Album: Talking BookAvg rating:
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Total ratings: 5730
Length: 4:26
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Very superstitious, ladder's 'bout to fall
Thirteen-month-old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, your good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way
Yeah-eah, ay
Ooh, very superstitious, wash your face and hands
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can
Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin' strong, yeah
You don't wanna save me, sad is my song
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way
Yeah, yeah
Oh, no
Ahh, ha!
Ow
Very superstitious, nothin' more to say
Very superstitious, the Devil's on his way
Thirteen-month-old baby, mmm, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past
Mmm-hmm
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way
No, no, no
Ooh
Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah
Ooh
Ah
Mmm, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee
Ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh
Ooh-hoo
Hoo, hmm, hmm
I'm trying to work, Bill
I'd buy that sticker.
I was doing afternoon drive in Corpus Christi in '71 when Stevie came through for a sold out concert. I was to introduce him, was running a tad late (getting prepared, don'tcha know?!) and zipped down the coast road in my '64 "Vette with the top down, and Stevie blasting on a custom 8 track I'd made at the station.
Pulled into my spot and humped it up the back steps (no ADA in those daze) with my full length brace on the right leg. The men's room was out of order, so everyone was using the ladies. Went over to wash my hands, standing next to a very attractive lady and said, "I just can't believe we're going to see him in person!" "Big fan?" she asked. "Oh, hell yes," I told her. "I've listened to him in many frames of mind with headphones in various locations." She understood. "Do you think he'll do all the old hits tonight?", I asked. "Probably some new ones as well," she replied. and split.
Later, standing by the curtain waiting to introduce the man of the hour, that same lady came up..just appeared at my side, with Stevie. "Never got your name," she said. "Johnny..Johnny Marks," I sort of stammered out. "Johnny, this is Stevie. This is the young man I told you about from the lady's room," she told him. "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who can truly listen to my music," he said shaking my hand and giving me a big smile.
He did "Superstition" that night, "for Johnny," and I'll never forget it.
Cool story. Thank You for sharing it.
I was doing afternoon drive in Corpus Christi in '71 when Stevie came through for a sold out concert. I was to introduce him, was running a tad late (getting prepared, don'tcha know?!) and zipped down the coast road in my '64 "Vette with the top down, and Stevie blasting on a custom 8 track I'd made at the station.
Pulled into my spot and humped it up the back steps (no ADA in those daze) with my full length brace on the right leg. The men's room was out of order, so everyone was using the ladies. Went over to wash my hands, standing next to a very attractive lady and said, "I just can't believe we're going to see him in person!" "Big fan?" she asked. "Oh, hell yes," I told her. "I've listened to him in many frames of mind with headphones in various locations." She understood. "Do you think he'll do all the old hits tonight?", I asked. "Probably some new ones as well," she replied. and split.
Later, standing by the curtain waiting to introduce the man of the hour, that same lady came up..just appeared at my side, with Stevie. "Never got your name," she said. "Johnny..Johnny Marks," I sort of stammered out. "Johnny, this is Stevie. This is the young man I told you about from the lady's room," she told him. "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who can truly listen to my music," he said shaking my hand and giving me a big smile.
He did "Superstition" that night, "for Johnny," and I'll never forget it.
This is a fantastic post (as others have properly noted and as is clear from the voting). I was saddened to find that Johnny Marks aka spicemeister will not be gracing us with reading/writing posts any longer, RIP:
John "Johnny" P. Marks Jr. Obituary - San Antonio, TX
Always thought it was the sounds of farts sampled into the keyboard. LOL Such an annoying sound! UGH
If you don't like it, hit the "skip button"! ...problem solved. It is a clavenet. I love the sound! GREAT TUNE! Thanx RP!
It was his favourite record, closely followed by Wild Cherry's "Play that Funky Music"
...gets me Every. Damn. Time.
Incredible!
it wasn't until last week where i learned that Jeff Beck is responsible for the drum intro on this song. They partnered well on thsi one.
"Responsible" - but Stevie played it per wikipedia. I got curious too, because the drum riff just sounds like "did this drummer ever work with Jeff Beck? Definitely jumps out.
Two fking geniuses.
Did Prince pull from the drum intro to this?
it wasn't until last week where i learned that Jeff Beck is responsible for the drum intro on this song. They partnered well on thsi one.
c.
