“All in Love is Fair” is one of Stevie Wonder’s most beautiful ballads, and it’s today’s classic song of the day. It was never released as a single (at least in the U.S.; it was in Brazil, inexplicably) but was a standout track on Stevie’s Grammy-winning 1973 album, Innervisions.
Stevie not only wrote and sang “All in Love is Fair,” he also played all the instruments except bass. (Scott Edwards did that.) The lyrics describe the ending of a relationship, using a series of cliches: all in love is fair, love’s a crazy game, the future none can see, all of fate’s a chance, and so forth.
Musically, “All in Love is Fair” is uniquely brilliant. Like many of Stevie’s tunes, you can better understand the harmonic structure by realizing that the composer is a blind pianist. It’s easier to get your bearings on the keyboard if, instead of playing in the key of C, you play in a key that uses both black and white keys. (Try playing in the key of C with just the white keys with your eyes closed—there’s nothing to pinpoint where you’re at.). That explains this song’s somewhat unusual key signature of C# minor, the relative minor to E major, with four sharps. It’s easier to get your bearings when you have four black keys to keep you anchored.
As to the song’s chord progression, start by positioning your right hand in a E major chord (E – G# – B). Now make that chord into a C#m7 by playing a C# in the bass with your left hand. Next, start moving your left hand in the bass down in stepwise motion while keeping the three notes of the E major chord (E – G# B) in your right hand. You end up with something close to this chord progression: C#m7 – C#m7/B – A#m7 – G# dim, which then moves to a C#7 – F#m7 – B7 turnaround. The right hand stays more or less the same while the bass descends C# – B – A# – G#, creating some harmonically sophisticated and beautiful chords.
It’s a bit more complicated than that (some of the minor sevenths are actually minor ninths and there are a few flatted fifths thrown in for good measure), but that gives you a general idea of how the song is constructed, and why. Stevie always came up with unusual chord progressions, and his blindness is at least part of the reason. He basically lets his fingers do the talking for him as they play across the keyboard, then fits an interesting melody on top. Great stuff and songs that don’t sound like anybody else’s.
As noted, Motown didn’t release Stevie’s recording of “All in Love is Fair” as a single, although it’s become a bona fide classic over time. Barbra Streisand, however, did release the song as a single, in March of 1974. Her version, which many consider one of her best recordings, only hit #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 but went all the way to #10 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
Whomever sings it, “All in Love is Fair” is a terrific song. Stevie sure knows how to write ’em, doesn’t he?
