...Where I Try To Convince Myself Into Liking Stevie Wonder

...Where I Try To Convince Myself Into Liking Stevie Wonder

Previously posted on WeekInRewind.com

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Stevie Wonder. Perhaps I have grown tired or weary of his Greatest Hits CDs that my father used to play on a weekly basis while growing up, but I can’t listen to any of his singles without slightly cringing. “Superstition” and “Higher Ground” have lost their charm years ago when each were covered by Disney starlet Raven Symone and modern rock legends Red Hot Chili Peppers, respectively. Meanwhile, “Isn’t She Lovely” and “My Cherie Amore” have been butchered too many times on American Idol for me to enjoy them much anymore.

That being said, it’s always a pleasant feeling when I stumble upon one of his lesser-known songs. To recoup after a hardcore Saturday morning gym session, I turned on a modern John Cusack classic, "High Fidelity." Right when the movie faded to the end credits, a song of Wonder’s that I never heard came on before. The song was called “I Believe (When I Fall In Love),” and I felt a very strong emotional connection to it upon immediate contact. What begins with a simple piano-guitar combination builds up to a smooth-but-powerful ballad about falling head over heels and begging for a lover to feel the same. I can appreciate the musical stylings, and I can really relate to the lyrical content. Stevie, I approve.

In lieu of my recent discovery, I compiled a tiny list of underrated Stevie Wonder songs. Hopefully, I can convince others (along with myself) that Wonder really is worthy of the hype that continues to surround him. Because really, “A Ribbon In The Sky” hasn’t convinced me of his talents after all of these years.

1. "Do I Do" Released in 1982, this is one of Wonder’s more well-known songs, due in part to Ja Rule sampling it in his 2001 song “Livin’ It Up.” However, the song only reached #13 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Despite its 10.5-minute length, the song highlights three cool things--Stevie’s gift of rap, a great Dizzy Gillespie trumpet solo, and a rare usage of cowbell in an R&B song.

2. "I Don’t Know Why I Love You" Telling a story of a cheating girlfriend who takes advantage, Wonder sings with raw emotion--he slowly sounds as if he’s breaking down due to the pain she causes him. He brilliantly ends it with a crescendo, then a falsetto scream of agony. His maturity with the content is surprising, especially since he recorded it at age 18. Released as a single in February 1969, the song was unfortunately overshadowed by the more popular B-side, “My Cherie Amour.” The song didn’t die in obscurity, as the Rolling Stones and the Jackson 5 recorded covers of it later on.

3. "Skeletons" This song has a typical '80s feel to it, which might be why it has been forgotten by many, despite winning two Grammys in 1988. Replacing his usual baby grand for a synthesizer spices up the song, which sounds like it could be in "Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo." However, it was featured in a scene in Bruce Willis’ classic "Die Hard"

4. "Summer Soft" Starting off with a simple piano tune, chirping birds and a soft-spoken voice, Wonder is a powerhouse on this one. On the critically acclaimed "Songs In The Key of Life," the song was buried underneath the success of “Sir Duke,” “I Wish” and “As.” However, hardcore Stevie heads consider “Summer Soft” as being one of their favorites off of the album.

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New York Romance

New York Romance

I have an interesting relationship with the five boroughs that lie within New York City. All five of them have drastic differences that separate them from each other, and the stories I hold from each borough are vastly different, as well. I’m fond of the Queens region because I’m technically a Queens baby (for only a month before moving to the Suburbs of Long Island, but that could be overlooked). The Brooklyn area holds a special place in my heart after endless thrifting trips, aimless bouts of roaming around nameless neighborhoods after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and discovering that I could fall in love with the red velvet cake from the Cake Man. I have to respect the Bronx, since I have fond memories from my childhood going to my Nana’s house and having authentically Italian meatballs and bakery goods. While Staten Island gets a bad rep for being the birthing place of guidos, the area is a highly decent area that I should really explore more in-depth one of these days. Finally, I could go on about Manhattan. I’ll choose not to ramble, but living here has, in some way, helped me mature and made me realize what kind of person I really am.

Being an avid music lover, I find elements in certain songs that put me in a New York state of mind and remind me of the life that I’m living here. Certain beats, instruments, lyrics, and vocals bring me onto the streets of the city and enhance the overall experience of being here and just existing. Without further ado, here is my top three songs based around my beloved city.

Coney Island Baby – Lou Reed – Notorious for writing some of modern music history’s bleaker songs, Lou Reed released this song off of his solo debut in 1976 and highlighted his reflective side. The song is a reaffirmation of life of sorts, after all of the treacherous events that Reed has gone through during his lifetime. While he is contemplating every little aspect of life, the background could be mistake for the eerie serenity of Coney Island at night. He even compares his love for a transvestite named Rachel to how much he is infatuated with Coney Island. As trashy and nostalgic as the place seems in the daytime, one cannot help but fall in love with the place, regardless of time of day.

