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Writing a review... it's certainly not an easy thing! But taking a look at this beautiful site, I noticed something a bit strange... where are the reviews of Stevie Wonder's albums? I haven't found them, but I don't count, so to solve a non-issue, I'll write them myself.
As I was saying, writing a review is not simple, especially when it comes to Stevie Wonder, and even more so when it comes to a magnificent album like Innervisions, so I imagine you will understand and excuse me if it's not to your liking. Let's dive in. Innervision, an album that has brought both joy and pain to our Wonder, considering the Grammy Awards won but also the accident that nearly killed him after the album's release.
The record (yes, I know... I'm twenty-five years old but I still like the term record...) starts with "Too High," a track that follows the path marked by previous albums and will lead to the magnificent "Songs In The Key Of Life," a piece that, despite its funky beat and the urge to move it puts in you, has the theme of drug abuse, which our Wonder knew well at the time. This is followed by "Visions," which brings us back down to earth, more than a song, an arpeggio with guitar and vocal cords, filled with fundamental themes, the meaning of life, and the "inner vision" that gives the album its title, in one sound, like how Bob Dylan would sound if he had a black voice. The third track, "Living for the City," I've always considered more than a song, a theatrical work, perhaps a concept to develop separately, but even as it is, it's thrilling. The themes are poverty, marginalization, and racism, emblematic is the long interlude of the arrest and trial of the black boy in the middle of the song, which right after this part, however, opens up and almost becomes an anthem for the will to succeed. We continue catching our breath, with "Golden Lady," a song bursting with love and joy, between bossa nova and the African rhythms of the bongos. Halfway through, Stevie grabs us by the jacket and invites us to get up and dance with the famous "Higher Ground," a riff repeated thousands of times not just by me but also by many musicians who have covered it; even in this track Stevie manages to perfectly reconcile a tight and funky rhythm with social themes. Social themes that continue in the next track, "Jesus Children Of America," a song, a prayer, where the funk becomes darker and goes hand in hand with the themes, and the weight of Wonder's words hits us directly in the stomach. By this point, the album has already turned somber, and a hint of melancholy hits us in "All Is Fair In Love," sad and melancholic, a ballad about ended loves. But by this point, Stevie gives us another slap in the face, and a beautiful and provocative Hispanic woman invites us to dance in "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing," in which Stevie invites us to smile and not to worry about anything. The album closes with the beautiful ballad of social commentary "He's Misstra Know It All," which if you didn't know English, could very well pass for a bittersweet love song.
In conclusion, "Innervisions" is and will remain one of the most beautiful albums not only in Stevie Wonder's discography but in the entire history of music, and its importance transcends the album itself because it will be the final phase of the path undertaken by the artist in the seventies, which will then have its greatest splendor in "Songs In The Key Of Life."
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Too High (04:36)
Doo Doo Doo...
I'm too high
I'm too high
But I ain't touched the sky
I'm too high
I'm too high
But I ain't touched the sky
She's a girl in a dream
She sees a four eyed cartoon monster on the TV screen
She takes another puff and says it's a crazy scene
That red is green
She's a tangerine
I'm too high
I'm too high
But I ain't left the ground
I'm too high
I'm too high
I hope I never ever come down
She's the girl in her life
But her world's a superficial paradise
She had a chance to make it big more than once or twice
But no dice
She wasn't very nice
[Harmonica Solo]
Doo Doo Doo...
I'm too high
I'm too high
I can't ever touch the sky
I'm too high
I'm so high
I feel like I'm about to die
She's a girl of the past
I guess that I got to her at last
Did you hear the news about the girl today?
She passed away
What did her friend say?
They said she's too high
Too high
Can't hang around anyway
Doo Doo Doo...
02 Visions (05:23)
People hand in hand
Have I lived to see the milk and honey land?
Where hate's a dream and love forever stands
Or is this a vision in my mind?
The law was never passed
But somehow all men feel they're truly free at last
Have we really gone this far through space and time
Or is this a vision in my mind?
I'm not one who make believes
I know that leaves are green
They only turn to brown when autumn comes around
I know just what I say
Today's not yesterday
And all things have an ending
But what I'd like to know
Is, could a place like this exist so beautiful
Or do we have to find our wings and fly away
To the vision in our mind?
[Guitar Solo]
I'm not one who make believes
I know that leaves are green
They only change to brown when autumn comes around
I know just what I say
Today's not yesterday
And all things have an ending
But what I'd like to know
Is could a place like this exist so beautiful
Or do we have to take our wings and fly away
To the visions in our mind?
03 Living for the City (07:22)
A boy is born in hard time Mississippi
Surrounded by four walls that ain't so pretty
His parents give him love and affection
To keep him strong, moving in the right direction
Living just enough, just enough for the city
His father works some days for fourteen hours
And you can bet he barely makes a dollar
His mother goes to scrub the floors for many
And you'd best believe she hardly gets a penny
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Da da da...
His sister's black but she is sho'nuff pretty
Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy
To walk to school she's got to get up early
Her clothes are old but never are they dirty
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Her brother's smart he's got more sense than many
His patience's long but soon he won't have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
Cause where he lives they don't use coloured people
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Da da da...
