{"id":1221,"date":"2008-02-11T22:25:12","date_gmt":"2008-02-12T03:25:12","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-02-12T01:00:11","modified_gmt":"2008-02-12T01:00:11","slug":"stevie-wonder-s-lemginnerwretchingsl-emg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/stevie-wonder-s-lemginnerwretchingsl-emg\/","title":{"rendered":"Stevie Wonder&#8217;s <em>Innerwretchings<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><small><em>First, to gain your trust, one I like as much as the folks in the audience!<\/em><\/small><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_QYcDUzCu94?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nLast week my good friend <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1\"><strong>HVB<\/strong> SUMMONED me to the floor of the Halls of Rock<\/a> to explain what my problem was with certain Stevie Wonder songs. I <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c13054\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c13054\">explained myself<\/a> promptly and clearly, or so I thought. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c13056\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c13056\"><strong>Mwall<\/strong> clearly grasped<\/a> what I was getting at. A poll supported the gist of what I was getting at. Only HVB <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c13224\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=enough_is_enough_mr_moderator_summoned_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c13224\">failed to get it<\/a>. He wanted examples of Stevie Wonder songs that bum me out and cause me to trash only one aspect of one of our national treasures.<\/p>\n<p>As much as I dreaded revisiting some of these numbers, the first thing that came to mind was to pull out my copy of <em>Innervisions<\/em>. Here&#8217;s a classic Stevie Wonder album that contains some of my favorite songs by the man: the spine-tingling &#8220;Living for the City&#8221;, the supercool &#8220;Higher Ground&#8221;, and the always-fascinating helix-like structure of &#8220;Don&#8217;t You Worry &#8216;Bout a Thing&#8221;! Unfortunately, it&#8217;s also home to &#8220;Visions&#8221;, &#8220;Golden Lady&#8221;, and &#8220;All in Love Is Fair&#8221;. I&#8217;ve skipped these songs for so long that I couldn&#8217;t be sure by title alone of which ones particularly offended my sensibilities. For the good of the Hall, I made myself listen to three examples from this one album. Following are my thoughts on each number. I hope this clarifies my feelings for you, Hrrundi.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<strong>&#8220;Visions&#8221;<\/strong><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jFeQ4NnQtkY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nOh man, as soon as this one started playing I was certain this is the song I had at the fore of my mind when I threw out my &#8220;strangely hostile (though humorous) question,&#8221; as Hrrundi put it. Does the intro to any song in recorded history call attention to its own beauty as brazenly as this one? The self-love masquerading as cosmic insight in this song makes similar efforts by <strong>Prince<\/strong> sound about as sensitive and self-absorbed as the works of <strong>Bon Scott<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Golden Lady&#8221;<\/strong><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NA6OCGLCUec?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nI call this a &#8220;pedestal song.&#8221; I&#8217;m not a big fan of placing women on a pedestal. So often it reeks of insincerity. Who was this Golden Lady in Stevie&#8217;s life, and how many women would follow in her place atop the man&#8217;s pedestal? This is a fun enough showcase for Stevie&#8217;s musical facility, but ultimately it&#8217;s a waste of my listening time. I&#8217;d rather hear a band I don&#8217;t even like, such as <strong>Earth, Wind &amp; Fire<\/strong>, take this sort of idea and fully exploit it, getting all they can out of these slight ideas and at least making them danceable. <\/p>\n<p>In case you think it&#8217;s just Stevie&#8217;s performance, here&#8217;s proof to the contrary:<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xo1py2dmBKE?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;All in Love Is Fair&#8221;<\/strong><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HwOA0kRL4PU?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nYou&#8217;ll have to go about <strong>1:25<\/strong> into this clip to experience this influential ballad on the theme songs of &#8217;80s <strong>Jerry Bruckheimer<\/strong> films and all the overwrought ballads that we cut up on when watching shows like the GRAMMYS. This song blows. If you want to see just how bad it is at its core, compute the minor drop off with this version and nightmarish vision:<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-5MufQp4BA0?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/stevie-wonder-s-lemginnerwretchingsl-emg\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/stevie-wonder-s-lemginnerwretchingsl-emg\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/stevie-wonder-s-lemginnerwretchingsl-emg\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First, to gain your trust, one I like as much as the folks in the audience! Last week my good friend HVB SUMMONED me to the floor of the Halls of Rock to explain what my problem was with certain Stevie Wonder songs. I explained myself promptly and clearly, or so I thought. Mwall clearly <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/stevie-wonder-s-lemginnerwretchingsl-emg\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}