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