Living just enough, for the city, woah [Repeat]
Da da da...
[Interlude]
His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty
He spends his life walking the streets of New York City
He's almost dead from breathing in air pollution
He tried to vote but to him there's no solution
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow
And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow
This place is cruel no where could be much colder
If we don't change the world will soon be over
Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city
Da da da...
04 Golden Lady (04:58)
Looking in your eyes
Kind of heaven eyes
Closing both my eyes
Waiting for surprise
To see the heaven in your eyes is not so far
Cause I'm not afraid to try and go it
To know the love and the beauty never known before
I'll leave it up to you to show it
And golden lady, golden lady
I'd like to go there
Golden lady, golden lady
I'd like to go there
Take me right away
Looking at your hands
Hands can understand
Waiting for the chance
Just to hold your hand
A touch of rain and sunshine made the flower grow
Into a lovely smile that's blooming
And it's so clear to me that you're a dream come true
There's no way that I'll be losing
And golden lady, golden lady
I'd like to go there
Golden lady, golden lady
I'd like to go there
Take me right away
A touch of rain and sunshine made the flower grow
Into a lovely smile that's blooming
And it's so clear to me that your my dream come true
There is no way that I'll be losing
Golden lady, golden lady
I'd like to go there [Repeat to fade]
05 Higher Ground (03:42)
People keep on learnin'
Soldiers keep on warrin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long
Powers keep on lyin'
While your people keep on dyin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long
I'm so darn glad he let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin'
'Til I reach the highest ground
Teachers keep on teachin'
Preachers keep on preachin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long
Oh no
Lovers keep on lovin'
Believers keep on believin'
Sleepers just stop sleepin'
Cause it won't be too long
Oh no
I'm so glad that he let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin'
'Til I reach my highest ground
'Til I reach my highest ground
Oh no
No one's gonna bring me down
Oh no
'Til I reach my highest ground
Don't you let nobody bring you down
God is gonna show you higher ground
He's the only friend you have around
06 Jesus Children of America (04:10)
Hello Jesus, Jesus children
Jesus loves you, Jesus children
Hello children Jesus loves you of America
Are you hearing, what he's saying?
Are you feeling, what you're praying?
Are you hearing, praying, feeling what you say inside?
You'd better tell
Your story fast
And if you lie
It will come to pass
(Tell me) Tell me holy
(Holy roller) Holy roller
(Are you standing) Are you standing
(Like a soldier) Like a soldier?
(Well) Are you standing for everything you talk about?
(Holy roller)
Say
(Trans -) Transcendental
(- tal meditation) Meditation
(Speaks of) Speaks of inner
(Inner preservation) Preservation
(Well) Transcendental meditation gives you peace of mind
(Peace of mind)
You'd better tell
Your story fast
And if you lie
It will come to pass
Dum le dum
Don't tell lies
Dum le dum...
(Tell me) Tell me junkie
(If you're able) If you're able
(Playing) Are you playing your cards
(On the table) On the table?
(Yeah) Are you happy when you stick a needle in your vein?
Dum le dum
(Jesus) Jesus died on
(Cross for you) Cross for you
(Mary) Mary is just
(Looking at you) Looking at you
(Yeah) Mother Mary feels so much pain
(Looking at you)
So you'd better tell (Tell your story)
Your story fast (Yeah, tell your story, story)
And if you lie (Dum le dum)
It will come to pass (Yeah, tell your story, story)
You'd better tell (Tell your story)
Your story fast (Tell, tell your story, story)
And if you lie (Dum le dum)
It's gonna come to pass (Yeah hey hey hey)
08 Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (04:44)
''[Gibberish]
See dig, mama, uh, do ya understand that?
(No)
Well uh, like, I can understand how you can't, because I've been uh,
You know, Paris, Beirut, you know, I mean Iraq, Iran, Eurasia, you know
I speak very very um, fluent Spanish
Ah, todo 'sta bien, chévere, you understand that?
(Chévere?)
Chevere, bien chevere, is that right mama?
'Cause I've got my shaky [Unintelligible]''
Everybody's got a thing
But some don't know how to handle it
Always reachin' out in vain
Just taking the things not worth having
But don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama
'Cause I'll be standing on the side
When you check it out
They say your style of life's a drag
And that you must go other places
But just don't you feel too bad
When you get fooled by smiling faces but
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama
Cause I'll be standing on the side
When you check it out
When you get off ... your trip
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama
'Cause I'll be standing in the side
When you check it out
When you get off ... your trip
Everybody needs a change
A chance to check out the new
But you're the only one to see
The changes you take yourself through
But don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing, pretty mama
'Cause I'll be standing in the wings
When you check it out
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
(To do 'sta bien chévere) [Repeat to fade]
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By alcol2
Nine tracks... form one of the happiest and deepest declarations of love known to popular music.
Innervisions transcends the senses while satiating them — an infinite prayer of gratitude to the One who alone has stood beside a people on the path to liberation.
