Sanctified Lady
"Sanctified Lady" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Marvin Gaye | ||||
from the album Dream of a Lifetime | ||||
Released | 1985 | |||
Recorded | Ohain, Belgium (1982); Los Angeles, California (1984) | |||
Genre | Funk, dance-pop | |||
Label | CBS Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Marvin Gaye Gordon Banks | |||
Producer(s) | Marvin Gaye Gordon Banks | |||
Marvin Gaye singles chronology | ||||
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"Sanctified Lady" is a song by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released posthumously in 1985 by Columbia Records.
Background
The title of the track was originally "Sanctified Pussy", a phrase which Gaye can be heard mumbling (appearing somewhat unedited) during certain parts of the updated chorus provided by The Waters, chants of "sanctified lady". Along with "Masochistic Beauty", the song was an outtake from the Midnight Love sessions, that remained unfinished due to the singer's death in 1984 at the age of 44. Despite being incomplete and omitted from the album, the song was planned and expected by the singer to become his next big record and follow-up to '"Sexual Healing."[1][2][3][4][5]
The lyrics explore the singer's longing to find "that one woman who is untainted and incorruptible." Regarding the earlier receptions of the song and its title, Gaye once stated to ex-wife Janis that "Some say the song is beneath me. And yes, there is humor implicit in the title. But it is no joke. To find a church girl, pure and innocent... I need a woman as flawless as my own mother.”[6]
Years later, guitarist and longtime collaborator Gordon Banks (Gaye's brother-in-law) helped to finish the track by adding a choir and an electronic beat throughout the song, plus a vocodered chant of the title at the beginning.
Reception
"Sanctified Lady" was issued as the first release from the singer's posthumous album Dream of a Lifetime, and despite the mumbling of Gaye's original title became a modest hit upon its release, reaching #2 on the US R&B singles chart.
Credits
- Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye and Gordon Banks (vocoder)
- Background vocals by The Waters
- Instrumentation by Marvin Gaye and Gordon Banks
- Produced by Gordon Banks
See also
References
- ^ Heyliger, Mike (27 April 2012). "Jheri Curl Fridays 41: "Sanctified Lady"". popdose.com.
- ^ Seidenberg, Robert (July 4, 1985). "Dream Of A Lifetime". rollingstone.com.
- ^ Matre, Lynn Van (April 28, 1985). "HOW SWEET IT WASN'T: THE TORTURED LIFE AND 'DIVIDED SOUL' OF MARVIN GAYE". chicagotribune.com.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (May 12, 1985). "FOR MARVIN GAYE, LIFE - THROUGH SONG - GOES ON". The New York Times.
- ^ "Top South Florida News, Sports, Weather and Entertainment - South Florida Sun-Sentinel". Sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ Gaye, Jan. "After the Dance: My Life With Marvin Gaye - Jan Gaye (2015)". Publicism.info.
- v
- t
- e
- The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye (1961)
- That Stubborn Kinda Fellow (1962)
- When I'm Alone I Cry (1964)
- Hello Broadway (1964)
- How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You (1965)
- A Tribute to the Great Nat "King" Cole (1965)
- Moods of Marvin Gaye (1966)
- In the Groove (1968)
- M.P.G. (1969)
- That's the Way Love Is (1970)
- What's Going On (1971)
- Trouble Man (1972)
- Let's Get It On (1973)
- I Want You (1976)
- Here, My Dear (1978)
- In Our Lifetime (1981)
- Midnight Love (1982)
- Dream of a Lifetime (1985)
- Romantically Yours (1985)
- Vulnerable (1997)
- You're the Man (2019)
- Together (with Mary Wells, 1964)
- Take Two (with Kim Weston, 1966)
- United (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)
- You're All I Need (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
- Easy (with Tammi Terrell, 1969)
- Diana & Marvin (with Diana Ross, 1973)
- Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage (1963)
- Marvin Gaye Live! (1974)
- Live at the London Palladium (1977)
- Marvin Gaye at the Copa (2005)
- What's Going On Live (2019)
- Greatest Hits (1964)
- Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1967)
- Marvin Gaye and His Girls (1969)
- Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Greatest Hits (1970)
- Super Hits (1970)
- Anthology (1974)
- Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits (1976)
- Motown Remembers Marvin Gaye: Never Before Released Masters (1986)
- The Marvin Gaye Collection (1990)
- The Norman Whitfield Sessions (1994)
- Love Starved Heart: Rare and Unreleased (1994)
- The Very Best of Marvin Gaye (1994)
- The Master (1961–1984) (1995)
- Marvin Gaye: The Love Songs (2000)
- The Complete Duets (2001)
- The Very Best of Marvin Gaye (2001)
- The Real Thing: In Performance (1964–1981) (2006)
- "Pride and Joy"
- "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)"
- "I'll Be Doggone"
- "Ain't That Peculiar"
- "Your Precious Love"
- "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You"
- "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing"
- "You're All I Need to Get By"
- "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
- "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby"
- "That's the Way Love Is"
- "Abraham, Martin and John"
- "The Onion Song"
- "What's Going On"
- "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"
- "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
- "Trouble Man"
- "Let's Get It On"
- "You Are Everything"
- "Got to Give It Up"
- "Sexual Healing"
- Marvin Gay Sr. (father)
- Alberta Gay (mother)
- Anna Gordy Gaye (first wife)
- Denise Gordy (son's birth mother)
- Nona Gaye (daughter)
- Frankie Gaye (brother)
- Gordon Banks (brother-in-law)
- Discography
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- Songs by Marvin Gaye
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- Songs produced by Marvin Gaye
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