Stevie Wonder - "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"
May 4, 2017 19:40:04 GMT -5
Post by Live Your Life on May 4, 2017 19:40:04 GMT -5
This was released as a single from 1970's Signed, Sealed & Delivered. It peaked at #1 at R&B and #3 on the Hot 100. Classic.
AllMusic's song review:
AllMusic's song review:
In the early '70s, Stevie Wonder was beginning to solely produce his own records. He also branched out producing other artists including the Spinners' 1970 Top Four R&B/Top 14 pop Motown single "It's a Shame." One day Wonder gave an instrumental recording of a song that he was working on to one of his frequent collaborators, Lee Garrett. Garrett then let another of Wonder's songwriting partners, Syreeta Wright, hear the tape. Garrett and Wright began bouncing ideas off each other. They came up with lyrics and a groove that reflected Stax recording star Johnnie Taylor. Even though Motown's studio band, the Funk Brothers, were on hand for the recording session, the cut, now titled "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," definitely had a pumpin' Stax feel. Though some Motown staffers were taken aback by the mold-breaking track, Wonder was trying to grow as an artist and would exercise his newfound freedoms when he would renegotiate a new contract with the label. Written by producer Wonder, Garrett, Wright, and Lula Mae Hardaway, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" topped the R&B charts for six weeks and went to number three pop in summer 1970. The Signed, Sealed & Delivered album went to number seven R&B and number 25 pop. Sporting a cover that featured Wonder sitting in a cardboard deliver box, the LP also boasted the lovely ballad "Never Had a Dream Come True," a smoking cover of Lennon and McCartney's "We Can Work It Out," and the sweeping number two R&B semi-gospel classic "Heaven Help Us All."