That's the Way Love Is (Isley Brothers song)

"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield.

Marvin Gaye recording
The single was later covered in a 1969 hit version by Marvin Gaye. It was his third consecutive million-selling solo hit after "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Whitfield took the up-tempo Isley Brothers record, and turned it into a slowed-down psychedelic soul opus. Like "Grapevine", Gaye delivers the song in an emotionally wrought fashion, approaching a preacher-like tone through which he tells a woman to "forget" her lover now that the lover has gone off to someone else.

Chart performance
The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard pop singles chart and held the #2 spot for five weeks on the soul singles chart in October 1969 (it was held off by The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You"), eventually selling a million copies.

Personnel

 * Isley Brothers version
 * Lead vocals by Ronald Isley
 * Background vocals by O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
 * Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers


 * Marvin Gaye version
 * Lead Vocals by Marvin Gaye
 * Background Vocals by The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
 * Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers


 * Temptations version
 * Lead vocals by Dennis Edwards and Paul Williams
 * Background vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and Otis Williams
 * Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers


 * The Commitments version
 * Lead vocals by Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball)
 * Background vocals by Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle) and Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher)
 * Instrumentation by The Commitments

Cover versions

 * The Temptations, as a B-side of "Psychedelic Shack" and released on their 1969 album Puzzle People.
 * The 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments.
 * Performed at Live Aid by Paul Young and Alison Moyet.