Stevie Wonder ~ You Haven't Done Nothin' 1974 Funky Purrfection Version

In its heyday, Motown records ruled the roost. By creating music that dissolved the differences between whites and blacks, it got us all up to dance together, even though at the time there were still reminders that allowed people to show their hate by clinging to segregationist thoughts and actions. By the early 70's Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder fought hard to be released from the binds that Berry Gordy imposed on all his artists to not politicize the music. Marvin put out "What's Going On" and despite the misgivings of its popularity by Gordy, the music struck a chord with the masses. Stevie Wonder started his assault on what was wrong and what was right in 1972 with "Superstition". When he released "Fulfillingness First Finale" he got down and dirty with the social injustices, even making a statement against the sitting disgraced President of the United States Richard Nixon with "You Haven't Done Nothin'". Nixon's shenanigans were brought to light with the Watergate scandal and it brought him down. People were justifiably angry and what had occurred and Stevie became the voice of America. While he stoked the fires of thought with songs like this, he was able to assuage our anger and calm us with "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing", "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" and "Boogie On Reggae Woman". When he released this one, he said "Everybody promises you everything, but in the end, nothing comes out of it. I don't vote for anybody until they have really done something that I know about. I want to see them do something first. The only trouble is that you always hear the President or people say that they are doing all they can and they feed you with hopes for years and years and years. But that is probably typical of most people in very important positions who have a lot of power. I'm sick and tired of listening to all their lies. The best way to get an important and heavy message across is to wrap it up nicely. With songs I've found out, it's better to try and level out the weight of the lyrics by making the melody lighter. After all, the people want to be entertained, which is alright with me. So if you have a catchy melody instead of making the song sound like a lesson, people are more likely to play the tune. They can dance to it and still listen to the lyrics and hopefully think about them"(sound of microphone dropping) Prior to recording "Fulfillingness First Finale", Wonder was on tour in 1973 to promote "Innervisions" when he suffered a debilitating accident when logs from a logging truck came loose and crashed through the windshield of a car he was a passenger in. He was in a coma for a week and his close friend and PR man Ira Tucker stayed with him. He knew that Stevie liked to listen to music very loud and Ira sang loudly to him hoping for a response. That first day, there was none but on the second day, he put his arm under Stevie's hand, got right into his ear and starting singing "Higher Ground" and after a few moments Ira felt Stevie tapping his arm in time with the song. That is when Ira knew Stevie was going to make it. Doctors told Stevie he needed total rest and relaxation to overcome his traumatic injuries, but it wasn't long before he started working on new music that would be recorded for "Fulfillingness First Finale" from his hospital bed. He went back to performing live in 1974 by jamming with the Edgar Winter and then joined Elton John in Boston duetting with him on the Rolling Stone's "Honky Tonk Women". That summer, he went in the studio with the Jackson 5 and recorded "You Haven't Done Nothin'". Released on August 3, 1974 the song hit #1 on November 2, and was his fourth #1 hit. The lyrics to this like "one would not care to wake up to the nightmare that has become real life" just seemed to sum up current events.