitsville USA (Studio A), Detroit, Michigan | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:52 | |||
| Label | Soul | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Norman Whitfield | |||
| Gladys Knight & the Pips singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 One of pressings of the 1968 US single | ||||
| Single by Marvin Gaye | ||||
| from the album In the Groove | ||||
| B-side | "You're What's Happening (in the World Today)" | |||
| Released | October 30, 1968 | |||
| Recorded | February 3, 8, 13, 15, and April 10, 1967 | |||
| Studio | Hitsville USA (Studio A), Detroit, Michigan | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic soul | |||
| Length | 3:14 (Album) 2:59 (Single) 5:16 (Extended) | |||
| Label | Tamla | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Norman Whitfield | |||
| Marvin Gaye singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966.[2] The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.
The Miracles were the first to record the song in 1966,[3] but their version was not released until August 1968, when it was included on their album Special Occasion.
The Marvin Gaye version was the second to be recorded, in the beginning of 1967, but the third to be released. It was placed on his 1968 album In the Groove, a year and a half later, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys. Motown founder Berry Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single on the Tamla subsidiary in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969, overtaking the Gladys Knight & the Pips version as the biggest hit single on the Motown family of labels up to that point.[citation needed]
The Gaye recording has since become an acclaimed soul classic. In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. In 2004, it was placed 80th on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[4] then re-ranked at 81 in 2010.[5] In 2021, it was ranked 119. And on the commemorative fortieth anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 issue of Billboard magazine in June 2008, Marvin Gaye's "Grapevine" was ranked sixty-fifth.
In 2018, the Gladys Knight & the Pips version was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[6]
In addition to being released several times by Motown artists, the song has been recorded by a range of musicians including Creedence Clearwater Revival,[2] who made an eleven-minute interpretation for their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory.
- ^ Breihan, Tom (November 15, 2018). "The Number Ones: Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
[Gladys Knight & the Pips] recorded a version of "Grapevine" that reworked the song as a Southern-soul stomper.
- ^ a b Padgett, Ray (2017). Cover me : the stories behind the greatest cover songs of all time. New York. pp. 87–95. ISBN 978-1-4549-2250-6. OCLC 978537907.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Original versions of I Heard It Through the Grapevine written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
- ^ "Rolling Stone Greatest Songs 2004 list 1-100". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 21, 2008. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "I Heard It Through the Grapevine ranked 81 by Rolling Stone in 2010". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "GRAMMY Awards: Here Are the 2018 GRAMMY Hall of Fame Inductees". 1077theend.com. January 16, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018.