Harlem – Bill Withers – Back in the 1960’s and 70’s when Upper Manhattan was known for the explosion of Motown and soul music, Bill Withers was an icon for putting real heart into his verses. Withers even had the power to add an extra kick to a song simply about how he and those around him lived their lives up in the misunderstood neighborhood of Harlem. The main message he tries to convey in his classic song is that while one’s personal situation may not be all that great, he or she could still have a good time. Extreme heat or cold, lack of food, or confronting lying preacher men every day doesn’t have to stop a person when he or she can look forward to dancing with their friends and acquaintances until the wee hours of the morning.

New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down – LCD Soundsystem – Every person can grow disappointed with his or her own residency after a while. Residents of New York City are no exception. LCD Soundsystem puts the culture of New York into perspective and tries to come to the conclusion as to why the city is letting them down. Closely reading the lyrics, the average man can easily be disappointed with the ‘good life’ found in the five boroughs. They expect to live a life such as Carrie Bradshaw or the cast of Friends, but discover anything but when actually experiencing the city for themselves. People expect all the boroughs to be like glamorous Manhattan, but that is far from being true. Even if the common person does reside in Manhattan, they have to work their butts off to get what they want. Even when one gets what he or she wants, they will discover that the city doesn’t have the same diverse culture like it used to. The city isn’t as gritty as it was decades prior, and it seems like the majority of the region is trying to cater to the upper class, which can easily get a person down very quickly. Despite all of the disappointments found all about, there are a few glimmers of hope in the strangest places. They can discover the beauty of Battery Park in the middle of the night, or could stumble upon a hole-in-the-wall Australian meat pie joint in Alphabet City and eat the best pulled pork meat pie outside of Australia, or could perhaps find an epic outdoor book sale and buy half a library for fifty dollars. Moments such as this keep the doubtful around for a little while longer, and LCD Soundsystem know this holds true for aplenty of skeptics. 

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Twisted Christmas

Twisted Christmas

When I’m away at school, I never listen to the radio. It’s not like I don’t want to; I just don’t have the means of actually listening to a station due to my lacking of how to work the stereo in my dorm room. I’d rather not go through the trouble of deciphering channels. Needless to say, it came as a bit of a culture shock the last time I visited my parents at home to find certain stations blaring Christmas songs on a twenty four hour, seven day basis beginning in October. After having the Christmas Channel programmed in my car for two days, I already got sick of the endless repetition of ‘Feliz Navidad’ and the eighteen compilations of Lite Pop Christmas. This horrific discovery got me to thinking; do people actually like this sort of music being drilled into his or her head during the end months of the year, or do they feel like they have to listen for nostalgia effect?

For most people, the answer depends on the type of music he or she likes. I could imagine more pop and R&B listeners enjoying the yuletide cheer more so than heavy metal and rap fans. However, there are a few songs that clearly fall within either the Kill Me With a Yule Log or Christmas Bliss categories.

The perfect song that would fit in within the Kill Me With a Yule Log category would have to be at least two of the following traits:

• Extremely overplayed
• Gag-inducing clichéd
• Brings you back to bad memories of your childhood
• Slightly depressing

While this may seem like a controversial choice, the one song that stands out as fitting all of these qualities would be John Lennon’s ‘Merry Christmas (War Is Over)’. Being innovative back when it was released in the 1970’s, this song has grown old and weary, and also doesn’t fit the realist outlook that most hold today. While peace would be great to obtain, we have accepted that the world is not a perfect place, and one song will not change that. Also, having the children sing near the end in a ‘We Are The World’ moment is nauseatingly sweet. Having this song blare at least twice a day and having my father declare it the Best Christmas Song Ever decided Lennon’s untimely fate in my head.

Other songs that would fall into my listed traits include ‘Silent Night’, ‘Silver Bells’, ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Deck The Halls’, and any Christmas song sung by Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston or any of the other powerful belters and wailers.

Of course, I’m not a stickler against ALL Christmas songs. That would be terrible of me, no? Personally, I prefer Christmas songs that are either extremely catchy or timeless, or both. The song that I most identify with in terms of fitting both criteria is ‘Christmas in Hollis’ by Run DMC. When released in the late 1980’s, Run DMC’s modern Christmas carol is unlike anything that has been released prior. Singing about how the members’ families have a laid-back Christmas with collard greens and macaroni and cheese, and how they chill with Frosty and Santa, the boys are clearly going to take advantage of enjoying the holiday with no worries or regrets. Throw in the sounds of jingle bells combined with turntable riffs and you have a newfound classic that should be overplayed, even after Christmastime is long gone.

Other songs that have similar effects on me would be ‘Christmas Wrapping’ by the Waitresses, ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! (How can you resist George Michael whispering Happy Christmas), any Christmas tune sung by Dean Martin and the Rat Pack, any song featured in the Claymation classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and my favorite guilty pleasure Christmas song, ‘Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays’ by N*Sync.

As I look back on all of the Christmas music I have listened to during my lifetime, I have come to realize that a good chunk of them aren’t that bad. I wouldn’t mind listening to a loop of that on the grotesquely cheesy Christmas channel in my car. I’m sure most people wouldn’t mind listening to a good loop of Christmas music either (although I bet they would want the boy bands of the late 90’s to not be included within that mix). As long as people are saved from listening to yet another rendition of Mariah Carey’s ‘Joy to the World’, all would be well in the world.

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