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

"That's the Way Love Is"
German release picture sleeve
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"
Released	August 7, 1969
Recorded	1969, Hitsville U.S.A.
Genre	Soul
Length	3:35
Label	Tamla
Songwriters	Norman Whitfield Barrett Strong
Producer	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)

"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield. ^[1]

Marvin Gaye recording

The single was later covered in a 1969 hit version by Marvin Gaye. It 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", Gaye delivers the song in an emotionally wrought fashion, approaching a preacher-like tone through which he tells a woman to "forget" her lover now that the lover has gone off to someone else.

Chart performance

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 ^{[2] [3]} (it was held off by The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You"), eventually selling a million copies.

Personnel

Isley Brothers version

• Lead vocals by Ronald Isley
• Background vocals by O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

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

• Lead vocals by Dennis Edwards and Paul Williams
• Background vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and Otis Williams
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

The Commitments version

• Lead vocals by Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball)
• Background vocals by Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle) and Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher)
• Instrumentation by The Commitments

Cover versions

• The Temptations, as a B-side of "Psychedelic Shack" and released on their 1969 album Puzzle People .
• The 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments.
• Performed at Live Aid by Paul Young and Alison Moyet.

References

1. "discogs.com". discogs.com. June 1967. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
2. The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 9: 1969 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records
3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.