I'm Adam Maness.
And I'm Peter Martin.
And you're listening to the "You'll Hear It" podcast.
Music explored.
Explored, brought to you today by Open Studio.
Go to openstudiojazz.com for all of your jazz lesson needs. Peter?
And a little something a new... Sorry. Am I pointing at you too much?
You're pointing.
Because I'm excited. We have a special bonus coming from Open Studio that
actually draws directly from this album.
Yeah.
A first-time only lesson.
First time only.
Don't tell them, though.
Okay.
We'll tell them later.
We'll tell them later.
We'll tell them later.
But yeah.
Don't forget, though.
Okay.
Put a pin in it.
Okay.
How you doing, man?
Pretty good. How are you?
Episode
one of season 15.
15 years. Can you believe it?
15 years. I think I met you 12 years ago. That's what's weird about it.
Yeah, that's what's so weird. No, I think this is in the middle of our seventh or
eighth year-
Yeah, seventh year
... but we've done 15 seasons.
That's crazy.
Scientifically, there's no rhyme or reason to a season.
Well, you know, "The seasons of my
life." That's Reasons. We need to do that album.
What is that?
How does that fall off the list?
Which one is that?
Earth, Wind & Fire.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we gotta do that.
Okay.
Talking about making some notes. Yeah, no, this is exciting because
we've covered this album sort of, but
not in our inimitable, new You'll Hear It
fashion. Songs in the Key of Life, 1976, Stevland
Morris, AKA, BKA, Stevie Wonder, the great.
That's right. And we're going to do a special version of this
episode, where we're going to actually do, borrowed from our friends
over at the old Ringer network-
Okay.
... but don't tell anybody.
TM.
But we're going to do a little draft of Songs in the Key of Life.
So-
And full disclosure, we just planned this 30 seconds ago because we were having
trouble. This is such a monumental record.
Look, let me just set the stage a little bit.
This record, these records, this is a double album, right?
Yeah.
So it would be due album-
Yeah.
Albumi, as they would say in... No, they wouldn't say that in Italy.
Yeah.
But this is 1976. This was a very important record.
This comes either right at the end of Stevie's classic period, Innervisions,
Fulfillingness' First Finale, Music of My Mind, or the beginning of the
next period, going into Musiquarium and Hotter than July, and all the great-
Yeah. Yeah
... '80s hits.
Yeah.
It's right at this kind of fulcrum of Stevie's career, and it's long
because it's two albums, a two-record album.
It's a beautiful cover design. This introduced me, actually, to Stevie,
through my music teacher in elementary school. This is an important record.
This is a beautiful record, but we realized we can't just go through every track
and be like, "Yeah." So we're going to mix it up a little bit You'll Hear It style.
So there's 21 tracks on the album, which means, Peter, we should probably-
... have a place setter-
Yes
... and just start with "Love's in Need of Love Today," which is the opening track,
and then from there on-
Yeah
... you and I will alternate drafting our favorite tracks.
Yes. Ooh, this is hard.
So that we see who gets the better lineup by the end.
I can already tell you, there's no losers here. There's only winners.
I know. I know. Because it is a masterpiece, and this is sort of like a all
killer, no filler-
Yeah
... style album, so anything's possible. But let's check out the opening track.
This is the neutral-
So this is your first choice.
No.
Love-
This is the neutral.
No. No.
This doesn't-
Well, who goes first?
Did you not just hear what I said? We need to burn a track because there's-
I know
... 21 tracks. So this place setter, "Love's in Need of Love Today," is nobody's
track. This is the listener's track.
This is one of the greatest openings.
For sure.
I know we've said this before with Stevie, but-
Come on.
Good morning, friends.
Here's your friendly announcer.
I have serious news to pass on
to everybody.
Mm.
What I'm about to say
could mean the world's disaster.
Could change your joy and laughter-
Mm
... to tears and pain.
The subtle build of this track to start out.
It's that love's
in need-
Yeah, and where it ends-
Ah
... by the end of the track.
Yeah.
It is one of the all-time great opening tracks.
Yeah.
As you would need to be an all-time great album.
Yeah.
And this is a perfect album.
And it's kind of... Ooh, he said it.
It's a perfect album.
This is a perfect opener for a perfect album.
It is.
Yeah.
And it's a, although it has some shades of
Sunshine of My Life, I would say, in terms of kind of the
lyrical vibe and melody, and even the harmony, this is a little bit
more of a challenging opening track-
Yeah
... than it belies sp- from its beauty, right?
It's going a lot of places. The choir comes in and out.
Now with the drums get you. I think this is Stevie playing drums. Oh.
So good, man. So good. All right. That's the neutral track.
