 By 1966 , Barrett Strong , the singer on Motown Records ' breakthrough hit , " Money ( That 's What I Want ) " , had the basics of a song he had started to write in Chicago , where the idea had come to him while walking down Michigan Avenue that people were always saying " I heard it through the grapevine " . The phrase is associated with black slaves during the Civil War , who had their form of telegraph : the human grapevine . Producer Norman Whitfield worked with Strong on the song , adding lyrics to Strong 's basic Ray Charles influenced gospel tune and the single chorus line of " I heard it through the grapevine " . This was to be the first of a number of successful collaborations between Strong and Whitfield . 
