# Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born 13 May 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and social activist.

## Quotes

* We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.
** As quoted in The Story of Stevie Wonder (1976) by James Haskins, Ch. 1 : Growing Up in a World of Darkness
* Sometimes I think I would love to see … just to see the beauty of flowers and trees and birds and the earth and grass. … Being as I've never seen, I don't know what it's like to see. So in a sense I'm complete. Maybe I'd be incomplete if I did see. Maybe I'd see some things that I didn't want to see … the beauty of the earth compared to the destruction of man. You see, it's one thing when you are blind from birth, and you don't know what it's like to see, anyway, so it is just like seeing. The sensation of seeing is not one that I have and not one that I worry about.
** As quoted in Stevie Wonder (1978) by Constanze Elsner, and Jet Vol. 53, No. 22 (16 February 1978), p. 60
* Most cassettes are afraid of me.
* I've been a vegan for two years, so that's helped my already good-looking self. I think that eating healthy is important. … We have to be about making our planet more greener, the urban areas more sustainable for the children. We can't just talk about it, we have to be about it. … I'm motivating people to do something about how we are living on this planet. … You know it is only possible to be able to have the blessing of song through the fact that God has given me life. And the only way we can have life is by perpetuating life in how we live.
** "Stevie Wonder talks being vegan and living a green lifestyle", interview with AOL (26 February 2016)
* What I’ve not heard is a unanimous commitment to atone for the sins of this country... I know that dance. I've heard those songs. It was an 18-year fight to (make) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday... Yet it was a fight I was not willing to lose... Systemic racism can have an ending. Police brutality can have an ending. Economic repression of Black and brown people can have an ending... A movement without action is a movement standing still. To those who say they care: Move more than your mouth. Move your feet to the polls, and use your hands to vote... Black lives do matter. And this is not another digital, viral trend, moment or hashtag, Yes, all lives do matter, but they only matter when black lives matter too.
** Quoted in Stevie Wonder calls for action on Black Lives Matter efforts: 'Move more than your mouth', Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press, source: USA Today, (24 June 2020)

## Song lyrics

* Baby, everything is alright, Uptight, outta sight!
** Uptight (Everything's Alright)
* My Cherie Amour, pretty little one that I adore You're the only girl my heart beats for How I wish that you were mine.
** My Cherie Amour
* For once in my life I have someone who needs me, Someone I needed so long.
** For Once In My Life
* For once in my life I won’t let sorrow hurt me, Not like it’s hurt me before, oh For once I have something I know won't desert me ‘Cause I’m not alone anymore.
** For Once In My Life
* Like a fool I went and stayed too long, Now I'm wondering if your love's still strong, Ooh, baby, here I am, Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!
** Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)

### Music of My Mind (1972)

* But, very well, I believe I know you very well, Wish that you knew me too, very well, And I think I can deal with everything going through your head.
** Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)
* When the summer came you were not around, Now the summer's gone and love cannot be found, Where were you when I needed you last winter, my love?
** Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)
* I'm happier than the morning sun, And that's the way you said that it would be, If I should ever bring you inside my life.
** Happier Than The Morning Sun

### Talking Book (1972)

* You are the sunshine of my life, That's why I'll always be around, You are the apple of my eye, Forever you'll stay in my heart.
** You Are The Sunshine of My Life
* I feel like this is the beginning, Though I've loved you for a million years, And if I thought our love was ending, I'd find myself drowning in my own tears.
** You Are The Sunshine of My Life
* Very superstitious, Writings on the wall, Very superstitious, Ladder's 'bout to fall, Thirteen month old baby, Broke the looking glass, Seven years of bad luck, The good things in your past.
** Superstition
* When you believe in things that you don't understand, Then you suffer, Superstition ain't the way.
** Superstition
* I believe when I fall in love with you It will be forever.
** I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

### Innervisions (1973)

* 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 visions in our mind?
** Visions
* 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.
** Living For The City
* Her brother's smart, he's got more sense than many, His patience 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.
** Living For The City
* 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 beauty never known before, I'll leave it up to you to show it.
** Golden Lady
* 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 trying until I reach my highest ground.
** Higher Ground
* But 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.
** Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
* He's a man with a plan, Got a counterfeit dollar in his hand, He's misstra know-it-all.
** He's Misstra Know-It-All

### Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974)

* 'Where is your God?' That's what my friends ask me, And I say it's taken him so long 'Cause we've got so far to come.
** Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
* And I can't go on this way, With it stronger every day, But being too shy to say That I really love you.
** Too Shy To Say
* I like to see you boogie right across the floor, I'd like to do it to you 'til you howl for more, I like to reggae, but you dance too fast for me, I'd like to make love to you so you can make me scream.
** Boogie On Reggae Woman
* 'Cause we are sick and tired of hearing your song, Telling us how you are gonna change right from wrong, 'Cause if you really want to hear our views, You haven't done nothin'.
** You Haven't Done Nothin'
* No more lying friends wanting tragic ends, Though they do pretend, They won't go when I go.
** They Won't Go When I Go
* And I'll go where I've longed to go, So long, away from tears.
** They Won't Go When I Go

