Songoftheday 5/10/15 - Picket lines and picket signs, don't punish me with brutality...

"What's Goin' On" - Cyndi Lauper
from the album True Colors (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's SOTD is by pop singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper, whose sophomore album True Colors had already scored her a second #1 pop hit with the title track and a top-3 follow-up with "Change Of Heart". For the third single from the record Cyndi took a big chance and released a cover of one of the most revered soul songs in history, Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On". Originally released in 1971 (against the inclinations of label head Berry Gordy), the track, co-written by Gaye with Obie Benson of the Four Tops and Motown songwriter Al Cleveland, went to #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the American pop chart. Rolling Stone ranked the classic #4 in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (the highest R&B/soul record on the list)...

Cyndi Lauper stayed true to the lyrics, but gave her vocals a more expressive, pained delivery than Gaye's relaxed approach to the song....

Lauper's version of "What's Goin' On" reached the American pop top-20 in May of 1987, while making it to that same level on the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard magazine (#17). Internationally, the record was a top-40 hit in New Zealand and the Netherlands, but failed to make the top-40 in bigger markets like England and Germany.

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Here's Cyndi performing the song live in 1986...

In 2001, the song was redone for charity under the name Artists Against AIDS Worldwide, and included Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, N SYNC, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Backstreet Boys, and Destiny's Child. Produced by Bono and Jermaine Dupri, the single went to #27 on the Hot 100 in America and #6 in the UK...

The following year, Chaka Khan recorded "What's Goin' On" with the legendary Motown backing band the Funk Brothers, and won the Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance..

...and finally, back to Cyndi live in 1994...

Up tomorrow: Canadian rockers are gonna stick around.