Originally Posted by Surell

I think the album is supposed to move mostly as one larger movement of music, much like the Beach Boys' Smile or the second side of Abbey Road (I know some people would say Sgt. Peppers too but I don't regard it so). "What's Goin On" the song is meant to be a kind of overture, which is why it reprises at the end of "Inner City Blues," as a kind of bookend of the album and a reminder that all the songs are related in some sense.