World Market Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Had he not been killed, Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. would have been seventy years old today, having died twenty five years ago on April 1, 1984, murdered at the hands of his own father Marvin Gay Sr. Reflecting on the life of the singer Marvin Gaye, there's much to be said about his art and the social consciousness behind his music.

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) was realeased as the third and final song on Marvin's chart topping album "What's Going On." The lyrics of the song echoed his frustrations with inner city life in the United States.

In celebrating Marvin's life, the good news is that this song is still relevant today because sadly, the inner cities haven't changed. They are still much the same or perhaps worse than when Marvin himself lived in inner city Washington D.C.

Poverty is still rife, and based on recent reports, the alarming increase in new cases of HIV infection in the D.C. area have made the nation's capital the poster child for worse case scenario of new and existing HIV infections, taking the cake from some African countries that formerly bore the title. But AIDS is not D.C's only problem these days. Big bonuses, reckless spending, dishonesty, tax evasion, cover-ups, bribes, bad government and more. If this doesn't make you wanna holler...

Rockets, moon shots
Spend it on the have nots
Money, we make it
Fore we see it you take it

Oh, make you wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life

This ain't livin', This ain't livin'
No, no baby, this ain't livin'
No, no, no

Inflation no chance
To increase finance
Bills pile up sky high
Send that boy off to die

Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life

Hang ups, let downs
Bad breaks, set backs
Natural fact is
Honey, that I can't pay my taxes

Oh, make me wanna holler
And throw up both my hands
Yea, it makes me wanna holler
And throw up both my hands

Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God know where we're heading
Oh, make me wanna holler
They don't understand