Renaldo "Obie" Benson (June 14, 1936 – July 1, 2005) – Am I My Brother's Keeper (1973)
The Four Tops' bass singer and songwriter who famously co-wrote "What's Going On" with Marvin Gaye also wrote other message songs including this powerful anthem.
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Renaldo "Obie" Benson was a bass singer, songwriter, and founding member of the Four Tops who penned many of their songs. His most famous song is one he co-wrote with Marvin Gaye, the iconic “What’s Going On.”
Born in Detroit, Benson went to Northern High School where he became friends with Lawrence Payton. They met Pershing High students Levi Stubbles and Abdul “Duke” Fakir when the four boys sang together at a friend’s birthday party, and formed a quartet shortly afterwards.
For an overview of the group’s history, see our post from earlier this month on Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs.
Benson was inspired to write “What’s Going On” after witnessing an infamous police riot that occurred in Berkeley, California. The Four Tops were on tour, and their bus arrived in Berkeley on May 15, 1969.
It was the same day Governor Ronald Reagan ordered police to retake a plot of land owned by the University of California, Berkeley from hundreds of community activists, who had transformed it into a “People’s Park” and were occupying the park to prevent it from being bulldozed.
After police cleared the park of protestors in the early morning, university work crews arrived. They spent hours destroying the park’s vegetation and improvements, then erected a chain link fence around the site. That afternoon, an unarmed crowd of 4,000 converged on the park, and were met with lethal force from the approximately 160 police officers on hand.
Police shot massive amounts of buckshot into the crowd. One person on a rooftop was killed, while another was permanently blinded after being shot point-blank in the face. 128 other community members were hospitalized with serious wounds and other injuries from the police, on a day that would be forever remembered in Berkeley and beyond as “Bloody Thursday.”
The Four Tops were there while it was all going down, and Benson asked himself, “What is happening here? Why are they attacking their own children in the streets?” Later, he discussed what he had seen and felt with his friend, fellow songwriter Al Cleveland, who helped him write a song based on Benson’s experience. However, the other Tops rejected the song when Benson presented it to them. As he later recalled:
“My partners told me it was a protest song. I said 'no man, it's a love song, about love and understanding. I'm not protesting, I want to know what's going on.'.”
He then offered it to Joan Baez, who also declined. Finally, he took it to Marvin Gaye, who added a new melody, more lyrics, and gave it the title “What's Going On.” Released on January 20, 1971, it went to #1 R&B and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over two million copies as it became a cultural touchstone and helped usher in the golden age of 70s message soul.
Benson went on to write several more message songs that the Four Tops did decide to record. After Motown shifted its operations from Detroit to Los Angeles in the early 70s, the group left the label and signed with ABC/Dunhill. Their first album for ABC was Keeper Of The Castle, released in November, 1972. The title track with a positive message reminding men to be good fathers to their children was the LP’s first single, with the superb socially conscious jam “Jubilee With Soul” on its B-side.
Benson co-wrote “Jubilee With Soul” with his wife Val and Joe Smith, who was the Tops’ guitarist and bandleader. The single hit #7 R&B and crossed over to #10 Pop.
For the Tops’ next album, Main Street People (1973), the Bensons teamed with ABC staff songwriter Len Perry and co-wrote the powerful anthem “Am I My Brother’s Keeper.”
“Why the fighting, why the pain, are smiles for children only? Why can't we live in peace, what's wrong with being kind and gentle as a lamb? How can people feel safe and secure with so many of us dying? How can people turn their ears from the sounds of crying? Oh, is there anyone in the whole wide world who really gives a damn?”
Released as the B-side to “I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind,” the single peaked at #18 R&B and #62 on the Hot 100.
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