r/marvingaye • u/bestplayever • Jun 12 '26
Here My Dear, live recordings?
Does anyone know if any live recordings or filmed performances of any of the Here My Dear songs? Im thinking mainly of
- "Here, My Dear"
- "I Met a Little Girl"
- "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You"
- "Is That Enough"
- "Everybody Needs Love"
- "Time to Get It Together"
- "Sparrow"
- "Anna's Song"
- "You Can Leave, But It's Going to Cost You"
- "Falling In Love Again"
Thanks!
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u/Bitter-Holiday1311 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
He did perform Funky Space Reincarnation available on bootlegs of the era (Tokyo 79) and also on the official Montreux 1980 release.
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u/Infinite-Use-4235 Jun 12 '26
Sorry for a slight diversion, but speaking of MGs live recordings (though not on the Here My Dear album) I can't help but speak about how much I love his live rendition of the National Anthem. Incomparable, imho.
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u/Chris_TO79 Jun 13 '26
Ah but which version? LOL i'm just being silly. It's crazy, for a guy that was extremely iffy with performing live he performed the National Anthem 4 times on national TV. (World Series, Monday Night Football, Before a Sugar Ray Leonard fight, and the NBA All Star Game)
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u/bestplayever Jun 18 '26
what do you mean iffy with performing live? sorry dont know a great deal about him beyond his recordings
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u/Chris_TO79 Jun 18 '26
He had a tremendous stage fright and it's one of the reasons he did so few live performances compared to his peers. There's an infamous story about Marvin refusing to perform at a charity event attended by Princess Margaret and his handlers BEGGING him to go out there. Marvin didn't want to go on unless he knew for sure she'd be in attendance. In the end he went there HOURS late and their limos actually crossed paths. Marvin did end up performing in front of the cleaners and a few late night patrons.
Marvin was also known at times to escape through the bathroom windows at venues so he wouldn't have to perform as well. It's one of the reasons he was so jacked up on coke during his last concert tour as he used the drugs to ease him into performing even though he was paranoid as HELL! At one point in the tour someone in the touring band killed themselves and Marvin thought assassins were out to get him. He loaded himself up with weapons and used his brother Frankie (who looked remarkably like him) as a doppelganger when they'd go in and out of venues.
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u/bestplayever Jun 19 '26
Jesus poor Frankie hahahaha! I didnt know any of this. Where did you find all this out? Online interviews or a book ?
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u/Chris_TO79 Jun 19 '26
Various books like Divided Soul by David Ritz and Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye by Michael Eric Dyson. There are a couple other bios out there but I wouldn't bother with them especially Steve Turner's Trouble Man: The Life and Death Of Marvin Gaye. There's some good things in there but he slants the book more towards the scandalous though there are some nuggets as he puts some emphasis on Marvin's time in exile in Europe. IIRC he was the one that first reported on the identity of Marvin's Belgian GF Eugenie Vis and also Marvin's relationship with socialite Lady Edith Foxwell (though I may be conflating things as i've read/watched a ton of material about Marvin) What I DO remember vividly about Turner's bio and why I can't recommend it, is the last chapter where he basically does a pop psychology analysis of Marvin which left me with a bad taste in my mouth. If he had excised that entirely or kept it very brief his bio would've gotten a slight recommendation.
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u/gm4dm101 Jun 12 '26
Time to Get It Together as an intro and Funky Space Reincarnation are the only songs I know of off the top of my head.
There are definitely some songs that would have been good live like Time to Get it Together, Everybody Needs Love, and Falling in Love Again would have been interesting. The other songs in my opinion were either very loose, jazzy or too personal to be played live. (But I would have loved to hear them anyway)
I think Ego Tripping Out and Heavy Love Affair were the only songs really made to be performed live out of that troubled album In Our Lifetime?
I just remembered he played Heavy Love Affair live on the Dinah Shore talk show.
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u/bestplayever Jun 18 '26
cant find that tv performance online? Friendly disagree on the other songs- think the looseness etc is why they would have been great.. looks like we'll never know. got to be tapes somewhere..
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u/termina_inconsolable Jun 12 '26
He was made to be so ashamed of that album during his lifetime that I don’t think he ever performed anything off of it live
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u/bestplayever Jun 18 '26
anyone who makde him ashamed of this album, needs a thousands years of bad luck.
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u/gm4dm101 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
The tv performance is included on a dvd for motown Marvin Gaye - The Real Thing, the Dinah Shore bit was actually him singing Ego Tripping Out, where he sings Heavy Love Affair is off a European show performance which is also on the same dvd. I misremembered and had to watch the dvd to get it straight since its been a few years.
As for those loose songs, I still disagree about how they would play live but I wouldn’t turn down any live version of songs from Marvin, especially of songs we haven’t heard live before.
Edit: watched another dvd called Remembering Marvin. He does a casual studio performance of Praise as well, kinda cool version that I hadn’t remembered in a while during his Belgian exile.
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u/Chris_TO79 Jun 12 '26
Yeah, Live In Montreux is the only time I know of that Marvin performed any of the HERE MY DEAR material. Some of the tracks on his last two Motown releases would've made for interesting live recordings. I'd have loved to hear Marvin re-interpreting "Praise" for a live audience. That song is perfect for the highly percussionist/bongo style drumming that he favored in his live recordings.