Artists Praise ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ for its 50th Anniversary

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Stevie Wonder’s 18th album Songs in the Key of Life, a work whose influence spans across multiple genres and generations.

At least this year, there are no plans for any kind of Songs in the Key of Life box set or super deluxe edition. However, 100 uncirculated and unhandled vinyl pressings of the double LP and 7-inch are available through the premium collectors platform Alliance Authentic, sealed in a hard plastic shell embedded with an NFC chip linking a digital certificate of authenticity. If there is only one of these to own, it’s this one.  

 

It was also just announced today that a four-song EP featuring previously unreleased songs from the original SITKOL recording sessions has been released on all digital platforms. Personally curated by Wonder himself, the tunes — “It’s Easier,” “My Life Story of Love,” “I Can See the Sun In Late December” and “I’m Into Livin’” — were newly mixed by the album’s original engineers Josh Fischback and Gary O Adante, adding a new dimension to an already landmark work.

“We’ve lived with Songs in the Key of Life for fifty years, but there’s still more to hear,” says Wonder. “We didn’t add these songs to the album, but they were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it. They bring me back to that time in my life, and now they get to become part of yours.”

Rock & Roll Globe spoke with several artists from all over the music map about this remarkable album and its impact on their lives and creative paths in this remembrance of one of the greatest works in recorded music.

***

I’m starting to really understand the musicality behind Songs in the Key of Life and why it sounds so good. I’ve been listening to it since I was a kid, and the main focus for me has always been the storytelling and the lyrics and the messages he was trying to get across in the songs. And as I get older and older, I’m starting to listen to the chord progressions and all the little solos. To anyone who doesn’t necessarily know music theory or the technicality behind it, you can still catch it and it’ll sound good, but it’s also really intriguing to people who understand and can speak to the musicality behind it. “Knocks Me Off My Feet” is one of my favorite songs on the album, because of the chord progression and the way his vocals lead into the chorus. You can feel it, and he executes it so well that you can tell the message of the song is heartfelt but it still has that Stevie swagger to it. It just sounds so perfect. -bunii

 

My first memory of this album falls out of my father’s fingers at our home Yamaha piano. He and my mother had just put me through my first set of classical piano lessons, and watching me learn the basics must’ve helped him rediscover his lost love for music. All school term, when I wasn’t practising “Mary Had a Little Lamb” out of my first songbook, my dad would bang out another rendition of the intro to “Isn’t She Lovely.” I remember being really annoyed at the time, how dare he interrupt my packed Year 1 schedule? Disturbing my homework flow! Stevie always found his way through the keyholes of major early life milestones and this album filled the house.

It wasn’t until after multiple rebuffed requests to quit the instrument, and my own journey into jazz around 13, that I stumbled on the vinyl in my local record shop on a walk back from school. In the price range of my £10-per-week allowance, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to pick up and try it out on my record player. The entire world opened up; “Love’s In Need of Love Today” caressed my ears; “Knocks Me Off My Feet” was the mainstay of my after-school karaoke sessions; I have no doubt that there was some “Summer Soft” in my “Buttersoft” (first ever fully self-produced song). His relationship with his piano helped me to develop mine with my own. I watched closely, and devoured any information I could about his approach to production, plus the whimsical way he interpreted the story into sound. His chord changes were so addictive. Then fast forward to my school’s last house music competition. I remember blowing out my own rendition of “Sir Duke” just before we broke up for the Christmas holidays. No clue on whether we won or not, but I sure felt proud that people could finally see the connection I had with music on full display for the first time.

Later down the line, “If It’s Magic” was my warm hug when yet another boy broke my heart. There was a very important shred of hope in the sound of the harp strings that almost carried me through uni. There have been so many treasured moments with this album, following me through both my life and career simultaneously! Stevie has brought so much joy to this earth through his music, and hasn’t asked for very much in return; just that we listen and enjoy with him. I wouldn’t be making music had it not been for a boy who started piano lessons at 4, just like me, and thought it was a story worth finishing. – Natanya 

 

AUDIO: Stevie Wonder “Sir Duke”

There were a few albums that were played in the house when we were growing up, one of them being Songs in the Key of Life. That was played the most, as it was our dad’s favorite record. So in a lot of ways we feel like it’s just seeped into our subconscious when we think about great, legendary music. Plus we had like an hour-and-a-half commute to school in the morning and we’d listen to the whole album. And in our music, at this time, I feel like there’s a through line of soul. With all the different places that we go sonically, that’s the baseline. Playing what feels good and right. That’s Stevie. – Zohar & Adam

