That's the Way Love Is (Isley Brothers song)

"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield, later covered in a 1969 hit version by Marvin Gaye.

"That's the Way Love Is"
Single by Marvin Gaye
from the album M.P.G./That's the Way Love Is
B-side"Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love"
ReleasedAugust 7, 1969
Recorded1969, Hitsville U.S.A.
GenreSoul
Length3:35
LabelTamla
Songwriter(s)Norman Whitfield
Barrett Strong
Producer(s)Norman Whitfield
Marvin Gaye singles chronology
"Too Busy Thinking About My Baby"
(1969)
"That's the Way Love Is"
(1969)
"What You Gave Me"
(1969)

The single was his third consecutive million-selling solo hit after "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Whitfield took the up-tempo Isley Brothers record, and turned it into a slowed-down psychedelic soul opus. Like "Grapevine", the song is sung by an emotionally wrought Gaye, singing the song in a preacher-like tone, who tells a woman to "forget" her lover now that that lover has gone off to someone else.

The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard pop singles chart and held the #2 spot for five weeks on the soul singles chart in October 1969[1][2] (it was held off by The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You"), eventually selling a million copies. The Temptations also covered the song as a B-side of "Psychedelic Shack" and released on their 1969 album Puzzle People.

The song was covered for the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments.

The song was performed at Live Aid by Paul Young and Alison Moyet.

Personnel

Isley Brothers version
Marvin Gaye version
  • Lead Vocals by Marvin Gaye
  • Background Vocals by The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
  • Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
Temptations version
The Commitments version

References

  1. The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 9: 1969 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.


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