Official Stevie Wonder Thread

[hiphopnation]

I'm sitting here, listening to "As" and, as Stevie is prone to do to me, it's bringing a tear to my eye. How is this guy....I mean...how does he do it?!?!

His music is so profoundly beautiful and touching. I just don't know where to start with it half of the time. It's my belief that it will take people a few generations to actually realize the true extent of his genius, pureness of heart and soul, and absolute rump-shakin, head-boppin' funkiness. IMHO, there is no more pure meeting of all of the best that music can be than is contained within Stevie Wonder's cannon.

Harmony, Melody, Groove, Craft, Truth, Beauty, Joy, Peace, Funkiness....

It's just alllllll there. The man is a vesel for all things great and musically perfect and he has let those gifts flow through him freely, tweeking them only slightly. Every time I try to write about his music it inevitably comes up short. I should probably go blog about it but I thought I would share with some DUers.

Any other Wonder lovers? Oh, "Ribbon in the Sky" just came on...

SOOOO BEEEAAAUUUTIFUUUUUUL!!!! :loveya::cry::loveya:

[yellowdawgdem]

1. Yeah, I'm a big Stevie fan myself

I can listen to his music for hours at a time. Those pics are nice of him, too.

[jus_the_facts]

2. Sir Duke...one o' my all time Stevie faves.....

....and these lyrics I always loved too...."...yes I've got some candy kisses for your lips...yes I've got some honeysuckle..chocolate chip kisses for your loooove!" :loveya:

[hiphopnation]

4. Those are from "Do I Do"

Possibly THE FUNKIEST SONG OF ALL TIME with also possibly THE FUNKIEST BASS LINE EVER PLAYED by the very skilled and soulful, Nathan Watts who played alot with Mr. Wonder in the early days.

[jus_the_facts]

8. Yeah....that's the one....always loved it too......

....thanks for remindin' me o'the title again...don't ya just hate it when you can hear part o'the song in your head but can't pull the whole thing together? D'oh! :D :hi:

[Gimel]

3. Thanks for this thread

Great music and soul message of Stevie Wonder. You said it very well.

It's my belief that it will take people a few generations to actually realize the true extent of his genius, pureness of heart and soul...

[SoCalDem]

5. I saw "Little Stevie Wonder" perform onstage for the first time..

( at least in a concert-type performance)..I had never heard of him before and he was about 13 ,I think...He sang Fingertips.. It was July 1963

I was at a club in Miami(Copa City) for teens..The headliners were Little Anthony and the Imperials.. During a break, they brought Little Stevie out to perform...

What a hoot and a half...

[hiphopnation]

6. Wow!

That's quite something! To have seen him at the beginning of his career. What an honor.

Thanks for sharing. What a guy. :thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

9. Copa City had been a very famous nightclub and the first to integrate

By the time the 50's ended, the "clubs" started to close.. The Copa was turned into a teen venue.. All the greats played there and recorded there..

We also would all go down to SouthBeach when it was mostly boarded up hotels and restaurants.. Waaaay before it was cool again :)

************************************
http://www.gdnrecords.com/englishcds/believeenglish.html

This below is from a Josephone Baker site:

GDN Records proudly presents Josephine Baker in what was to be her last recording. This American born songstress, actress and dancer unable to tolerate the segregational policies of her homeland, left for France at age 19 and spent the rest of her life using her fame combined with the invulnerability that came from being based outside America, to protest injustice wherever she saw it.

Upon her arrival in France, some 76 years ago, she took the country by storm. Her sensuous dances in her performances in "La Revue Negre" at the Champs-Elysé Theater, was something the French had never before seen. The influence of American music and dance, swept her audiences with her precision, risqué stage dress, her abandon, wildness and control, she held nothing back, she danced and sang as though possessed, yet her movements and were exact in their form and rhythm.

During the Second World War, instead of leaving France and enjoying life without risk, she worked for the Free French Government and was awarded the Medal of the Resistance for her work against Fascism. This soon led her to a commitment to the civil rights movement in the United States.

It started when Miami's segregated nightclub, the famed Copa City, began trying to get her to perform. She turned down ten thousand dollars a week because management refused to guarantee an integrated audience. But Josephine had her way, management gave in and she opened at Copa City in January 1951 before its first integrated audience. It became her standard practice, to insist on a nondiscrimination clause in her contract, guaranteeing that Black patrons would be admitted.

No entertainer before her had played to a non-segregated audience in Miami The breaking down of color lines in nightclubs, restaurants, and hotels became Josephine's special focus.

[NightTrain]

30. Hmm....

Wonder if that was the version of "Fingertips" that came out as a single?

[parasim]

7. Yes, Stevie!

Well, I was just about to turn in for the night, and then I see this thread. Well, I just had to put on a little Stevie. Listening to "Sweet LIttle Girl" right now.

I've been listening to Stevie since I was a teen, and I have say that I have learned more about music, love and the quest for world peace from Stevie than from anybody.

His song "Evil" still is chilling everytime I hear it. "Golden Lady" still takes my breath away. "Superwoman", "Superstition", "Keep on Running", the entire catalog for that matter has always been and will always be brilliant.

oooh! "Happier than the Morning Sun just came on.

