Stevie Wonder, "Songs in the Key of Life"
Ken's in need of love today
Ken’s Pitch:
“America is woven of many strands. I would recognize them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description.” -Ralph Ellison
I get a kick out of people coming back from their European vacations; it’s always the same stuff about learning about different cultures and really understanding new people. So I always ask what they learned and the answer is inevitably something about food, clothing, a museum they visited, or how much the locals smoke. Great lessons: Italians like pasta, the French like bread, a lot of people wear designer clothes and the Mona Lisa is a lot smaller than everyone thinks.
The truth is that I wish I was a better traveler, but I hate it. I get anxiety just thinking about getting on a plane and I despise sleeping in hotels. But I’ve embraced music and literature my entire life, and I’ve always learned so much more, and gained so much perspective and empathy, from books and music than I ever have traveling. I had a professor in college that assigned us Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and it changed my life. Purely by coincidence I was also turned on to Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life around the same time. That was also a life-changing experience.
Ellison perfectly captured the struggles of Black Americans (I honestly don’t know if the B is supposed to be capitalized in Black…but I like it that way, so I’m keeping it), and if you weren’t moved or upset or motivated to affect change, then you just weren’t reading it right. Stevie went a slightly different route; yes, he talks about struggle and oppression, but he also uses some unbelievable imagery to paint vivid pictures of Black, urban life in America. Opening with the gorgeous “Love’s In Need of Love Today”, a song that is just as poignant today as it was in 1976, going into the affirming (for those who believe in such things) “Have a Talk With God”, Wonder seems to be setting the stage for a bit of back and forth with his tracks. One song talks about strife, the next offers a solution. It’s a somewhat recurring theme throughout the album, although not rigidly alternating songs. While this exchange of tone is prevalent, the musical styles are all over the place, and it’s nothing shy of magnificent.
Along with several piano-based ballads, we’re treated to some old school funk, an almost purely classical piece (“Village Ghetto Land”) accompanied by Stevie’s sing-say, spoken word walk through an inner-city neighborhood. There’s a new-age piano song reminiscent of those Wyndham Hill George Winston CDs everyone had in the ‘80s in “Summer Soft”, which Wonder pulls off with great success. To cap it all off, we also get some of Stevie’s biggest hits with “Sir Duke”, “I Wish”, “Isn’t She Lovely” and “As”.
Listening to the entirety of Songs in the Key of Life leaves you a bit exhausted, or maybe that’s just me, or anyone else listening intently to really learn and empathize with a marginalized people. This is a beautifully written and produced album, but it can take a lot out of you. That’s what happens when you put down the baguette and open your eyes to real life. It’s what I’ve always loved about a good book or a good album…when you’re done, you’re proud to have embraced it and let its lessons wash over you.
Songs in the Key of Life certainly belongs on Newbury St. It’s creative, it’s unique, and it’s a history piece as relevant as any textbook about Black history. We’ll continue to destroy the planet and each other, unless we open our eyes to see both the beauty that surrounds us and the ugliness that is all too prevalent. As Ellison put it, “There are few things in life as dangerous as sleep-walkers.”
Mitch’s Response:
In the '80s, when I first started paying attention to Stevie Wonder, he was already firmly in his post-peak, peak-cheese period (which is crazy because he was only in his 30's at the time.) I knew that he was a music legend (obviously he had to be if Eddie Murphy was doing him on SNL) but I didn’t hear it myself. I owned the 45 for “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” but his subsequent singles just got worse and worse: “Happy Birthday”, “Ebony and Ivory”, “I Just Called To Say I Love You”, “Part-Time Lover”, “That’s What Friends Are For” et al. are among the worst music of my childhood. Sappy, cheesy Bar Mitzvah band music that sounds like it came straight from Casio button #3.
Next, I dug into Motown-era Stevie and appreciated his reputation a little more: he was clearly a virtuoso on the piano and the chromatic harmonica, and he was a great singer. But the music sounded so dated, and so cheesy, that I still couldn’t get into it.
Finally, Goldilocks here stumbled upon that prime USDA ‘70s Stevie and totally got it. Incredible songs with important messages, exceptional playing and tons of original and innovative ideas. But I also noticed some flaws: songs that go on forever, merely to fade out at the end, some terrible sounding synthesizers, and many, many questionable production choices (crying babies? chanting kids?)
