SOD: Stevie Wonder "Lately"

This is not Signed Sealed Delivered or Sir Duke style Stevie. There's no extravagance or pomp and circumstance with this song. There's no horn section either. This is Stevie Wonder stripped down to the man and his piano. And a little bass guitar to keep it all warm. I used to think Bruce Springsteen was the last great American Rock and Roll Songwriter to strut on the scene, but Stevie Winwood has as much right to that claim as The Boss. This guy can write a song with depth and meaning, and the perfect melody to tug at those emotions you can't help but let creep in.

And, Stevie's got ten times the voice Bruce does. That doesn't mean I don't love Bruce's voice (which I absolutely do), but the power and clarity that Stevie brings to the table is unparalleled. Just listen to the the end of this song. The emotional build throughout is slowly revving you up for something big and heartbreaking.

This isn't one of Stevie Wonders more popular songs either. It doesn't have the beat and danceability that many of the others do, but it has the soul force of something much greater. Music needs both those good time, foot-stomping party songs, and those slower, more reflective emotional ones. Even the best albums I know, include both.

Matt sent me a note this afternoon, and it said:

SOD request by me..."Lately" by Stevie Wonder. Whenever you get around to it. Listen, the chord changes, the melody, and especially Stevie singing the fuck out of it. Lyrics tell such a vivid story.

I got around to it. Anytime Matt suggests a song, I'll listen to it right away if I can. Do you know why? Because it's rare to find people who actually know what the fuck they're talking about these days, in any field. There's a lot of bullshit out there, the internet has made sure of that. Shit, I've probably spewed my fair share of it. Check that, I definitely have. But Matt, though I don't always agree with him, is not full of shit. He tells it like he feels it, and he can always back up his reasons. He's not regurgitating something he read or heard, he's living it and coming up with his own take. That's what I want to do. That's what I'm trying to do. He just has more knowledge than I do. Sometimes I wonder why he isn't the one writing the blog.

So I listened to this song, and like he said, the lyrics do tell a painful story. The lyric that stuck out with me after merely hearing it once was:

Far more frequently you're wearing perfume,
With you say, "No special place to go"
But when I ask will you be coming back soon,
You don't know, never know.

It's painfully plain, and so obvious. This woman is breaking this man's heart. He knows it, he feels it, smells it, and see's it. He's close to accepting it, somewhere in there he knows it's over he just hasn't said it aloud to himself. I'd venture to say most people have felt this before. If not most, than many. Lord knows I have. You see, in most every relationship, someone loves the other more. It's always harder to see in the beginning, but as time passes it is usually made clear. You don't want to be that person, but there's no way to fight it. And you can sense when your partner has outgrown you, or lost interest. You certainly don't want to admit it, and you fight to hold on, but all the while you always have a sense that it's ending. Confronting it, is confronting failure. It's accepting that the love you give is not returned, and that's not easy.

Granted, there are exceptions to the rule, but this fact alone is responsible for a lot of failed relationships. It's probably for the best in the end. Stevie's ability to capture this feeling so fully is remarkable. I can relate to the sap in this story, I know what he's feeling but he's got to figure it out on his own. It's a sad song, but it's a true song, and that makes it beautiful. It's simple, it's relatable, and as Matt said, "the chord changes." They'll teach you a thing or two on where a song can go, not necessarily where you expected it to.