Peak
2
Weeks
17
Score
3,860
Chart Year
1967
///
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966.[2] The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time. The Miracles were the first to record the song in 1966,[3] but their version was not released until August 1968, when it was included on their album Special Occasion. The Marvin Gaye version was the second to be recorded, in the beginning of 1967, but the third to be released. It was placed on his 1968 album In the Groove, a year and a half later, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys. Motown founder Berry Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single on the Tamla subsidiary in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969, overtaking the Gladys Knight & the Pips version as the biggest hit single on the Motown family of labels up to that point.[citation needed] The Gaye recording has since become an acclaimed soul classic. In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. In 2004, it was placed 80th on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[4] then re-ranked at 81 in 2010.[5] In 2021, it was ranked 119. And on the commemorative fortieth anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 issue of Billboard magazine in June 2008, Marvin Gaye's "Grapevine" was ranked sixty-fifth. In 2018, the Gladys Knight & the Pips version was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[6] In addition to being released several times by Motown artists, the song has been recorded by a range of musicians including Creedence Clearwater Revival,[2] who made an eleven-minute interpretation for their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory.
I bet you're wonderin' how I knew Baby, baby, baby, 'bout your plans to make me blue With some other girl you knew before Between the two of us girls, you know I love you more It took me by surprise I must say When I found out yesterday Don't you know that I heard it through the grapevine? Not much longer would you be mine Don't you know that I heard it through the grapevine? And I'm just about, just about, just about, to lose my mind Oh yes, I am Baby won't you listen to me Boy take a good look at these tears of mine Baby, baby these tears I can't hold inside Losin' you would end my life you see Because you mean that much to me You could've told me yourself That you love some body else Instead I heard it through the grapevine Oh, not much longer would you be mine Oh, I heard it, yes, I heard it Oh, just about, just about, just about, to lose my mind Oh yes, I am, oh yes, I am Go, I gotta go Go, go You gotta let me go Go, go, go I gotta go Say believe half of what you see Oh, ho, and none of what you hear Baby, but I just can't help bein' confused If it's true please baby, won't ya tell me dear Oh, do you plan to let me go For the other girl you loved before? Don't ya know that I heard through the grapevine? Not much longer would you be mine Don't ya know that I heard it, yes I heard it? Oh, I heard it, heard it Oh yes I did
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct 21, 1967 | 74 | 52 |
| 2 | Oct 28, 1967 | 54 | 72 |
| 3 | Nov 4, 1967 | 32 | 94 |
| 4 | Nov 11, 1967 | 27 | 99 |
| 5 | Nov 18, 1967 | 21 | 105 |
| 6 | Nov 25, 1967 | 16 | 110 |
| 7 | Dec 2, 1967 | 8 | 118 |
| 8 | Dec 9, 1967 | 5 | 121 |
| 9 | Dec 16, 1967 | 2 | 124 |
| 10 | Dec 23, 1967 | 2 | 124 |
| 11 | Dec 30, 1967 | 2 | 124 |
| 12 | Jan 6, 1968 | 4 | 122 |
| 13 | Jan 13, 1968 | 5 | 121 |
| 14 | Jan 20, 1968 | 9 | 117 |
| 15 | Jan 27, 1968 | 9 | 117 |
| 16 | Feb 3, 1968 | 15 | 111 |
| 17 | Feb 10, 1968 | 43 | 83 |