Oh, my God.
The opening track. We've got now, we have 20 tracks to choose from.
Let's rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first.
Ooh.
You ready?
We're going old school.
Well, this is a one of one rock, paper, scissors.
If you're lis- Sorry. Okay, I'm gonna describe, in case you're not on YouTube.
We'll call it.
Adam is warming up. Oh, he has the fist. Look, he's warming it up.
Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
Damn it.
Okay. Peter had a rock-
I gave that rock, and I got scissors on that one.
Okay.
Okay, you go first.
I psyched him out-
You go first
... the first time. Now, I have to be a little strategic because I'm selfish, and
I've already got-
Oh, no
... three tracks that I do not want you to get. So how do I fake him out?
This is the draft, man.
Mm.
This is like the NBA right now.
Mm. Okay. This one I've gotta have, for sure,
so I'm gonna go ahead and take it, because I'm like, "I'm not gonna let this slip."
This,
I guess you would say, is my favorite track because I'm choosing it
Oh.
Shoot.
If it's magic
I can't believe you got that one. Okay.
Then why can't it be everlasting
Of course, If It's Magic,
Dorothy Ashby beautifully on harp.
Yeah. Dorothy Ashby.
One of Stevie's classic.
Incredible through here.
Like the poets in their prime
Do you like a relative minor chord?
Yes.
The nine chord there?
Like the galaxies in time
And this is a little bit of a, it's deeper into the album.
It's on the second
record.
Yeah, so this is-
Track number five
... this is track number 15-
Yeah
... of the whole album.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, all right. Did I do good with that one?
That's an elite pull, for sure.
So we're going to put a PM by that one.
Yeah.
In case you're keeping score at home. Okay.
I'm going to go actually the very next track, track 16, As.
Ooh.
Featuring Herbie Hancock.
Okay. Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You say, "Yeah."
Turn it up.
It's all the way up.
So Herbie Hancock on the Rhodes here takes one of the greatest Rhodes solos of his
career.
There's a promise on the earth, no seeking or begging
And the vibes on As are
second to none.
So Herbie Hancock's greatest Rhodes solo is your favorite Stevie Wonder track.
This also is my favorite, maybe my all-time favorite Stevie song.
Wow.
Well, no. But it's close.
Yeah.
I'll be loving you always.
Man, now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow.
I've always wondered-
But in faith we wait and hope
... if Herbie's playing everything or just the stuff up high, like
that, for sure.
I think Stevie's playing-
I think so, too
... a bass line of Rhodes.
I think so, too.
And in fact, here-
That's definitely Steve-
I mean-
... for sure, Herbie
... here, if I can take it here for a second, Peter.
Yes.
So you can actually hear
Woo.
So I think that's Stevie.
That's definitely Herbie.
And then that's Herbie. Yeah. You can hear them once you-
That does feel like Stevie's.
Big octaves in the left hand.
Yeah.
Yeah. I don't hear Herbie doing that.
Yeah.
And that would've made sense if he'd have that laid down already and then...
So Herbie's actually not comping, really. If that's the case.
I think Herbie's just blowing.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, like he did on, well, it was a little bit before.
I was going to say Plugged Nickel with Miles Davis, some of the later great Miles
Davis quintet when he was just single lining and yeah. Herbie Hancock.
Okay. That was a great one. So remember I told you there's three that I have to
have?
Yeah.
My strategy's working. Because I was kind of, before the show, you didn't even
notice, as we'd walk by each other, I'd be like, "Herbie Hancock, Herbie Hancock,"
just to psych you into that one.
Oh, you wouldn't have gone with that. Okay. All right. Well, that's fine.
Hey, Peter.
What's up, Adam?
You know who we don't see on this album?
Who?
Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil.
Oh, you're talking about the guys who created the TONTO, the giant… We've talked
about them before.
Yeah.
Those guys helped produce all the albums from the classic period.
Yeah, that's right. And I've been listening to Margouleff's new audio memoir, and
he talks about all of that stuff from that period.
He talks about meeting Stevie and introducing him to the TONTO.
Yeah.
And why they eventually parted ways before Songs in the Key of Life.
It's fascinating.
It's so cool. That period and what those three
gentlemen created is one of the great semi-told, but now
fully told-
Yeah
... from a firsthand opinion,
periods of popular music ever in America.
For sure. I was listening to the chapter where he talks about introducing Stevie to
the studio.
Mm.
And Stevie literally feeling his way around all the
stations at the studio. It was really, really cool to hear from Margouleff's
perspective.
That's awesome. And what's the book called again?
It's called Shaping Sounds, and you can find it at... Do you have a pen?
I do have a pen right here.
Okay.
It's called Shaping Sounds, and you can find it at pushkin.fm/audiobooks
or at Audible, Spotify, or wherever you get your audiobooks.
Just search Shaping Sounds.
This one, I adore this song.
I thought this would be number one for you.
Yeah, it was close.
Winter song.
Oh.
Wakes you up with a kiss to start the morning off.
In the midst of herself playing Santa Claus.
She brings gifts through her dreams.
I think this is my,
the favorite-
Running around
... harmonic progression that Stevie ever wrote.
To pick up the pieces on the wound up ground
And that's saying something, because there's about 30 of my favorites. Oh.
Of when she plans to change. To bring rain
or sunshine
What a song.
And so you wait to see what she'll do
Is Stevie Wonder the master of harmony?
Yes.
I mean, we talk about melody-
100%
... vocals, a lot of things, but I think harmonic movements.
But it breaks your heart in two
And this is never ending.
You find it October.
And she's gone
All right.
And though she runs
You know what? I don't want to call this game early, but I think I'm winning.
Not so fast, buddy, because I'm going with-
Oh, I got tracked
... a number one on the Hot 100. I'm going with track number six,
I Wish.
I knew I was probably going to lose this one by getting cocky with the other ones,
but-
Yeah. There you go
... fine. I'm happy for you.
I Wish.
Looking back on when I was a little
nappy-headed boy.
Then my only worry was for Christmas what would
be my toy
Kind of that walking church bassline-
Yeah
... that he's got going on. And then like-
Even though we sometimes would not get along
It's a basic nostalgia song.
Yeah.
Which nostalgia songs, they're a staple-
That's right
... of every genre.
It's a Liz song.
It's a Liz song and a nostalgia song.
Yeah.
And it's one of the great nostalgia songs of all time.
Oh, hold on. There's more
at your back door. But though I thought I told you not to go
outside.
Oh. What do you got, Peter? What do you got?
Okay, that's great. That's-
Your third pick. The third round
Oh, man. Because I got my...
I can't let this one linger out there because I'm afraid you'll grab it.
Man, the way the rhythm section comes in right here. Oh, perfection.
Oh, that little assemble-
Yeah, I'm disappointed that you got this, honestly.
This is-
I see us from afar.
Strolling in summer-
Knocks me off my feet.
Yeah
days of imaginings in my head.
And words from a heart-
That classic Stevie way to use those-
lonely two for when-
Two fives-
Yeah
... that modulate somewhere different-
Yeah
... and then come back.
Yeah.
I don't want to go there-
It's, for those of you that are far, whoo.
Much rather go-
When we talk about harmony, it's his ability to affect your emotion
But there's something 'bout your love-
When you go to a different tonal area.
That makes me weak and-
I mean, of course, the rhythm, the lyrics, the rhythm
makes me off my feet.
Oh, and the way he changes this up the second time.
Something 'bout your love.
The bass line.
That makes me weak and makes me off-
Check it out
my
feet.
One more time.
Makes me off-
Rule of thirds
my feet.
I don't want to go-
Whoo
there-
Okay. That's good.
anywhere.
Oh, I'm so disappointed-
You like my song, don't you?
This should be on my team.
You like my song.
Okay. I'm going to have to come strong to battle that.
So I'm gonna go-
Man, that's not gonna be hard
... with one of the most recognizable Stevie Wonder songs of all time.
Okay. I want to hear it.
"The Father Daughter Dance."
Oh.
"Isn't She Lovely."
Vocal chimes.
I believe that's his daughter actually crying.
Oh.
Whoo.
This intro, actually, this whole track is one of the most forward-looking
to his early '80s stuff.
It does.
You know what I mean?
It sounds a little bit like "Everything You Ever Wanted"-
Awesome.
You're absolutely right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because that's what I'm saying, this record sits at the right, at that juncture for
me.
I get it. This would be weird on Music of My Mind.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Isn't she lovely.
Even the way his voice is placed in it-
Isn't she wonderful.
Production-wise. Shuffle.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Isn't she precious. Less than
one minute old.
Starts with the four. I love it.
I never through lovely things. Making one as
lovely as she. But isn't she
lovely.
Oh.
This is one of the greatest pentatonics coming up.
Isn't she-
Man. So this is the big surprise. So I've created, Peter, a
lesson-
Yeah
... for people who don't know how to play the piano to learn how to play "Isn't She
Lovely." Even if you've never played-
Yes
... I will walk you through where to put your hands-
It's amazing
... and you can play along with me and Stevie-
Yep
... how to play "Isn't She Lovely."
Yeah.
It's not as hard as you might think.
It's not.
And in fact, I challenged Producer Liz-
Yes
... who does not play the piano.
No.
She's an amazing podcast producer.
She's seen a piano, but she does not play it.
Yes.
She can identify a piano.
Yes. And I said, "Could you be the test subject for this new
idea where
you'll hear listeners who don't maybe know how to play music yet can learn how to
play one of the songs from the albums that we're listening to?" And she said yes.
And then she texted me. She said- ...
"Oh my goodness, I'm playing 'Isn't She Lovely' right now."
Yeah.
She said as soon as she learned the simple right hand chords, that is
pretty much the same thing Stevie's playing, by the way.
Yeah.
And then she put the left hand to it.
She said it sounded like "Isn't She Lovely." So check it out.
There's a link in the description, and you can learn how to play "Isn't
She Lovely" with me and Stevie.
I'm so excited about this. Please let us know in the comments on YouTube if you
learn some of those chords.
Yeah.
I know-
Yeah.
Some of y'all are ready to do that. Okay.
Isn't she lovely.
Good job. But we have to move on, my friend.
Okay, round four. Round four.
Are we on four? No, I've got one, two,
three. Yeah, you are correct.
I'm keeping track here.
You are a gentleman and a scholar.
I'm going to have a list by the end of this episode-
Okay
... of each one of ours.
Okay. You know what I think I'm doing?
Because are we going for the win or for the joy, or is it for both?
It doesn't matter. Here we go.
Oh, damn it, Peter.
We're going for the banger.
Son of a bee sting.
That's the thing is I want every track.
Right, I know.
But this is incredible. This is a good call.
I feel bad. I'm getting all the biggest, I'm getting all the hits, man.
Not all of them. We still got... I mean, I got "I Wish" and-
Yeah
... "Isn't She Lovely?" We're doing okay.
That's true. And it has absolutely hits on it, yeah. Does that one.
This wasn't really a hit.
Been spending most their lives-
It's a hit later
living in-
Right.
Right
fast time paradise.
Coolio. Yeah.
Exactly.
Been spending most their lives living in fast
time paradise. Been wasting most
their time glorifying days long gone behind.
Been wasting most their days and remember to make-
This two-part harmony coming up here, I love
Tell me who or them-
Oh
will come to be. How many-
And those synth strings
of them are you?
This is kind of a menacing track. I remember, I was like-
Anticipation.
Learning a major scale.
Anticipation.
Constellation.
Mode.
Segregation.
Oh, listen.
Dispensation.
Dispensation.
Isolation.
Isolation.
Exploitation.
Exploitation.
Mutilation.
Mutilation.
Mutation.
Man, how does he-
Creation.
How does he do that?
Confirmation.
Could you imagine writing those lyrics and like, "That's not gonna work." But it
works
Okay.
I feel like you-
I feel like you've made a little bit of a flaw.
Okay.
And that I am now going to take-
I know what you're taking
... the second. Number one-
I know exactly
... on the hot 100
I knew you were going to do that. I'm already telling you, track number five.
Sir Duke.
I knew that was doing it. That was a good one. They should go together.
That and "I Wish" go together.
Huh.
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.
Well, just because a record has a groove.
Don't make it in the groove. But you can tell right away.
It's got to A, when the people start to move.
Wow!
You can feel it all over.
I mean, here's the thing about...
Ugh, I love that change there. The thing about this-
You can feel it all over me.
Some of Stevie's bigger hits-
Yeah
... in the wrong hands-
Oh
... this material could be corny.
Are you saying you've been at a wedding where that happened?
Yes.
Here we go. We got some nice, more-
Go
... more piano.
With the bass.
Unison.
Ha
ha ha.
Hey. Da, da,
da, da, da, da, da.
Man, this was such a unique time. So this was number one pop hit and a number one
R&B hit.
Crazy.
Which is crazy, because it's not even really... I mean, yes, it's R&B.
Yes, it's pop. But it's kind of like it's got some...
This was such a special time, 1976, 1977-
I know
... that something like this-
It's got some, like The Wiz in it somewhere.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And it's almost got some kind of like mandoliny sounding, you know?
Like a banjo kind of?
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
Like California love.
And there's so much horns.
Like here?
Whistle.
That could be corny.
Yeah.
But there's something about Stevie where everything feels so good, and
so natural, and so grounded and earthy that it's not corny.
It's actually super nice.
And this song is about Duke Ellington, who had died about three or four years
before this. So, it
was just a very interesting time in our pop culture.
I feel like I won that round.
Well, so you got the, what's the, not the trifecta, what's the duo
effecta?
I got the brace.
Yeah, with "Sir Duke" and "I Wish." If you want to be like a big Billboard hun, you
know-
Oh, you know, I'm a-
Hot 100
seller
... I'm a pop guy
... a seller.
I'm a pop fella.
Okay. Well, what do you know about this?
Can we go a little bit deeper cuts now?
She's a Miss Beautiful someday.
Woo.
A girl that others wish that they could be.
Okay, this is actually-
You talk about The Wiz, you talk about something-
Yes.
This is very theatrical. That's what got me thinking about it.
Wonders of the world.
This is Ebony Eyes.
Yeah.
I know she's got to be number one.
This is so good.
This is very Broadway.
She's a girl that can't be beat.
Even, like, the scope of it.
Born and raised on ghetto streets.
Raised on ghetto streets.
She's a devastating beauty. A pretty
girl with ebony eyes.
Huh.
It's almost got, like, a little bit of barrel house to it.
A girl that's something only found in their
dreams.
This is so... It's getting really hard now.
But she laughs, it seems, despite all her problems. Well, you know what it is?
We're saying it's getting hard. It's actually getting easy. This is all easy.
That's the funny thing.
Yeah, everything is a winner though. That's what's so hard.
Yeah.
Okay, so for your round five, you chose Ebony Eyes.
Yeah.
I'm going to go with my gut.
Okay.
I'm going to go,
shoot. I'm going to go track number two, "Have a Talk with God."
That's not a bad choice.
Oh.
One of the deepest inbound.
What's the production here? What's going on here?
I don't know.
What are those noises?
It's bells.
Are those like wind chimes?
Yeah.
Those orchestral bells.
Shaker.
Many people who have got the problems of today.
This is a blues too.
Lead them to conclude.
Oh, yeah.
That for them life is not the way it should be.
It goes to the four.
But every problem has an answer.
It's a two-four blues though.
And if yours you cannot find.
Not a two-five.
Oh, the turnaround.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So talk it over to Him. He'll give you peace of mind.
It's got a little bit of space you can... To the two.
When you feel your load's too hard to bear.
Up to the four.
Just go have a talk with God.
And then little hints of five. Two, four, five.
Oh.
Many of us feel we walk along without a friend.
That harmonica
plays-
Never communicating.
Incredible harmonica
All right. That was good.
Yeah.
That was good. I
was hoping that that one, I was going to be able to kind of grab that
later than it should be.
There's a couple more too that I want to be able to grab-
Yeah
... but we'll see.
Okay. I'm going to go, just because I really feel like
now I got all the ones I had to have.
Mm.
This is, I think, the most unique track.
And I remember when I first heard this, I was like, "What?" This was actually one
of my first entry points of wanting to, like...
I didn't know what fusion was, but whatever the sound was, I was like, "What?"
I don't know what that is.
I want to see if I can try to play that, you know?
Hey, everyone. Taking a break real quick.
We throw around a lot of music theory terms here in the show.
If you're Googling things like what is a triad, or-
Hold on. I'm Googling what is a triad. Okay, go ahead.
Or what is a Lydian chord?
How do you spell Lydian?
You know how to say that, bro.
Okay. Sorry.
Good news, we have all the answers for you in the liner notes.
You'll find the liner notes companion guide with clear, simple explanations of the
concepts we explore in this episode in the episode description.
Download the liner notes for this episode for free today.
Is that what you're saying? Okay, I'm pressing it.
Contusion.
Yeah. And this was like,
this is the only no vocals track on here, I believe.
Instrumental track.
Yeah
It's funny because Herbie's on "As," but this sounds like it could be on a "Head
Hunters" though.
Yeah.
From this era.
And it also sounds like-
It could be on "Secrets"
... a lot of the TV shows I was watching in the '70s around this time that I
shouldn't have been watching, like "Starsky and Hutch," and
that's what it sounds like to
me.
Yeah, that's great.
Like going into commercial breaks and stuff.
A little five-four. Yeah.
This is the closest Stevie's ever gotten to dude music, I would say.
It's kind of, yeah.
Yeah.
It's a little Steely Dan-ish.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Stevie's done this a couple times in his career when he's like, "You know I can do
this, too, right?"
I know.
Where he's like, "You all can do that.
I can also do that."
Well, he has had a thing because I've seen Stevie live probably four or five
times over the last 35 years or whatever.
Maybe even, yeah, probably five or six times.
But almost every time he'll do... Actually, I've heard him play this live.
I remember when he busted this out as a warm-up thing for an
in-store at the rec- what was the name of that record store?
Downtown in New York City. I'll remember.
It might've been Virgin Megastore.
Mm.
He did a record release at midnight.
This is mid-'90s,
for what I believe was maybe his last release. No, he's done something since then.
