When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You

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"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You"
Song by Marvin Gaye
from the album Here, My Dear
Released1978
Recorded1976
Genre Soul
Length6:16
Label Tamla
Songwriter(s) Marvin Gaye
Producer(s) Marvin Gaye
Here, My Dear track listing

"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You" is a 1978 song recorded by singer Marvin Gaye. Taken from his Here, My Dear album, it was written following his 1976 divorce when he was ordered to give half the takings of his next album to ex-wife Anna Gaye. [1] In the album, he "poured his emotions into songs agonisingly documenting their relationship's rise and fall." [1]

The song was a six-minute-long opus that has been considered the centerpiece of the Here, My Dear album. As if offering confessional testimony to his wife, Gaye airs his side of the story of how his ill-fated marriage to the sister of his record label boss Berry Gordy collapsed.

In a spoken narrative, the singer accuses Anna in the beginning of not following their marriage vows, saying that lying about being faithful was similar to "lying to God". He then blames himself as well for the death of the marriage, stating: "I tried but all of (our) promises (were) nothing but lies" and then promises himself if he finds someone else (his new wife Janis), he will try a new way.

But no matter how optimistic he seemed, he always reflected back on his marriage to Anna and how at one point, she called the cops on him for a domestic dispute. The title is not spoken until the final verse, when Marvin croons in his trademark falsetto about where did the love go in their relationship.

Written and produced solely by the artist himself, the song was unusual for having no distinct melody, no bridge and no distinct chorus and for its length. However, it did have near melodic consistencies, such as "Memories of the things we did/Some we're proud of, some we hid".."If you loved me with all of your heart/You'd never take a million dollars to part". He would use the instrumental of this song as both an instrumental track (with several Gaye ad-libs) and as the reprise of the album to end it.

The song served as the template for Daryl Hall's song "Stop Loving Me, Stop Loving You," from his 1993 solo album, Soul Alone. [2] After being played the song by a friend and thinking it was an unreleased bootleg, Hall reworked the tune as a standard-structured R&B/pop song. The song also featured as the in-game radio playlist on Blonded Los Santos 97.8 FM from the enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto V .

Personnel

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"Time to Get It Together" is a 1978 song recorded by Marvin Gaye and issued on Marvin's 1978 album, Here, My Dear. Much like "Everybody Needs Love", "Anger" and "A Funky Space Reincarnation", among others, this song doesn't discuss the demise of Marvin's marriage to Anna Gordy Gaye. Instead the song is a biographical account of the singer's own personal demons as he battled drug abuse, paranoia and depression.

"Falling in Love Again" is a 1977 song recorded by singer Marvin Gaye and issued on his 1978 album, Here, My Dear album. The song was another track on the personal album that did not discuss the demise of his first marriage. Instead of Anna Gaye, the song talked of the other woman in Marvin's life. Described in "You Can Leave, but It's Going to Cost You" as "that young girl", she was Janis Hunter, whom Gaye had married. In a solemn but still certain tone, he wanted to be sure that this time his love for Janis will be what he had always wanted. But as irony would have it, by the time of the album's release, Marvin and Janis' relationship was failing. By the end of the album's promotion, Janis had split from the singer after nearly two years as a married couple. They eventually divorced in February 1981. This song was the last song on Here, My Dear with a reprise from the album's "theme song", "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You", playing soon afterwards putting the album to a close for good.

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"Just Like" is a song recorded by Marvin Gaye in 1978 but not released until after the release of Gaye's posthumous 1985 album Romantically Yours.

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Anna Ruby Gaye was an American businesswoman, composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s distributing records released on Checker and Gone Records before forming the Anna label with Billy Davis and her sister Gwen Gordy Fuqua. Gordy later became known as a songwriter for several hits including the Originals' "Baby, I'm for Real", and at least two songs on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album. The first wife of Gaye, their turbulent marriage later served as inspiration for Gaye's album, Here, My Dear.

References

  1. 1 2 Dave Simpson, "Marvin Gaye, Here, My Dear" (review), The Guardian, February 8, 2008.
  2. Who Sampled.