The Sounds of Detroit: Stevie Wonder

[MrScorpio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Of22bMmds

[hellbound-liberal]

1. Stevie was one of the most underappreciated songwriters of our time

By that I mean, some of his best stuff was never a "hit" as some people know them. Here's one of my favorites:

I'm Free

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoFYV8IOtR4

Free like the river
Flowin' freely through infinity
Free to be sure of
What I am and who I need not be
Free from all worries
Worries prey on oneself's troubled mind
Freer than the clock's hands
Tickin' way the times
Freer than the meaning of free that man defines
Life running through me
Till I feel my father God has called

Me having nothin'
But possessing riches more than all
And I'm free
To be nowhere
But in every place I need to be
Freer than a sunbeam
Shinning through my soul
Free from feelin' heat or knowing bitter cold
Free from conceiving the beginning
For that's the infinite start

I'm gone - gone but still living
Life goes on without a beating heart

Free like a vision
That the mind of only you can see

Freer than a raindrop
Falling from the sky
Freer than a smile in a baby's sleepin' eyes

I'm free like a river
Flowin' freely to infinity
I'm free to be sure of what
I am and who I need not be
I'm much freer - like the meaning of the word free that
crazy man defines
Free - free like the vision that
The mind of only you are ever gonna see
Free like the river my life
Goes on and on through infinity

[graywarrior]

2. He was huge in the 60's and 70's. HUGE I tell you!

[hellbound-liberal]

3. He's still huge! Here he is with Barack Obama at church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8KexTxZMro

[pink-o]

4. About 22 years ago, he got up onstage with some friends of mine

...who play reggae (Steel Pulse, from England via the west indies). They were all shell-shocked and freaked out they could barely appreciate the experience while it was happening, but they said there was just a special grace about him that emanated like an aura.

I believe it. I grew up with Motown, and Stevie was one of my favourites. Talking Book and Innervisions are downloaded onto my IPod and frequently played!

[tainted_chimp]

5. Ahhh...make me cry!

I love that man sooo much.

Thanks Mr.Scorpio.

[progressforward]

6. Do Sir Duke! n/t

[progressforward]

8. Found it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lHZBlQXNC4M

[Karenina]

7. I have fun stories...

but having felt so often dismissed by you, dear "brutha" I'll pass this time. I WAS THERE. See: Jimmy Webb "Elvis and Me."

[Gormy Cuss]

9. I heard this for the first time when I was about 10 years old and was hooked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_g9KfrjZ60
Fingertips 1 and 2

He's great in concert too -- he loves to play with the audience.

[1gobluedem]

10. My old neighbor's mother used to drive Stevie to the School for the Blind

We thought that was so cool when we were kids. Our brush with fame.

[Faygo Kid]

11. Born and raised in Motown. Stevie was and is a big part of my life.

To be a teen in the 1960s in the Detroit area was about as good as it got.

[1gobluedem]

12. Did you see him at Detroit's 300th birthday party?

Very, very cool.

[GigiMommy]

13. Belle Isle, The Davison Freeway, Cass Tech, Northland, Hudson's...

just some of the things that were a part of my childhood. Motown was the soundtrack of my life.

[Skittles]

14. mmmmmmm I loves me some Stevie

long, longtime fan :hi: