I Don’t Know Why
Stevie Wonder
For Once In My Life, 1968

Building on this post of two years ago; as it turns out, Stevie’s version didn’t only appear on the b-side of the “My Cherie Amour” 45, it also came out on this album, the year before. I’ve seen a single with a b-side from a previous album a few times before and I really would like for someone to explain the thinking behind it. It’s like saying, “Oh, if you didn’t pick up the last album, here’s that hot song you missed, no need to go back and buy it. Have a nice day!”

That aside, the Stevie version has really grown on me. I slightly regret the certainty with which I announced that young Michael outperformed Stevie on this song. The Stevie version is definitely more sparse but the emotional peak that he reaches in the last third of the song is pretty intense. His adlibs sound like he is lost in the emotion of the song and unaware of the people in the studio (I love the noise makes at 1:55).

Since my last post, The Brand New Heavies (with the original lineup) came out with a new album and covered this song as the first single. The album version was pleasant but the “4 Hero Folk Soul Mix” is worth repeated listens.

Shout out to Megan @ Kingsize for playing me the Stevie version for the first time a few years back.

>> songs are available for two weeks [4.4 MB]

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Music Appreciation, Vinyl Recordings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.