It was 1961, and the world desperately needed their Stevie Wonder. Not that people already realized that it was Stevie’s voice that could fill the gap between the counterculture movement that was only starting to get a momentum, and the melancholy for the simpler and more heart-felt era of jazz that the 20ies and the 40ies were was growing. Blind and genial, Stevie gave the audience what they wanted, a touching child prodigy story and a bunch of even more moving songs. Unlike one might have predicted, by the end of the 60ies and the beginning of the1970ies, the novelty of Stevie Wonder’s songs had not worn off; on the contrary, as Ribovsky remarked, “for the soul aficionado, the real sorcery of Stevie Wonder arose in and endures from the 1970ies, a decade he owned” (Ribovsky 3). Songs in the Key of Life , Stevie Wonder’s album that was inspired by peaked higher than the sky and the title of which was “chosen as a canon and guidepost” (Ribovsky 261), is a perfect specimen of the singer’s oeuvre. With the help of the power of his singer’s and songwriter’s talent, Stevie Wonder managed to express the concern for the problems of the 1970ies, Love’s in Need of Love Today and As It comes as a big surprise that this is not another interpretation of I Just Called … Despite the similar beat and the same soothing melody, the song actually managed to hit the chord between a protest, a reproach and an encouragement for a change. The contrast between the soothing melody and a vision of a collapsing world is rather thought-provoking. Compared to this song, As offers a more romantic interpretation of longing for love, yet conveys the same idea. Have a Talk with God Making a connection to his previous message, Stevie Wonder suggests the way to right the wrongs of the world by having a talk with God. Rather naïve, yet also very touching song, it does sound a little preachy, yet for the time slot which it was intended for, it works perfectly well. Village Ghetto Land, Isn’t She Lovely?, Black Man and Ebony Eyes Of course, it would not be a Stevie Wonder album if it did not tell about the problem of peace from the point of the people who have been affected it most. Despite the mellow tone of the song and Wonder’s soft voice, the song actually came out as an eye-opener, shedding some light on the life of the African Americans in a typical American Black ghetto. Even though some messages were too on-the-nose, like “Families buying dog food now”, the song is still a solid message about the key problems of the America of the 70ies. Conveying a similar idea, Ebony Eyes and Isn’t She Lovely? tell about the beauty that shines even through the mess of a ghetto, while Black Man considers the issue from a man’s perspective. Contusion Another message about the world peace, Confusion pins down the true reasons for all the world’s major troubles, and makes it obvious that the root of all people’s problems, both personal and political, is misunderstanding. It seems that at the times when the USA was in the confrontation with the USSR and Asia, the message concerning the importance of a compromise was more than relevant. Sir Duke A tribute to Duke Ellington, a famous jazz musician, Sir Duke seems to be a slight