 

For me, as an artist, Stevie is a transcendent fundamental. He shows me how to do the thing. If I’m gonna sing about the horrors or hardships that a human life can contain then I must imbue that person or people with dignity. And too, he shows in an infinite number of ways, if I’m gonna try and sing something that makes folks wanna dance then the groove should be insatiable.  – Chastity Brown 

 

This album is really special; it’s the foundation of my foundations. As an artist birthed by hip-hop and neo-soul, it’s amazing to hear “Pastime Paradise” and hear “Drama” by Erykah Badu, “3-6 in the Morning” by Three Six Mafia and “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio.

It’s crazy to hear “Love’s in Need of Love Today” and hear “Smile” by Jay-Z or “Ryder Music” by 50 Cent. It’s like taking an ancestry test and finding out how cool your great-grandfather was. But then still being able to speak to him yourself.

Experiencing the freedom and creative limitlessness of a person who’s able to put a political ballad like “Village Ghetto Land” before the sweetest song of all time, “Isn’t She Lovely”, after a fusion facemelter like “Contusion,” all on the same album, will forever be inspiring. -Genesis Owusu 

 

I was a teen in high school when Songs in the Key of Life was released. I had followed Stevie’s progression from Music of My Mind and all the albums of that period were masterpieces but nothing prepared me for the scope and the complete and utter brilliance of Songs in the Key of Life. I cannot think of anything remotely  like it in the cannon of soul music if you want to call it that –it is so universal that it might transcends genre in a certain way of looking at it.. That every album in the series from ”Music Of My mind ” up until right before Songs in the Key of Life  are unprecedented  masterpieces :it would seem impossible to up the ante  and maybe transcend them all. But in my opinion Stevie did exactly that. In my opinion, it is an unprecedented feat in one of the greatest runs of a series of albums in music history. – Matthew Shipp

 

Creating an album like Songs in the Key of Life is the goal. Everyone tries to do what Stevie did, which is create high musicianship but still keep catchy melodies where you can walk down the street and sing them. Stevie Wonder is such an important person. Even back then for this album, he demanded creative control from his record label. And he’s only 26 at the time. It’s a testament to why he’s so important, because he cares. I met him briefly when I played the BET Music Awards with Wyclef a couple of years ago, and I got to watch him do soundcheck. He’s older now, but he sat through the entire soundcheck, directing his band. He didn’t have to be there, but he did because he cares. – Niia 

I discovered Songs in the Key of Life much later in life. I think I was like 18 or 19 at a record store in Las Vegas. And this store had a record player where you could listen to stuff. I remember playing it there for the first time. I probably got through a couple of songs before I bought it, but I was so excited because I had just gotten my first turntable and was on my way through my record collecting journey. He’s just a light. It’s hard to put into words what he and this record mean to me. And I listened to so much Stevie in the process of recording my album, because he offers so much hope. I feel like there’s so much music in the world that offers no hope or no resolution in its writing. But I feel like even with so much anger and despair and injustice in the world, he still gives us hope, and that’s the music I turn to when I’m feeling despair. Songs in the Key of Life still gives me so much hope.     – Arima Ederra

 

Songs in the Key of Life having been a double album, I would have had second thoughts about using the scant money I earned from odd jobs as a prep to get it — better to check to see if any of my friends had it so I could tape it; and fortunately one did.  So I tally ho’d over to him in order to see if there were any songs that could erase, as it were, the disliking I had for the radio hit “Isn’t She Lovely.”  And luckily enough, as is the case with so many 70s LPs, the “hit” gave no real hint to the serious gems that were buried in the album per se.  An incredible achievement for Mr. Wonder, this disc; though I greatly prefer Innervisions as it has my all-time fav Wonder number:  “Living for the City.” – John Andrew Fredrick, the black watch 

 

What is crazy is that these were neither simpler nor purer times. ‘66-‘76 had been a drug fueled blood-bath of assassinations, a  dream destroying dirge fest of U.S. history from Vietnam to Cointelpro. Stevie Wonder’s third album in his Grammy-winning streak is a literal backbone of sound and culture steeped in an actual belief in music as a balm and beam of the highest intelligence. – Saul Williams