Today’s classic song of the day is a wonderful little tune by Stevie Wonder. “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” was included on Stevie’s Grammy-winning 1972 album, Talking Book, and released as a single in March of 1973. The single went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard Adult Contemporary charts and garnered a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Performance. (It was also nominated for, but did not win, Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.)
Unlike “Superstition” and other harder-edged songs from Talking Book, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” is a lighter pop ballad, with a bit of a Latin beat. The first four lines of the song are sung by Stevie’s background singers, Jim Gilstrap and Lani Groves; Stevie sang all the rest. Stevie also played Fender Rhodes piano and drums, with Scott Edwards providing the bass part and Daniel Ben Zebulon playing congas.
“You Are the Sunshine of My Life” is a heartfelt love song from the singer to his then-wife, Syreeta. It’s written in the key of B Major, which is pretty much all the black notes on a piano. (This makes sense when you realize a blind pianist would have trouble playing in the key of C, with only white notes and no black notes to provide tactile positioning on the keyboard.) The chord progression is a little jazzy with the chorus going I – V/IV – iiim7 – bV/VI – iim7 – V7 sus 4 – I add 9 – iim7 – V7 sus4. Very cool sounding—and similar to a lot of Stevie’s tunes that are based on an initial hand pattern with the following chords created by moving his fingers one or two notes left or right.
We played “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” a lot in the little wedding reception band we had back in college. It’s a tune that always goes over well and everybody loves. It’s also adaptable to a lot of different approaches and instrumentations, the sign of a truly great composition. There’s a reason it’s so beloved by so many.