Long Live Mr. Morris!

[Systematic Chaos]

10. I was 7 or 8 when "Sir Duke" was a hit and I loved it then.

I was only about 2 years away from becoming a total radio freak for a few years, until top-40 went to hell in the late 80's. I used to sing along with the song "That Girl" all the time when it came on (rather well, I thought) but now my vocal range isn't *quite* high enough to handle all of it. The man is one amazing talent!

[Swamp Rat]

11. Stevie Wonder fan checking in...

His music was the theme music to my life back in the 1970s, and still is.

[SoCalDem]

12. Here's a cool music site..lots of pictures and information..

http://www.georgwa.demon.co.uk/tamla_motown_records2.htm

How he looked back then:)




http://www.history-of-rock.com/stevie_wonder.htm

[Kahuna]

13. "As" is my favorite Stevie Song. There are many great ones though.

The reason I know "As" is my favorite is because it fills me up with joy. Then, I have to replay it three more times. I would put Stevie's creativity in the same league with the Beatles. Long live Stevie Wonder!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

14. ***** STEVIE WONDER IS MY FAVORITE MUSICIAN***********

Bar none!

My fiance and I share this love - You and I is our song ----AWWWWW

:)

[LTR]

15. Anybody remember when Dubya waved to him?

:wtf:

All kidding aside, Stevie is one of the most talented musicians ever. "I Just Called To Say I Love You" be damned!

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Count Me In

Bought Talking Book, the day it was available in stores around Chicago.

Incredible album. Was a fan before. Became a disciple after i heard that record.
The Professor

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

17. If you really want to hear our views

YOU HAVEN'T DONE NOTHING!!!!

Sing it loud for your people, say

Doo de Wop. Oh ho oh. Doo de Wop!

[hiphopnation]

18. kick for the

late-mid-morning-semi-afternoon-late brunch crowd :thumbsup:

:kick:

[tilsammans]

19. Loved Stevie ever since I heard "Fingertips" in '63!

"Overjoyed" is my favorite Stevie song. These too:

Until You Come Back to Me
Another Star
Hey Love
I Was Made to Love Her
For Once in My Life
My Cherie Amour
Golden Lady
Superwoman
Do I Do
That Girl
Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours
I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer
Travelin' Man
Happy Birthday

My list could could go on and on. Love ya, Stevie!

[Demonaut]

20. dont forget "Saturn" and" Living in the City"

Saturn spoke of a world in peace and Living in the City embodied the attitudes of the times in NYC

[tilsammans]

22. Yes! Those songs are excellent in both . . .

. . . the music and the message.

There are soooooooooooo many Stevie tunes I could add to my favorites list!

[hiphopnation]

21. "He's Mistra Know It All" is another great one.

That whole album "Innervisions" is just :wow:

I know another DUer who's a huge stevie fan

PAGING TAYLOR MASON POWELL

PLEASE PICK UP A WHITE "FUNK-I-TUDE" PHONE...

[curse10]

23. My favorite song of all time is "I Believe (When I Fall in Love)"

Fucking genius

[hiphopnation]

24. Oooh!

That IS a great song. He did that hippy-70's love song better than most of the hippies of the era did!!

[curse10]

25. the break down at the end is incredible

but, in reality, it is hard to choose my favorite Stevie song, they are almost all fucking great

[GumboYaYa]

26. A few weeks ago I spent two and a half hours sitting next to Stevie.

We chatted a good bit, but most of the time I was just in awe being so close to him. I literally could reach out and touch him, and trust me I had a hard time from keeping myself from doing just that.

He truly has an aura about him. When you spend time around him you can just sense that he is on a different plane than ordinary people.

[hiphopnation]

27. Wow.

Pray tell, how was this meeting arranged?

I imagine that is what he is like. His music is that of someone who knows things that ordinary people don't know...

[GumboYaYa]

28. Pure chance...

I was in Chicago for a meeting and had reserved a private area at the Four Seasons to meet with my clients before we went into a negotiating session the next day. The maitre d' came to me and told me they had a special guest that would like to share my room as he needed privacy. I said okay and the next thing I knew, in walked Stevie and his entourage. Of course, I helped him to the seat right next to mine.

[NightTrain]

29. My Personal Stevie Wonder Top 10

Rank-ordered, of course: B-)

1. Uptight (Everything's Alright)
2. Superstition
3. Sir Duke
4. You Haven't Done Nothin'
5. Fingertips, Part 2
6. Heaven Help Us All
7. I Was Made To Love Her
8. Do I Do
9. Master Blaster (Jammin')
10. Take your pick of any dozen songs (Sorry for the cop-out!)

[hiphopnation]

32. How about

Summer Soft. You ever heard that one? Or "Lately" or "As" or "Ribbon in the SKy"

DAAAAAAAMN sooooooo many!!

[Insider]

31. his own heartbeat! (with each beat of my heart)

real genius. he recorded his own heartbeat in the song. and it was not hokey. it is beautiful. check it out. hats off to brother stevie.