I was doing afternoon drive in Corpus Christi in '71 when Stevie came through for a sold out concert. I was to introduce him, was running a tad late (getting prepared, don'tcha know?!) and zipped down the coast road in my '64 "Vette with the top down, and Stevie blasting on a custom 8 track I'd made at the station.
Pulled into my spot and humped it up the back steps (no ADA in those daze) with my full length brace on the right leg. The men's room was out of order, so everyone was using the ladies. Went over to wash my hands, standing next to a very attractive lady and said, "I just can't believe we're going to see him in person!" "Big fan?" she asked. "Oh, hell yes," I told her. "I've listened to him in many frames of mind with headphones in various locations." She understood. "Do you think he'll do all the old hits tonight?", I asked. "Probably some new ones as well," she replied. and split.
Later, standing by the curtain waiting to introduce the man of the hour, that same lady came up..just appeared at my side, with Stevie. "Never got your name," she said. "Johnny..Johnny Marks," I sort of stammered out. "Johnny, this is Stevie. This is the young man I told you about from the lady's room," she told him. "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who can truly listen to my music," he said shaking my hand and giving me a big smile.
He did "Superstition" that night, "for Johnny," and I'll never forget it.
So freaking cool! That comment gave me shivers.
1st time I heard this song, is when he opened for the Rolling Stones in 1972! Kicked ass! ...so did the Rolling Stones!
I saw this show in San Antonio, 1972. Superstition woke everyone up including Mick who livened up and the show got better.
This song is an 11 wherever it appears.
Talking Book ranks up there with Songs In The Key Of Life as his greatest album.
Every LP from Talking Book to Songs was great.
I was doing afternoon drive in Corpus Christi in '71 when Stevie came through for a sold out concert. I was to introduce him, was running a tad late (getting prepared, don'tcha know?!) and zipped down the coast road in my '64 "Vette with the top down, and Stevie blasting on a custom 8 track I'd made at the station.
Pulled into my spot and humped it up the back steps (no ADA in those daze) with my full length brace on the right leg. The men's room was out of order, so everyone was using the ladies. Went over to wash my hands, standing next to a very attractive lady and said, "I just can't believe we're going to see him in person!" "Big fan?" she asked. "Oh, hell yes," I told her. "I've listened to him in many frames of mind with headphones in various locations." She understood. "Do you think he'll do all the old hits tonight?", I asked. "Probably some new ones as well," she replied. and split.
Later, standing by the curtain waiting to introduce the man of the hour, that same lady came up..just appeared at my side, with Stevie. "Never got your name," she said. "Johnny..Johnny Marks," I sort of stammered out. "Johnny, this is Stevie. This is the young man I told you about from the lady's room," she told him. "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who can truly listen to my music," he said shaking my hand and giving me a big smile.
He did "Superstition" that night, "for Johnny," and I'll never forget it.
THIS is why I like to read the comment section. Thank you for sharing this great story!
Desert Island Disc.
Songs in the Key, Talking Book, Fullfillingness first finale, and Innervisions are all desert island disks.
Talking Book ranks up there with Songs In The Key Of Life as his greatest album.
Desert Island Disc.
Such a great song, but I was wondering if our opinion of Stevie would change if we suddenly found out he was never blind all these years.
Probably. But what an inane thing to say.
Not taking anything away from Mr. Wonder, but that other blind guy, Ray-something, was pretty amazing too. There's a professor of music here in Austin, Dr. Polk, who worked with Mr. Charles. He has lots of great stories. Once he asked Ray Charles if he wanted the music transposed for orchestra - some instruments are tuned such that, say, B-flat on the score is actually, say, C, or A. Varies between strings, reeds and horns. Ray told him "write it the way I tell you" which means Ray Charles was transposing the notes, for all the instruments in the orchestra, in his head.
c.
WRITE IT THE WAY I TELL YOU!!!! My goodness that is fantastic
The genius of people, it makes life's discovery worth it like finding the hidden cherry inside your chocolate pie
we need more snappy song
No guitar — that's a clavinet.
As i found out when I asked my guitar teacher to teach me back in the early 80s.
Why is this song not rated 8 or above
It's presently rated at 8.6.