But he did this Contusion. I was like, "Contusion!" There was three
nerds in the audience. Everyone else was like, "Come on, when's the real Stevie
starting?" But I've seen him do "Spain" before as an instrumental, which is a
very Chick Corea "Spain," a great fusion '70s classic.
Yeah, he's got that gear, and he loves to play like that.
Okay, what are we in, round six?
We're still in round six. That was your sound, round six.
I'm going to go with the track right before this, track three, "Village Ghetto
Land"-
Damn it, okay
... because I think it's
an absolute banger.
Yeah.
It's a beautiful track.
Some of the best synth strings.
Not accurate, but just beautiful.
Would you like to go with
me?
Down my dead end street.
Some of his most emotionally
connected vocals.
Yeah.
Would you like to come with me?
Direct.
Direct.
Direct.
Dry.
Yeah.
You can hear every little
detail in his voice.
I heard him do this with live strings-
The lonely people laugh with yours.
At the Superdome in New Orleans years ago.
While robbers laugh and steal.
Beggars watch and eat their meals.
He killed all the lyrics on this.
From garbage cans.
Okay, we've got-
I know.
We've got most of... Oh, you know what I'm going to do here?
What are you going to do?
My turn. I got a good one. I didn't think this one would last-
I know
... so long.
It's getting to that time, isn't it?
Last song on the B side of record one.
Oh.
When by the phone,
in vain you sigh.
"Ordinary Pain"?
Yes.
Featuring Minnie Riperton.
Yeah.
And very soon-
Thinks he's back, Bee Gees on this
... in your mind, realize that it's just an ordinary pain.
This is sort of a classic-
I love this song
... in your heart.
Stevie.
It could've been a big hit, but it's like...
When you by chance go knock on her door.
It's got a lot of classic Stevie-isms in it.
Walking away, you're convinced that it's much more
than just an ordinary pain.
But it's one of his simpler...
Yeah, that's Minnie Riperton layered in the back.
It's more than just-
Woo. Ah
... an ordinary pain
in your heart.
It's so smooth.
Yeah.
Don't fool yourself.
This has a little bit of shades of-
But tell no one else
... "Sunshine of My Life," too.
That it's more than just-
Uh, uh. Syncopation, what?
... ordinary pain in your
heart.
Okay.
Yeah. Okay?
From my-
So just for those of you keeping score, and for you, too,
you were furiously writing there, which made me a little nervous, but record number
one, is that what we call it? Record one?
Yeah, disc one.
Is done.
Yeah.
Is out.
Yeah, everything from the first
10 tracks is taken already.
Yeah.
Which I'm fine with because one of my favorite tracks is still on the board.
I love this song so much. I think about it a lot.
I think about the choices Stevie made in the production.
Mm.
It is the 12th track. It is "Joy Inside My Tears."
Ooh.
The
bass.
Yeah.
This bass that's like
has this-
Oh, that chacka, chacka, chacka
... portamento.
Ooh.
It's just sliding all over the place-
Yeah. Ooh, right
... on this lush string arrangement.
Yeah.
I've always gone to-
Oh, it's great
... the conclusion that by-
It's a weird song.
It's a weird... This is probably the most unique track on here except for
"Contusion."
But it's so interesting. Oh, man.
... affirmation to lay something heavy on one's
head.
So I've tried to not be the one
who will fall into that line.
But what I feel inside, I
think you should know.
Oh. This is kind of Broadway-ish.
Baby, that's you, you, you.
Yeah.
Made life's history.
As you watch-
Yeah. It's actually really-
... joy inside my tears.
It's great listening to this because you realize
the variety on this album
Well, Stevie's not afraid of a big fat dominant chord, is he?
Not at all.
No.
Not at all.
Yeah, his
mastery of harmony is uncanny. Great call.
Round eight, buddy. Round eight. We're almost to the end.
Yeah. I think I mark that. Okay, because I think I know what this will push
you into.
Yeah.
"Another Star." This is another one of the-
Yeah, it's a good call.
This was a hit, I believe. Somewhat of a-
I think-
Yeah, this is another one
... I think this is a great-
And this, I love it because George Benson's on here, which I never knew for the
longest, on guitar.
This is almost like "Contusion" with vocals, you know?
Yep.
Yeah, this is a great pick.
What am I going to do? I know
what I'm doing.
Big production.
I've seen him do this live, too.
There's
a little bit of early
Putumayo. Stevie Putumayo a little bit.
I know.
Stevie Mayo.
Stevie Mayo.
All right, cool. What you got next?
All right, my round eight pick is, are you ready for a history lesson?
Yes.
Because we're going to listen to "Black Man."
