Marvin Gaye : Piece of Clay

SONG Piece of Clay

WRITTEN BY Marvin Gaye

PERFORMED BY Marvin Gaye

APPEARS ON Phenomenon Soundtrack(1996) The Master 1961-1984 (1995)

Marvin Gaye is one of the greatest singers of all time in my book. He released some classic albums during his years on Motown but some of his best work was unreleased due to problems with the label or problems Marvin had with his own demons. One of the best unreleased songs and a true example of his talent is a ballad titled Piece of Clay. It was first released on a box set of his work named The Master 1961-1984 and then included on the soundtrack for the movie Phenomenon in 1996. Piece of Clay is a song about the struggle for self identity and the way we treat one another. The words to the song are simple and straightforward. Marvin is expressing his feeling that people should love one another no matter what kind of person they are.

While the lyrics are not complicated, the song gets its true impact from Marvin Gaye’s ability to inject whatever emotion he is feeling during the song into the mind of the listener. Whether it’s a song about love (Distant Lover), heartbreak (Here My Dear), or sex (Lets Get It On), he had the ability to put you in that mood. That’s a special gift that not many people have. In Piece of Clay you can feel his pain and frustration with trying to find comfort with who he was. There are a lot of his unreleased songs that have the same darkness. His personal life definitely shaped his view of the world. It’s not a surprise that Motown had problems releasing this work. Back in the mid 70’s this kind of song would have ran many fans away. The material works much better now that he isn’t here and his life story is out in the open. It actually adds an extra level of appreciation in some of these songs because the emotion was so real. I often wonder how a man so gifted could be so unhappy. He probably would have been more content working in a factory or something and doing music in his basement on his days off. That’s what I think about when I listen to this song.

Lyrics:

Father stop
Criticizing your son
Mother please
Leave your daughters alone
Don't you see that's what wrong
With the world with world today
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay

We all talk of kindness
But it's only only a word
Brother turned on a sister
In this cruel cruel world today
That's what's wrong
With all in this world today
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay
Somebody to play with
Wanna to mold you, mold you
Shape you like they wanna
Wanna to do their thing

Children are told
To give not just to take
If we were all children
You know the world
Will be a better place
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay
We should all love each other
Love and take one another
We should love each other
Love and not hate, oh

Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay
True everybody wants somebody
To mold them, shape them own way
Everybody wants somebody
Try to make it
Or do their, do their thing
Everybody wants take somebody
Got to make it do their thing
Everybody wants somebody
To be their own piece of clay