Simply blows my mind how this man was/is able to not only conceive of this multi-layered stunner of a song (and many others at that!) AND then goes ahead and practically plays like 10 instruments to perfection (those bass-fillers! horns! keyboards!!!) and and and...
Sorry, I'm just going to shut up now and listen some more, for only the 12532055th time.
Not taking anything away from Mr. Wonder, but that other blind guy, Ray-something, was pretty amazing too. There's a professor of music here in Austin, Dr. Polk, who worked with Mr. Charles. He has lots of great stories. Once he asked Ray Charles if he wanted the music transposed for orchestra - some instruments are tuned such that, say, B-flat on the score is actually, say, C, or A. Varies between strings, reeds and horns. Ray told him "write it the way I tell you" which means Ray Charles was transposing the notes, for all the instruments in the orchestra, in his head.
c.
I was going to write exactly the same thing, but in an ironic hipster way.
This takes me back to the jukebox in my high school cafeteria--along with the Jackson Five and the Bee Gees. Poppy and popular then; only gets better with time. 
And then there is THIS!!!I recently had a long muso-nerdy debate about this with two muso-nerdy friends and we came to the conclusion that both these albums were left in the dust by Innervisions. Just throwin it out there...
My wife always looks at me when this plays to see my expression as I remember a young lady dancing to this at a Bristol(!) Uni party. All the guys came out of the kitchen to watch... Superb track and the moves did it justice.
I feel for the modern kids too...thanks for THAT line brother and Long Live RP!!
Simply blows my mind how this man was/is able to not only conceive of this multi-layered stunner of a song (and many others at that!) AND then goes ahead and practically plays like 10 instruments to perfection (those bass-fillers! horns! keyboards!!!) and and and...
Sorry, I'm just going to shut up now and listen some more, for only the 12532055th time.
Jeff Beck was an admirer of Wonder's music, and Wonder was informed of this prior to the Talking Book album sessions. Though at this point he was virtually playing all of the instruments on his songs by himself, Wonder preferred to let other guitarists play on his records, and he liked the idea of a collaboration with Beck. An agreement was quickly made for Beck to become involved in the sessions that became the Talking Book album, in return for Wonder writing him a song.
Between the album sessions, Beck came up with the opening drum beat. Wonder told Beck to keep playing while he improvised over the top of it. He improvised most of the song, including the riff, on the spot. Beck and Wonder created a rough demo for the song that day.
After finishing the song, Wonder decided that he would allow Beck to record "Superstition" as part of their agreement. Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, due to the combination of the trio's debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy's prediction that "Superstition" would be a huge hit and greatly increase the sales of Talking Book, Wonder released the song as the Talking Book lead single months ahead of Beck's version, the latter being issued in March 1973 on the Beck, Bogert & Appice album.
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can
Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin' strong, yeah
You don't wanna save me, sad is my song
Words for this time!
Sippy cup?
Which, of course, excludes the mainstream media -- as they're neither multiple, nor independent, nor sources.
Pulled into my spot and humped it up the back steps (no ADA in those daze) with my full length brace on the right leg. The men's room was out of order, so everyone was using the ladies. Went over to wash my hands, standing next to a very attractive lady and said, "I just can't believe we're going to see him in person!" "Big fan?" she asked. "Oh, hell yes," I told her. "I've listened to him in many frames of mind with headphones in various locations." She understood. "Do you think he'll do all the old hits tonight?", I asked. "Probably some new ones as well," she replied. and split.
Later, standing by the curtain waiting to introduce the man of the hour, that same lady came up..just appeared at my side, with Stevie. "Never got your name," she said. "Johnny..Johnny Marks," I sort of stammered out. "Johnny, this is Stevie. This is the young man I told you about from the lady's room," she told him. "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who can truly listen to my music," he said shaking my hand and giving me a big smile.
He did "Superstition" that night, "for Johnny," and I'll never forget it.
This needs reposting
These days I can't do anything simultaneously, let alone successfully...
"If you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer."
That's a cool story. Reading further on, he's disappointed that he didn't release his more quickly, it would have been a massive, massive hit.
Jeff's version is horrible.Wow thank you for this bit of info. Both are 2 of my all time favorites , but I never knew Jeff Beck had anything to do with this track!