Okay, here we go. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of history in this.
And I learned a lot. Again, I was just -
Oh, man, it's funky as hell.
It is funky as hell.
That's that bass that he fell in love with around this time and
kept using.
Oh, yeah, it's all over "Hotter than July."
"Hotter than July," yeah.
Woo.
And the phase in this.
The first man to die for the flag we now hold high,
was a black man. Mm.
The first man to die for the flag. I didn't know that.
The ground where we stand, with a flag held in my hand, was first a
red man's.
Mm.
The guide of a ship on the first Columbus trip,
was a brown man.
See? Who would have known?
Oh.
The railroads, the trains, came on tracking that was
laid, by the yellow man.
He's literally making a textbook sound funky and hip.
We pledge allegiance,
all our lives.
If I could've learned my history like this, I would've stayed in school.
I know. It's really the best version of civics class you could have.
We all must be given. There are times-
Oh, that's great. Good stuff
... two more rounds left, Peter.
Okay.
There are literally four tracks-
Oh, you know what? I'm going to do the next-
... on the board. Four tracks on the board
... since we were talking,
now, full disclosure, I used to always skip over this, but I did in preparation for
this listen again. I was like, "This is a killer track." And you're talking about
history. "I Am Singing"-
Yeah
... and I don't know how to say it fully.
"Una Historia."
This is another like
There was something about the way it started, to be honest, I would always kind of
skip over.
It's a little Stevie tiki.
Stevie tiki.
Putumayo tiki Stevie.
Tiki lounge Stevie.
But it's got-
I love it when Stevie starts singing in other languages, man. Something about it.
I mean, if you
landed
on
Tortola-
You'd be okay if you heard this on the boat as you float to the island.
Come on.
I mean, Stevie's range.
It's funny-
And we talk about stuff that could be considered corny.
This is a whole genre now.
I know.
Because his conviction with it.
Yeah.
"The Ship." "The Ship," I mean, that goes back some years before this, so.
All right. We've only got, according to my count, three tracks left.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
This is round nine.
That is round nine.
And the back half of it.
I'm going to go, hmm.
I feel bad. I kind of knew this was going to happen that these are-
I know
... three tracks-
But they're great tracks still
... on the last. They are, but how did they get stacked?
But part of this is familiarity bias, right?
Yeah.
Because they stacked these at the back of the second album, so maybe we didn't know
them as much.
I'm going to go for my ninth-round pick, "All Day Sucker."
Okay. Safe pick out of those three. I got you.
Yeah.
It's a great track.
Mm.
Oh, yeah.
Mm.
Oh.
Last monkeys you can't smoke.
Man, these vocals and basslines together.
And this next chord.
Oh.
Woo.
Look at, double it again.
This could have been way higher, honestly.
I know.
This maybe should've been higher.
The harmony stays the same, but he alters the melody with the bass and the
piano.
Oh.
But what a testament that this is literally-
... the-
It's like alive
... the 18th.
Woo.
Woo. The 18th out of 20 tracks picked.
I know.
It could've been number three.
Right.
This is a thick groove, too. All right, good.
All right, your last pick, Peter.
Well,
I'm going to go
sad. Actually, I could've picked this way earlier.
I think this is-
One of Stevie's greatest kind of...
There's stuff like this on
"Secret Life of Plants."
Yeah.
This connects with that, which is actually one of my favorite Stevie.
Anyway, let me shut up.
Exploratory Stevie.
Packing my bags.
Gone away.
To a place where the air is
clean. On Saturn.
A little bit of environmentalism in there
There's no sense to sit and watch people
die.
Got that blue bass
You can fight or walk the way you do.
This could be in "The Wiz," too.
Yeah.
Not the lyrics, but the melody.
On Saturn.
Saturn.
There's no sense to keep on doing such
crime.
This has things
"Lately." This is the same key. It reminds me of "Lately"
There's no principles in what you say.
Oh.
No direction in the things you do.
For your world-
Stevie's not afraid of a gliss
... is soon to come to a
close.
Through the ages-
Back to the tonic. Man, Stevie, he's so,
you can hear it in the lyrics, in the content.
He's so unafraid. He will go anywhere,
musically, harmonically, rhythmically, playing different
instruments, and that could lead to such a disaster of
great proportions.
Yeah.
But his craft.
Yeah.
Let's do a little clap for his craft, because that's what holds it
all together. He was notorious for writing 10 times as many songs as that
actually came out. So, this was not like he was beholden to these certain songs.
He crafted them, and if it wasn't right, it just didn't make it on the album.
I think "Saturn" is appropriate for round 10-
Yep
... even though I still think it's an amazing song.