### Songs In The Key of Life (1976)

* Love's in need of love today, Don't delay, send yours in right away, Hate's going 'round breaking many hearts, Stop it please, before it's gone too far.
** Love's In Need of Love Today
* Would you like to go with me Down my dead end street? Would you like to come with me To village ghetto land?
** Village Ghetto Land
* Music is a world within itself With a language we all understand, With an equal opportunity For all to sing, dance and clap their hands.
** Sir Duke
* Well there's Basie, Miller, Satchmo And the king of all, Sir Duke, And with a voice like Ella's ringing out, There's no way the band can lose.
** Sir Duke
* Looking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy, Then my only worry was for Christmas, what would be my toy? Even though we sometimes would not get a thing, We were happy with the joy the day would bring.
** I Wish
* I wish those days could come back once more, Why did those days ever have to go?
** I Wish
* They've been spending most their lives Living in a pastime paradise. They've been spending most their lives Living in a pastime paradise. They've been wasting most their time Glorifying days long gone behind, They've been wasting most their days In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise.
** Pastime Paradise
* As around the sun the earth knows she's revolving, And the rosebuds know to bloom in early May, Just as hate knows love's the cure, You can rest your mind assured, That I'll be loving you always.
** As
* For you, there might be a brighter star, But through my eyes the light of you burns all I see. For you, there might be another song, But all my heart can hear is your melody.
** Another Star
* Goin' back to Saturn where the rings all glow, Rainbow, moonbeams and orange snow, On Saturn, people live to be two hundred and five, Goin' back to Saturn where the people smile, Don't need cars 'cause we've learned to fly, On Saturn, just to live to us is our natural high.
** Saturn

### Hotter Than July (1980)

* You took me riding in your rocket and gave me a star, But at a half a mile from heaven You dropped me back down to this cold, cold world.
** Rocket Love
* Everyone's feeling pretty, It's hotter than july, Though the world's full of problems, They couldn't touch us even if they tried.
** Master Blaster (Jammin')
* Didn't know that you Would be jammin' until the break of dawn, See nobody ever told you that you Would be jammin' until the break of dawn.
** Master Blaster (Jammin')
* Well I'm a man of many wishes, Hope my premonition misses, But what I really feel, My eyes won't let me hide, 'Cause they always start to cry, 'Cause this time could mean goodbye.
** Lately
* You know it doesn't make much sense, There ought to be a law against Anyone who takes offence At a day in your celebration, 'Cause we all know in our minds That there ought to be a time That we can set aside To show just how much we love you, And I'm sure you would agree, What could fit more perfectly Than to have a world party On the day you came to be? Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Happy birthday.
** Happy Birthday

### The Woman in Red (1984)

* I just called to say I love you, I just called to say how much I care, I just called to say I love you, And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
** I Just Called to Say I Love You

### In Square Circle (1985)

* Call up, ring once, hang up the phone, To let me know you made it home, Don't want nothing to be wrong, With part-time lover.
** Part-Time Lover
* We are undercover passion on the run, Chasing love up against the sun, We are strangers by day, lovers by night, Knowing it's so wrong but feeling so right.
** Part-Time Lover
* And though you don't believe that they do, They do come true, For did my dreams Come true when I looked at you, And maybe too if you would believe, You too might be overjoyed, over love, over me.
** Overjoyed

### A Time To Love (2005)

* Raindrops, passionate raindrops, The kind of rain that writes 'They're so in love' on our skin. Raindrops, that we hope won't stop Cooling the red hot love that we are making.
** Passionate Raindrops
* Shame on me, shame on you, Shame on them, shame on us, Shame on me, shame on you, Shame on them, shame on us, So what the fuss.
** So What The Fuss

## About

* I don't know what life would be like without music. In my lonely times, music has been my closest friend. It has also been my doctor-and my lover, in the sense that I sometimes listen to music and dream of a lover that doesn't exist. Late at night, when I don't feel sleepy, I'll play music-all types of music and lose myself in its mystery. I might decide to play Stevie Wonder, or Debussy, or Tchaikovsky. It depends on my mood.
** 1977 interview in Conversations with Maya Angelou (1989)
* As Stevie Wonder says in his song (It will take a long time before white America can understand what his music is about at all; it's almost like a code. They don't really know what Stevie is singing about or what Stevie is saying. They can't afford to know.) Stevie says, "I ain't gotta do nothing to you; I ain't even gotta do nothing to you; you cause your own country to fall." And that's what's happening.
** 1973 interview in Conversations with James Baldwin edited by Louis H. Pratt and Fred L. Standley (1989)
* Stevie Wonder delivered an emphatic, at times impatient video message Tuesday urging on the Black Lives Matter movement. Saying he has listened to "voices on the left, voices on the right," Wonder added, "What I’ve not heard is a unanimous commitment to atone for the sins of this country."... Wonder lamented that three states — North Dakota, South Dakota and Hawaii — have failed to formally recognize Juneteenth as a holiday. "... It was an 18-year fight to (make) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday," said Wonder, who teamed with late U.S. Rep. John Conyers in that ultimately successful campaign... The short video, titled "The Universe is Watching Us," was posted to Wonder's social media channels Tuesday afternoon.
** Brian MCollum, "Stevie Wonder calls for action on Black Lives Matter efforts: 'Move more than your mouth'" Detroit Free Press, USA Today
* And most of all, I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year.
** Paul Simon, speaking on February 28, 1976, accepting the award given Still Crazy After All These Years as Album of the Year at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards

## External links

* Stevie Wonder interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)