Marvin Gaye  - Ain't That Peculiar

First performance: 13/11/1971


Bruce covered the song only once:
One show, with The Bruce Springsteen Band the sole act on the bill. Southside Johnny is a guest and handles the lead vocal on "Ain’t That Peculiar".
AIN'T THAT PECULIAR (with Southside Johnny) / DARKNESS, DARKNESS (with Southside Johnny) / WHEN YOU DANCE 


"Ain't That Peculiar" is a 1965 song recorded by American soul musician Marvin Gaye for the Tamla (Motown) label. The single was produced by Smokey Robinson, and written by Robinson, and fellow Miracles members Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin. "Ain't That Peculiar" features Gaye, with The Andantes on backing vocals, singing about the torment of a painful relationship. The single was Gaye's second U.S. million seller successfully duplicating its predecessor "I'll Be Doggone", from earlier in 1965. It became one of Gaye's signature 1960s recordings, and was his best-known solo hit before 1968's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".

Other cover versions


Bruce on the artist

According to the BBC's 'Desert Island Discs ' one of the 8 songs, Bruce would take to a desert Island is one of Marvin Gaye's songs: What's Going On (1971)
Inspired by the witnessing of police brutality and violence during an anti-war demonstration, Marvin Gaye’s soulful protest song illustrated to Springsteen that music can have a message:
Bruce Springsteen and Kirsty Young in conversation:
"This entire record [the What’s Going On album], from start to finish, is a masterpiece. It was sultry and sexual while at the same time dealing with street level politics. That had a big influence on me. Along with the idea that it was a concept record without being cursed by that name. It was a record that had a thread you can follow from the first song to the last and it created a world that you could walk into and then come back out of. But bring along with you things that you learned and energy and a source that you’d found for living."


Honey you do me wrong but still i'm crazy about you
Stay away too long and i can't do without you
Every chance you get you seem to hurt me more and more
But each hurt makes my love stronger than before
I know flowers go through rain
But how can love go through pain

Ain't that peculiar
A peculiar ality
Ain't that peculiar baby
Peculiar as can be

You tell me lies that should be obvious to me
I've been so much in love with you baby til i don't wanna see
That things you do and say are designed to make me blue
It's a dog gone shame my love for you makes all
Your lies seem true
But if the truth makes love last longer
Why do lies make my love stronger

Ain't that peculiar
A peculiar ality
Ain't that peculiar baby
Peculiar as can be

I cried so much just like a child thats lost its toy
Maybe baby you think these tears i cry are tears of joy
A child can cry so much until you do everything they say
But unlike a child my tears don't help me to get my way
I know love can last through years
But how can love last through tears