Stevie Wonder (born May 13, 1950) – Saturn (1976)

This powerful message song has been called one of Stevie's greatest underappreciated tracks, off the bonus 7" that came with original copies of Songs in the Key of Life.

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Stevland Hardaway Morris aka Stevie Wonder is an irreplaceable musical genius whose music continues to inspire us all.

His masterpiece Songs In The Key Of Life (1976) is regarded by many as the greatest album of the twentieth century. It took nearly three years to record, and featured an astounding 130 musicians and vocalists.

The album’s original title was Let’s See Life the Way It Is, and it spotlighted several of Wonder’s socially conscious message songs including the symphonic “Village Ghetto Land” and the epic funk saga “Black Man,” which remains one of the best U.S. history lessons ever recorded.

Original copies of the double LP came with a bonus 7” EP titled A Something’s Extra. The EP featured an additional four tracks, which were only a fraction of the material Wonder recorded but decided not to include on the album.

The EP’s lead track was the powerful message song “Saturn.” Its lyrics were co-written by Wonder and lead guitarist Michael Sembello, with music by Wonder. Like the rest of the album, he produced and arranged “Saturn,” and played all instruments on it except for Sembello on lead and Ben Bridges on rhythm guitar, plus 18-year old Gregory Phillinganes on additional keyboards. Phillinganes had only recently joined Stevie’s backing band Wonderlove, and went on to play with them from 1976-81, later becoming Michael Jackson’s musical director.

“Saturn” was originally titled “Going Back To Saginaw,” referencing the small city in Michigan where Wonder was born (six weeks premature, which contributed to him going blind). He gave the song’s demo tape to Sembello and asked him if he had any ideas for it.

Sembello recalled what happened next in a 2021 interview with Okayplayer:

“Later on that night, I told him the first thing I heard when I listened to the lyrics again was ‘Going Back To Saturn’ and he said, ‘Yep, that’s it! Go finish it!’ He told me to come back the next day, so we could record the song. I thought to myself what would it be like to be a disgruntled alien that came to this planet to try and do good and help people, and we ended up running him away with our guns and bibles in our hands. So, he sang I’m going back to Saturn. I didn’t think it would ever make it on the album because the record company hated it so much.”

The lyrics Wonder and Sembello settled on drew a powerful contrast between life on Earth and Saturn.

“We don't fight our wars the way you do...we put back all the things we use...on Saturn. We have come here many times before...to find your strategy to peace is war...killing helpless men, women and children...that don't even know what they're dying for.”

Another of the album’s masterpieces was the beautiful “As.”  It featured Herbie Hancock as guest keyboardist on Fender Rhodes piano alongside Wonder, who also played Rhodes on the track.

Bassist Nathan Watts shared his recollections of “As” in a 2021 interview with Okayplayer:

“I was just a young boy walking into the studio and there was Steve and the wizard working on “As.” I didn’t even know how to act. There were the two greatest piano players who have ever lived. Herbie Hancock, are you kidding me? I walked in there, and then we began playing, and we hit it off from that point forward. Herbie was sitting down at the piano playing in the key of B. Anyone who plays an instrument knows how difficult it is to play in the key of B. Herbie walked through it like it was day and night.”

Besides Wonder and Hancock on keyboards, Watts on bass, and Sembello on lead guitar, “As” also featured Greg Brown on drums, Dean Parks on rhythm guitar, and Mary Lee Whitney and Yolanda Simmons on backing vocals.

This rare footage captured Stevie at his artistic peak as he recorded the song in the studio.

In 2014, as Stevie was kicking off a 12-city tour to perform Songs In The Key Of Life in its entirety, he told the Detroit Free Press what he thought about its legacy:

“I've always wanted to do it,” says Wonder. “I had never toured that (album), and I wanted to make it as significant as it was to me. For me, 'Songs in the Key of Life' is the album. It's like if you saw the Beatles do 'Sgt. Pepper' — that's more than just an album. It would be a work, like any album you put your heart and soul in, where people understand the overall concept. It's more than just a bunch of songs put together.”

Songs In The Key Of Life tour opening night at Madison Square Garden, November 6, 2014

Happy 73rd Birthday to the GOAT Stevie Wonder!

Further info:

“Stevie Wonder talks 'Songs in the Key of Life',” interview by Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press, November 16, 2014

“Decades Later, ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ Is As Fresh As Ever,” by Scott Freiman, CultureSonar, September 29, 2016

“The Making of Stevie Wonder's Magnum Opus 'Songs in the Key of Life',” by Chris Williams, Okayplayer, 2021

#soul #funk #messagesongs #StevieWonder