MY #10 ALL-TIME FAVORITE SONG: LIVING FOR THE CITY...Stevie Wonder
Back in the early 1970s I used to listen a bit to album rock radio...in South Florida my radio station of choice was 103.5/WSHE. In late 1973, after I had just turned 17, they kept playing a lengthy epic about a young black man's nightmare experiences with racial discrimination, first in Mississippi where he grew up and then on the streets of New York City and the unfair justice system...the narrative was gripping, the music top-notch, and the singer...Stevie Wonder? I didn't recall anything by Wonder...or other soul stars for that matter...getting air time on album rock radio: for me it was long overdue. I strongly encourage you to hear out the song for yourself...not the cut-down singles version but the complete 7:25 album track: you have to hear it for yourself to get the full impact. The album it's on is Innervisions, which is widely critically considered to be one of the greatest albums ever made and which also contains the hits Higher Ground and Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing. Stevie Wonder, blessed with a beautiful, versatile singing voice, is perhaps unmatched in this performance as he switches character roles and at one point holds a single note for what seems like forever. As the doomed protagonist steps off the bus in New York, the song breaks into an eerie scene of city sounds as his fate becomes sealed by prejudice and injustice before Wonder breaks back in with a much rougher voice. I believe that Living for the City is a song of transformation...anyone with a semblance of a conscience cannot help having their eyes open and their perspective permanently altered by this significant piece of art, truly Stevie Wonder's greatest single work in my opinion...
Next week: my #9 all-time favorite song from my list of 500...
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