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Monday Music: Superstition
Really late because I was so distracted by the Grammys, but as usual, better late than never!
I'm doing this off a list of about 60 songs that by the end of the year I'll pare down to 50, and each week I wonder which song I'll do that week, and each week the universe guides me to one. So with this week, and this song, which was played on the Grammys. Not that I have anything wrong with covers or collaborations, but I do like knowing the originals. And this original is not only pretty damn good, but has a funk lick played on an electronic clavichord.
Stevie Wonder was a child prodigy—hence the "wonder", his real name is Steveland Morris—who'd been at Motown since he was 11. His first #1, when he was 13, was "Fingertips (Pt. 2)" where he's playing harmonica in addition to singing. He had a series of other hits while still a kid (that was the hook to his playing with the Jo Bros on the Grammys this year). And then, at 21, he let his Motown contract expire because he wanted complete creative control and the rights to his songs.
Berry Gordy might want control but he isn't stupid, and acquiesced to Stevie's demands, and in 1972 Stevie began recording a string of five amazing albums over five years, three of which won Album of the Year.
I'm pausing here so you can think about that. He won Album of the Year in 1973, 1974, and 1976, all while he was in his early to mid twenties. When Paul Simon won in 1975, he thanked Stevie for not releasing an album that year.
Anyway, the second of these five albums was Talking Book, released in October 1972, and the first single from that album was "Superstition." Stevie originally wrote the song for Jeff Beck, but Motown thought he should keep it for himself, and it went to #1 on both the R&B chart and the more rock-dominated pop chart. Stevie had been on tour with the Rolling Stones, and "Superstition" showed that R&B artists could have real crossover appeal; it was his first #1 since "Fingertips (Pt. 2)".
Stevie wrote the song while playing the drums and humming the melody to himself so you know I'm going to love it, and the opening drums are such a signature to this song. You can hear in that beat how hip-hop is mostly based on classic funk, and of course that's a lot of what makes the song so danceable.
The other signature is that clavinet lick, which is the next sound you hear. Stevie was very involved in the early use of synthesizers, and you can hear him playing around with the sound on all five of these classic albums. The clavinet is an electronic clavichord, which itself is a renaissance keyboard instrument; Tori Amos uses the clavichord on "Little Amsterdam." (Aside: you know how in the 40s film version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Bing Crosby teaches the king's musicians how to play swing? Now I have this vision of some funk artist hitting his head and going back to renaissance Germany and teaching the musicians to play "Superstition.")
Right, so then Stevie starts singing about superstitions, and halfway through the first verse the horns kick in, giving us the third distinctive sound and an interesting counterpoint to the clavinet, not to mention some punctuation in the chorus:
After this, and a little bridge carried by the horns, the song propels itself without a ton of change ups. Not that we need them, between the drums, the clavinet, the horns, the other synthesizers, the guitar, the bass line, the melody in the vocal—this is a complicated damn song, one that's good when you're training yourself how to listen for various parts, which I used to do a lot of when I was in high school and learning how to read a score and understand music arrangements.
Just a note about music in the early 70s: "Superstition" was preceded at the #1 spot by "You're So Vain" and followed by "Crocodile Rock".
I have many videos this time around! First, that Musikladen video. I want to be one of those backup singers, so 70s cool in their afros and earth-toned turtlenecks. Be kind to them, though—hitting that damn note is really hard.
Stevie Wonder - Superstition - Musikladen -07-16-1975- @ Yahoo! Video
Next, Stevie playing "Superstition" on Sesame Street in 1973. This was when I was watching a LOT of the show, as I was three years old, and in my mind Sesame Street is full of black folks in afros and turtlenecks. Dig all of Stevie's shout outs to various muppets, the kids playing maracas on the fire escape, and that one awesome dancing kid in the red shirt, not to mention Stevie quoting the theme song toward the end of the rather long jam.
Mostly, though, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. I give it a 10.
Stevie Wonder: Superstition
Buy the song on iTunes
Buy the CD on Amazon
I'm doing this off a list of about 60 songs that by the end of the year I'll pare down to 50, and each week I wonder which song I'll do that week, and each week the universe guides me to one. So with this week, and this song, which was played on the Grammys. Not that I have anything wrong with covers or collaborations, but I do like knowing the originals. And this original is not only pretty damn good, but has a funk lick played on an electronic clavichord.