Beck + wonder = Musical genius
rKeep me in a day dream, keep me going strong...
When you believe in things that you don't understand, and you suffer...
Great song! found this record at a garage sale - it has braille on the cover. Always thought was really cool.
That's a cool story. Reading further on, he's disappointed that he didn't release his more quickly, it would have been a massive, massive hit.
Jeff's version is horrible.Same today. Just not my cup of tea though.
You don't think celebrities are smart enough to be atheists? They just "claim to be..."?
No guitar — that's a clavinet.
So it is! Well damn! 44 years of listening to this song and picturing the wrong musicianship in my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd4F0TydvAc
No guitar — that's a clavinet.
AGREED!
Good music is good music regardless of outside influences.
A timeless song in any and all situations.
"our" music?
AGREED!
I'm long gone but he is still there according to Wikipedia.
PS Bill Evans was on my route - and I cut his lawn, too.
Alpine? I had no idea he lived there - I didn't think very many people lived there at all. It was directly across the river from where I grew up; we used to go to that little park near the Boat Basin when we were kids. Anyhow, cool story about Stevie and Evans.
I'm long gone but he is still there according to Wikipedia.
PS Bill Evans was on my route - and I cut his lawn, too.
That's astounding! Was this the Tin Pan Alley of Alpine, N.J.?
I'm long gone but he is still there according to Wikipedia.
PS Bill Evans was on my route - and I cut his lawn, too.
YOWZAH!!! Did you ever meet him Bobert? was he a good tipper when it was time to collect? wow that's super
Stevie is Excellent.
I'm long gone but he is still there according to Wikipedia.
PS Bill Evans was on my route - and I cut his lawn, too.
In the words of my niece's little foreign friend, "you are a cool" ;^ )
I'm long gone but he is still there according to Wikipedia.
PS Bill Evans was on my route - and I cut his lawn, too.
Happy New Year everyone.
Errr. Just turn off the TV and commercial radio. Simples.
Right on DaidyBoy! Timeless High Quality
I was doing afternoon drive in Corpus Christi in '71 when Stevie came through for a sold out concert. I was to introduce him, was running a tad late (getting prepared, don'tcha know?!) and zipped down the coast road in my '64 "Vette with the top down, and Stevie blasting on a custom 8 track I'd made at the station.
Pulled into my spot and humped it up the back steps (no ADA in those daze) with my full length brace on the right leg. The men's room was out of order, so everyone was using the ladies. Went over to wash my hands, standing next to a very attractive lady and said, "I just can't believe we're going to see him in person!" "Big fan?" she asked. "Oh, hell yes," I told her. "I've listened to him in many frames of mind with headphones in various locations." She understood. "Do you think he'll do all the old hits tonight?", I asked. "Probably some new ones as well," she replied. and split.
Later, standing by the curtain waiting to introduce the man of the hour, that same lady came up..just appeared at my side, with Stevie. "Never got your name," she said. "Johnny..Johnny Marks," I sort of stammered out. "Johnny, this is Stevie. This is the young man I told you about from the lady's room," she told him. "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who can truly listen to my music," he said shaking my hand and giving me a big smile.
He did "Superstition" that night, "for Johnny," and I'll never forget it.
These are the concert of Stevie Wonder at that year and I could not find a concert in Corpus Christi, TX.
January 28, 1971 Odeon, Manchester, ENG (2 shows 6.30 & 9.00 supported by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) February 2, 1971 Colston Hall, Bristol, ENG (supported by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) February 22-March 2, 1971 Casino Royal, Saint-Leonard, QC March 5, 1971 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY (supporting Three Dog Night with Bloodrock) April 13-16, 1971 El San Juan Hotel, Carolina, PR April 26, 1971 MSU Auditorium, East Lansing, MI July 28, 1971 Meadow Brook, Rochester Hills, MI September 30-October 3, 1971 Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, CA (supported by Gladys Knight & The Pips) November 5, 1971 Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, IN November 12, 1971 Brown University Meehan Auditorium, Providence, RI November 17, 1971 Oriental Theatre, Chicago, IL (supported by Gladys Knight & The Pips & The Constellations) December 10, 1971 Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, MI (John Sinclair Freedom Rally) December 27, 1971 Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA