The Life Of A Song: “Grapevine”
Marvin Gaye had the biggest hit with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” in 1968, but Gladys Knight and the Pips had a nit version a year before. And of course Credence Clearwater did an eleven-minute version in 1970. Hilary Kirby gives further background on the title: ‘The phrase had its roots in the days of the slave trade. The “grapevine telegraph†had been the system of communication used by slaves during the American civil war. Prohibited from learning to read, they passed on news by word of mouth.’