It would be round one in most people's catalog but-
Yeah
... for Stevie, and for this album in particular, it's just so packed with so many
memorable moments that it's almost like its chillness is a little bit against
it-
And the, yeah
... for this discussion. You know what I mean?
For sure, and the placement on it, it was a bigger-
Yeah
... for the lineage of how this album has been appreciated.
It's interesting because the last time I saw Stevie, which was about nine years
ago, live here in St. Louis, eight or nine years ago,
this was his "Songs in the Key of Life" tour, and he did the entire
album from beginning to end, as far as I could tell, no intermission, which is
crazy. He did every single song in order.
Crazy.
And I believe he did everything in the original key, which is kind of
insane because he was, I think he's 75 now, so he was
in his later 60s or mid-60s.
And the range on this-
Which by the way-
... for that age-
... doesn't it seem like he should be older?
I know.
That's because he was so young when he's making these albums.
I know. Yeah, no, he's not, I think he's 76, 77 something.
Yeah.
But it was an amazing, it was a three-hour concert.
Wow.
Too, because they actually added some things, and he did some jams and stuff,
but...
Well, my last pick is the last track.
It's-
Really?
Yeah. It's "Easy Goin' Evening."
Are you sure you want to go with that?
Yeah. It's the only one left on the board, so we're going to take it.
You're so brave.
"Easy Goin' Evening." I lost the rock, paper, scissors.
So brave, yet so perceptive.
Yeah.
One of the greatest phase Rhodes instruments.
What a great way to end the album, too.
Oh, yeah.
He's so good at these little moments.
Yeah.
Oh.
This whole album, I never thought about it. It's like a Broadway play, kind of.
It kind of is.
I mean, musical. It's a musical. It's kind of a musical.
Someone should make a Broadway musical on Songs in the Key of Life.
Oh, my God. I mean, all these other ones they're doing. Why not?
This is the jazziest they get on here, too, rhythmically, groove wise.
This is shades of to come, "Make Sure You're Sure" from the Jungle
Fever album.
Yeah.
Woo.
Oh, man. What is going on?
Talk about Lydian.
Woo.
Yeah. Okay, good call. You got forced into it, but you're still in a good place.
That's fair.
That's a great album.
Okay. All right. Here are our drafts.
Okay.
You ready?
Yeah.
So, Peter Martin-
I'm going in order of choice
... I'm going to go, I got you in order here.
Okay.
Your number one pick-
Yes
... was "If It's Magic." Number-
I stand by that
... number two, "Summer Soft."
Yes.
Three, "Knocks Me Off My Feet."
It's still staying, coming strong.
Four, "Pastime Paradise."
That's right.
Five, "Ebony Eyes."
Nothing going down.
Six, "Contusion."
Genius picks.
Seven, "Ordinary Pain."
Variety is the spice of life.
Eight, "Another Star."
Who the man?
Nine, "I Am Singing."
Yes.
And 10, "Saturn."
Yeah.
That's a solid-
That's a solid
... solid list. I also, by the way, have a solid list.
You do. Well, how about if I read yours, and then you can comment?
Okay, sure.
Okay. See if I can read your-
Because I'm over here, so my handwriting's for me, not you.
Okay. What language? Oh, you wrote this in a-
Yeah. I'm left-handed, so yeah.
Number one, "As."
Yes.
Number two, "I Wish."
I feel like I'm nailing this.
Number three, "Isn't She Lovely."
Yep.
Number four, "Sir Duke."
Amazing.
Just the hits, ma'am. Five, "Have a Talk with God."
Amazing.
This is when you started to like-
Spread out a little bit? Yeah
... spread your wings.
Yeah.
Six, "Village Ghetto Land."
Incredible track.
Seven, "Joy Inside My Tears."
We're still in the-
This is when I started getting worried.
Incredible tracks.
This is where I felt like I missed some things, but...
Eight, "Black Man."
Woo. Okay.
Nine, "All Day Sucker."
Yeah.
10, "Easy Goin'."
I don't know, Peter.
That was good.
Put in the comments who you think won this draft, please.
And you know what? No, don't even. But you know what?
You have to.
You know what? We all win. We all win.
Well, this was fun. Shout out to The Ringer.
Who is that, by the way? I don't know who that is.
But we'll be back next week. Hey, looking forward to season 15.
We got some Radiohead coming. We got some Dr. Dre coming.
Dr. Dre, boom.
I know. We got some more D'Angelo-
Are we going clean or dirty on that?
... coming. We got some Jamiroquai coming.
Jamiroquai.
We got a lot of cool stuff going on.
Nice.
Yeah.
Well, I'm looking forward to it. Till next time.
You'll hear it.