Stevie Wonder was a child prodigy—hence the "wonder", his real name is Steveland Morris—who'd been at Motown since he was 11. His first #1, when he was 13, was "Fingertips (Pt. 2)" where he's playing harmonica in addition to singing. He had a series of other hits while still a kid (that was the hook to his playing with the Jo Bros on the Grammys this year). And then, at 21, he let his Motown contract expire because he wanted complete creative control and the rights to his songs.
Berry Gordy might want control but he isn't stupid, and acquiesced to Stevie's demands, and in 1972 Stevie began recording a string of five amazing albums over five years, three of which won Album of the Year.
I'm pausing here so you can think about that. He won Album of the Year in 1973, 1974, and 1976, all while he was in his early to mid twenties. When Paul Simon won in 1975, he thanked Stevie for not releasing an album that year.
Anyway, the second of these five albums was Talking Book, released in October 1972, and the first single from that album was "Superstition." Stevie originally wrote the song for Jeff Beck, but Motown thought he should keep it for himself, and it went to #1 on both the R&B chart and the more rock-dominated pop chart. Stevie had been on tour with the Rolling Stones, and "Superstition" showed that R&B artists could have real crossover appeal; it was his first #1 since "Fingertips (Pt. 2)".
Stevie wrote the song while playing the drums and humming the melody to himself so you know I'm going to love it, and the opening drums are such a signature to this song. You can hear in that beat how hip-hop is mostly based on classic funk, and of course that's a lot of what makes the song so danceable.
The other signature is that clavinet lick, which is the next sound you hear. Stevie was very involved in the early use of synthesizers, and you can hear him playing around with the sound on all five of these classic albums. The clavinet is an electronic clavichord, which itself is a renaissance keyboard instrument; Tori Amos uses the clavichord on "Little Amsterdam." (Aside: you know how in the 40s film version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Bing Crosby teaches the king's musicians how to play swing? Now I have this vision of some funk artist hitting his head and going back to renaissance Germany and teaching the musicians to play "Superstition.")
Right, so then Stevie starts singing about superstitions, and halfway through the first verse the horns kick in, giving us the third distinctive sound and an interesting counterpoint to the clavinet, not to mention some punctuation in the chorus:
When you believe in things that you don't understand then you sufferwhere they play on the beat, then "bop bop" like a colon before
Superstition ain't the wayand after, a kind of exclamation point: "baaaaa-ba-ba-bada-ba". In the video often shown on MTV/VH1, taken from a performance on the German show Musikladen, Stevie hasn't brought his horn section to Europe, so the back up singers handle that line—tricky, since that first "baaa" isn't in the chord anyplace; you have to pull that note out of the air. (The counterpoint is handled by additional keyboards.)
After this, and a little bridge carried by the horns, the song propels itself without a ton of change ups. Not that we need them, between the drums, the clavinet, the horns, the other synthesizers, the guitar, the bass line, the melody in the vocal—this is a complicated damn song, one that's good when you're training yourself how to listen for various parts, which I used to do a lot of when I was in high school and learning how to read a score and understand music arrangements.
Just a note about music in the early 70s: "Superstition" was preceded at the #1 spot by "You're So Vain" and followed by "Crocodile Rock".
I have many videos this time around! First, that Musikladen video. I want to be one of those backup singers, so 70s cool in their afros and earth-toned turtlenecks. Be kind to them, though—hitting that damn note is really hard.
Stevie Wonder - Superstition - Musikladen -07-16-1975- @ Yahoo! Video
Next, Stevie playing "Superstition" on Sesame Street in 1973. This was when I was watching a LOT of the show, as I was three years old, and in my mind Sesame Street is full of black folks in afros and turtlenecks. Dig all of Stevie's shout outs to various muppets, the kids playing maracas on the fire escape, and that one awesome dancing kid in the red shirt, not to mention Stevie quoting the theme song toward the end of the rather long jam.
Mostly, though, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. I give it a 10.
Stevie Wonder: Superstition
Buy the song on iTunes
Buy the CD on Amazon
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Monday, before I'd even had my tea, the familiar drums started up in the main office, and I was like "...". Turns out my favorite prof was using the song as part of his Music in Technology class (which meets in the lab off the main office), playing Superstition to his class as the original, and then after it had been digitally compressed in various ways to show them how to differentiate the sounds. He teaches two classes back to back, so I was listening to Superstition all morning long.
Then on Wednesday as I was driving into work Superstition came on the radio during the one traffic free portion of my drive in, allowing me to rock out without funny looks.
And now this! This is a very Stevie week so far! Yay! :)
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