Today’s classic song of the day is another standout track from Stevie Wonder’s 1976 masterpiece, Songs in the Key of Life. “Isn’t She Lovely” was the first track on the first side of the second disc; while it wasn’t released as a single, FM radio DJs picked up on it and drove it to #23 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
“Isn’t She Lovely” is Stevie Wonder’s ode to his newborn daughter, Aisha Morris. The track even features a recording of Aisha herself, having fun during a bath. (The sound of a baby crying at the top of the track is another infant; Aisha apparently was a very mellow baby and didn’t cry much.) As was somewhat common on that album, Stevie played all the instruments himself, save for a few supplementary keyboard parts played by Greg Phillinganes.
This track is just full of pure joy. It lopes along with an easy shuffle beat and is capped off by Stevie’s extended chromatic harmonica playing. The chords are a deceptively simple vim11 – II9 – V7sus4 – I pattern; what makes it stick is that each chord is essentially the dominant of the next. To whit, the vi (C#m11) is a fifth above the II (F#9), the II (F#9) is a fifth above the V (B7sus4), and, of course the V (B7sus4) is a fifth above the I (E). Everything leads to everything else, which makes the repetition natural and naturally appealing. (It’s also very jazzy; these are “jazz chords” that explain why the tune has been covered by so many jazz artists.)
The song’s melody is largely pentatonic, and I don’t have to tell you how well pentatonic melodies always work. Again, it’s somewhat expected and entirely appealing. Anybody can sing it—although few as well as Stevie does.
And here’s your very cute daily bonus video of the day, daddy Stevie Wonder, with grown-up daughter Aisha, singing “Isn’t She Lovely” live at England’s Bestival in 2012. I really like this.