Songs in the Key of Life shows the best and the worst of Stevie Wonder - and at 21 songs and 105 minutes it’s got plenty of time to do so. It contains some of his best singles ever (“Love’s In Need of Love Today”, “Sir Duke”, “I Wish”, “Knocks Me Off My Feet”, and “As”) surrounded by a lot of songs that range from “nice” to “will this ever end?”
Like most double albums, this would have made a flawless single album with a little trimming, and based on the exceptional quality of that imaginary 60 minute album (let’s just call it the music of my mind) I warmly welcome Stevland to Newbury St.
Pitch Successful (Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing)
CJ’s Response:
Double albums are indeed a double-edged sword. On the one hand, more music! On the other, it means there’s room for Springsteen to shove a clunker like “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)” onto The River. And it leaves plenty of time on Kiss Alive II for Paul Stanley to talk to the audience and say words like “I know everybody’s hot! Everybody’s got rock ‘n’ roll pneumonia! So, let’s call out Dr. Love!”
Stevie Wonder’s legacy album Songs in the Key of Life is no exception to the double album whammy. There’s some real dreck on there, most notably in the middle of Disc 2. And, to be honest, it threatened to derail the whole enterprise for me the first time I listened all the way through late last week.
There’s no denying the power of “Love’s in Need of Love Today” or “Ordinary Pain” or “Joy Inside My Tears”. Nor can you overlook the timelessness of “Sir Duke”, “As” and “Isn’t She Lovely”, a song that is featured in every father-daughter dance and was, in fact, played at the affair I attended this past weekend. (Happy Bat Mitzvah, Ellie!)
I was also excited to recognize the origin of “Gangsta’s Paradise” in “Pastime Paradise”. I realize this isn’t a major revelation for most people, but I’m a 52-year-old white guy who favors heavy metal. Hey, at least I didn’t mention Weird Al…ah shit.
However, songs like “Ngiculela”, “If it’s Magic” and the interminable “Another Star” are like many a latter-day Stephen King novel—seriously in need of an editor. All of which led to the depressing thought, “Am I gonna be the jerk who votes Stevie Wonder out of Newbury St.?”
Then, I realized that I had been suffering from a sinus infection last week and it cast a shadow over everything I experienced at the time. So, Monday morning I listened again with an open mind (and open nasal passages) and my perspective changed considerably.
Sure, this could’ve been a much tighter single LP. But, there’s too much genius, too much virtuosity, too much wonder to keep Stevie from his rightful place in our hallowed halls.
Pitch Successful (Thank you, Sudafed.)
Ken’s pitch was successful and Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life has been added to the Newbury St. Collection!
You haven’t done nothin’ until you boogie on over to the comments section and let us know whether you’re overjoyed with Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life or if it’s just your part-time lover.
Please join us next week as CJ hits us with his best shot at convincing us to let Pat Benatar into the Newbury St. Collection with his pitch for her album Crimes of Passion.
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Exile on Newbury St. is a weekly newsletter competition between 4 friends to see who has the best taste in music. Learn more about us and the rules of the game.
Boys, all your summaries were, once again, well written and interesting. Much more so than the album.
I never owned this album. I listened to a friend's copy when it came out in '78. Other than the powerful and unique Sir Duke, I didn't care for it back then. When my daughter was born in '81, I developed a liking for "Isn't She Lovely," although that wore out (the song) by the time daughter #2 came along. Maybe it was just the crying track on the beginning that sort of aligned with daughter #2's chronic colic - they seemed oddly similar. But the listening experience never inspired me to go out and buy the album, and I couldn't even finish it while writing this commentary - switched over to some Bad Company to cleanse my ears and pique my musical juices again.
I think Mitch's summary more closely aligned with my thoughts about the album, although we reached starkly different conclusions, much to my great surprise. The entire double album would be best reduced to a '45.
No guys, this doesn't belong on Newberry Street. It's too easy to get some material past you guys in my opinion. You don't seem to want to disappoint one anothers musical peccadilloes. If I had a vote, it would not exist on the hallowed halls of Newberry. Looking forward to the next one.
Ken wrote: "Listening to the entirety of Songs in the Key of Life leaves you a bit exhausted, or maybe that’s just me..."
No, it's not just you.
Maybe it's just the two of us, but for me, Key can be tiring as well. Partly because it's another album you're almost required to like, but also /because/ it is so revered as a cultural touchstone.
Listening to it can fell almost like an assignment, where you're supposed to be getting something life-changing out of it instead of just enjoying a good record.