"Inner City Blues" is a howl of economic despair dressed in the language of soul. Marvin Gaye recorded it in 1971 as part of *What's Going On*, a song about a man who cannot make ends meet no matter how hard he works. The bills pile up. The money runs out. The system is not broken -- it was designed this way. Gaye does not preach. He reports. The details are devastating enough without decoration. Make me wanna holler. The holler is the song.