POLLTIME PARADISE: ILM Artist Poll #9 Results -- Stevie Wonder

"It's Wrong (Apartheid)"
"Livin' for the City"
"Higher Ground"

Also, "Happy Birthday" and "Cash in Your Face."

Also: I'm gay, so every love song is political.

More like sci-fi to me. A solid match with the Clavinet lines.

Was out golfing, so missed today's countdown...I think four of my top five showed up today.

Alright. Last 10 coming your way momentarily.

I was having a think about this last night and could only name six nailed-ons for the top ten.

Oops, just noticed an error. "Misstra Know It All" got 316 points. Which only matters in that ...

10. I WISH (Songs in the Key of Life, 1976) -- 317 points, 18 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi-BUgf8Ohw

Don't all jump in with comment at once.

One of the problems with discovering a whole body of work at once is having to remind yourself what half of these things are. I didn't vote for this. Turns out I didn't vote for a lot of things I'd thought I'd cast for.

I always remembered the middle verse as:

"..writing something nasty on the wall (you nasty boy..)
You grow up and learn that it's not the thing to do
but while you were doing it, boy did it feel good?
I wish those days...."

Then I heard it again and realised I'd remembered an English version, and not the original American version!

^ OTM

Nice autobiographical lyrics - his childhood was pretty hard (just reading about his mother's first husband gives you the chills). I like this observation:

"Tryin' your best to bring the water to your eyes
Thinkin' it might stop her from woopin' your behind"

I also have to take a look at that Classic Albums episode - looks cool!

(The 'OTM' was for Ismael.)

Oh, and speaking of the lyrics, that line break in

Why did those days ev-
er have to go

is UGLY.

The biggest problem with that VH1 special is that the story behind the making of the album ... isn't really all that interesting.

09. SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED I'M YOURS (Signed, Sealed & Delivered, 1970) -- 318 points, 17 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEbPHu8T5lQ

XP I guess they don't interview Margouleff and Cecil, who don't have a lot of good words for the album, or its production, in the biography I read.

Man, that would've been a great get.

There are times when I really love the sound of SITKOL, tho. I kind of like the claustrophobic, cramped mix on "Another Star."

Cecil has a great quote in that book, something about how Stevie didn't know how to program a synthesizer and only used factory presets on SitKoL.

Sadly, the remainder of his career would tend to confirm that claim.

Haha, right.

For those few lost souls who don't recognize the greatness of the early singles, here's the original version for archival purposes. And because it ROCKS of course!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inXC_lab-34

You don't know how close I came to posting Michael McDonald's "Signed, Sealed."

08. DON'T YOU WORRY 'BOUT A THING (Innervisions, 1973) -- 337 points, 15 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zywDiFdxopU

I speak VERY FLUENT SPANISH

I can actually lip sync to that whole bit now.

Craigery Morgan : Kristen Wiig characters on SNL :: Me : Stevie Wonder

07. HIGHER GROUND (Innervisions, 1973) -- 366 points, 16 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCPjeOPjH5Y

So I guess we can safely say all of Innervisions will place?

i voted for 7/9 of them. i approve.

Now, that one would have been my Number One. Except maybe for.... (soon come, I guess)

06. GOLDEN LADY (Innervisions, 1973) -- 368 points, 16 votes, 2 #1 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTX2Db6naaU

Good job, ILX voters. This one bobbed in and out of the top 10 for awhile. Then it began bobbing in and out of the top 5 before settling just outside. <3 all those who voted for it.

Bleh, more album filler :)

I think you're kidding. But then again, you didn't vote for it.

And I hold anyone who doesn't vote for this in suspicion.

I think it was pretty clear from the start that our tastes are not very alike ('Summer Soft'??). And I didn't vote for it because I think it's the worst song on Innervision.

I love the bass and piano at the beginning. Like a lot of Stevie's songs from this period, it could go anywhere.

I'm learning that other people rate Stevie's non-funk stuff way higher than I do

Cecil has a great quote in that book, something about how Stevie didn't know how to program a synthesizer and only used factory presets on SitKoL.

― ArchCarrier, Tuesday, October 11, 2011 11:37 AM (1 hour ago)

Sadly, the remainder of his career would tend to confirm that claim.

― michael assbender (Eric H.), Tuesday, October 11, 2011 11:39 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

But were there such things as factory presets on analog synths in 1976?

Eric H OTM. My first thought (which I think I've posted elsewhere) when I heard "I Just Called..." was, "Oh, he wrote a song around the 'demo' button on a Casio." My second was that he must've thought, "Hey, I don't have to play the drums anymore! This keyboard plays them for me!"

XP - If by "non-funk stuff" you mean his ballads, that's about 2/3 of his output - even on his greatest albums - right there. And if you don't love at least a few of Stevie's ballads...well I don't mean to judge, but gosh. I feel sorry for your ears.

"Higher Ground" = my #1. Surprised "Golden Lady" did slightly better, but I voted for that too.

Great top 10 so far.

I think it was pretty clear from the start that our tastes are not very alike

Um, you voted in a Stevie Wonder poll. They can't be THAT far off.

My favorite poll so far.

05. AS (Songs in the Key of Life, 1976) -- 372 points, 17 votes, 3 #1 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjsAy7HFeX0

If by "non-funk stuff" you mean his ballads, that's about 2/3 of his output - even on his greatest albums - right there.

there's plenty of Stevie ballads that I like, and some of the pre-70s stuff is okay, but they're all kind of secondary in my mind behind stuff like Superstition, Higher Ground, You Haven't Done Nothin, I Wish, etc.

"As"? more like "ass".

I'm an equal-opportunity Stevie fan-maniac. I love his funk stuff as much as his ballads as much as his twee album filler.

I just don't like "Ebony & Ivory."

"As" is great. There've been some appalling cover versions of it though.

04. SIR DUKE (Songs in the Key of Life, 1976) -- 381 points, 18 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MIjsANK_LQ

wow neither Sir Duke nor As at number 1? surprising!

o rly?