"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
First recorded by The Miracles (Smokey Robinson) August 16, 1966, but not released until 1968. Sorry, not first release.
First released by Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967; it went to number two in the Billboard chart. At the time, it was the biggest hit in the history of Motown Records. This is more upbeat than the Marvin Gaye version. It's more of a dance version. Gladys Knight, now 76, had a popular new tour after recently finishing #3 in the first TV season of The Masked Singer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmS961An4c
The Marvin Gaye version was on his 1968 album In the Groove, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys. Motown founder Berry Gordy released as a single in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969 and became at the time the biggest Motown hit single. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hajBdDM2qdg
Creedence Clearwater Revival made an 11-minute interpretation for their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory.
The lyrics tell the story of the singer's feelings of betrayal and disbelief when hearing of their significant other's infidelity, only indirectly "through the 'grapevine'". The phrase is associated with black slaves during the USA's Civil War, who had their form of telegraph: the human grapevine.
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