Living for the City explained

Living for the City
Cover:Livingforthecity45.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Stevie Wonder
Album:Innervisions
B-Side:Visions
Length:
  • (full-length version)
  • (single version)
Label:Tamla
Producer:Stevie Wonder
Prev Title:Higher Ground
Prev Year:1973
Next Title:Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing
Next Year:1974

"Living for the City" is a 1973 single by Stevie Wonder from his Innervisions album. It reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the R&B chart. Rolling Stone ranked the song number 104 on their 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[1]

Story and production

Born into a poor family in Mississippi, a young black man experiences discrimination in looking for work and eventually seeks to escape to New York City (alluding to the Second Great Migration) in hopes of finding a new life. Through a series of background noises and spoken dialogue, the man reaches New York by bus, but is then promptly framed for a crime, arrested, convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison.

Wonder played all the instruments on the song and was assisted by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff for recording engineering and synthesizer programming.[2] Tenley Williams, writing in Stevie Wonder (2002), feels it was "one of the first soul hits to include both a political message and ... sampling ... of the sounds of the streets - voices, buses, traffic, and sirens - mixed with the music recorded in the studio."

Reception

Billboard described "Living for the City" as a "spectacular production of a country boy whose parents sacrifice themselves for him," and also praised the vocals and horn playing.[3]

The song has won two Grammy Awards: one at the 1974 Grammy Awards for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, and the second for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1975 Grammy Awards for Ray Charles' recording on his album Renaissance.[4]

It reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the R&B chart.[5] Rolling Stone ranked the song number 104 on their 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[6]

Personnel

Influence

Public Enemy sampled the phrase get in that cell, nigger in their song "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos."

Usher (or at least his producer Polow da Don) sampled the song for the hook of "Lil Freak."

Gillan covered the song, releasing it as a single which reached No. 50 in the UK, and on its 1982 album Magic.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1973–1974)Peak
position
17
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 8
1
German Singles Chart[8] 20
New Zealand[9] 18
UK[10] 15
US Cash Box Top 1006

Year-end charts

Chart (1974)Rank
Canada[11] 156
US Billboard Hot 100[12] 45

Cover versions

Dance music artist Sylvester covered the song on his 11th studio album, Mutual Attraction (1986), his major label debut album. Sylvester's "Living for the City" was released as the album's lead single and peaked at #2 on Billboard's Dance Club Play Chart.

Notes and References

  1. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004: 101-200. Rolling Stone. https://web.archive.org/web/20080620035744/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/2. October 6, 2021. 2008-06-20.
  2. Web site: Stevie Wonder Living for the City . Hogan . Ed . n.d. . . 2021-09-01 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20151017134258/http://www.allmusic.com:80/song/living-for-the-city-mt0031975551 . 2015-10-17 . Along with his frequent creative partners, the engineering/synth programming duo of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, Wonder crafted a tantalizing track that is enthralling, vividly drawn, and deeply poignant. Cecil's film business experience played a big part in the "wide screen" feel of "Living for the City," which tells a story in a way that few songs do. Margouleff's father was the mayor of Great Neck, NY, while some of the song's "scenes" were shot (actually recorded by a portable Nagra tape recorder). Though Wonder plays all of the instruments, "Living for the City" wasn't a one man show. The singer recruited his brother Calvin, road manager Ira Tucker Jr., a New York police officer, and attorney Jonathan Vigoda. Cecil and Margouleff acted in a role as semi-directors who were trained in "the method." . dmy-all .
  3. . 1973-11-03 . STEVIE WONDERLiving For The City . Top Single Picks (Pop) . . en-us . 85 . 44 . 59 . 0006-2510 . 2021-09-01 . . Stevie's "Innervisions" LP produces this spectacular production of a country boy whose parents sacrifice themselves for him. Stevie's voice soards and glides with a gutsy reality. Lots of catchy horn, background voices and cymbals in the picture also. . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: Grammy Awards: Artist - Stevie Wonder . n.d. . . 2021-09-01 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171117114559/https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/stevie-wonder . 2017-11-17 . BEST RHYTHM & BLUES SONG: Living For The City . dmy-all .
  5. Book: Whitburn . Joel . Joel Whitburn . 2006-01-20 . Top RB/Hip-Hop Singles 1942-2004 . en . . Record Research . 978-0898201604 . 2005297809 . 643640391 . OL8268962M . dmy-all .
  6. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004: 101-200. Rolling Stone. https://web.archive.org/web/20080620035744/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/2. October 6, 2021. 2008-06-20.
  7. Web site: Stevie Wonder — Chart history . www.billboard.com . 7 March 2014.
  8. Web site: Stevie Wonder — German charts . https://web.archive.org/web/20141017170502/http://www.officialcharts.de/song.asp?artist=Stevie+Wonder&title=Living+For+The+City&country=de . dead . October 17, 2014 . www.charts.de . 7 March 2014.
  9. Web site: flavour of new zealand - search listener . Flavourofnz.co.nz . 2016-10-08.
  10. Web site: Stevie Wonder — Official UK charts . www.officialcharts.com . 7 March 2014.
  11. . 1974 Wrap Up . 1974-12-28 . . 2021-09-01 . live . pdf . 22 . 19 . 0315-5994 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090627/https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.3893b&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.3893b.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.3893b . 2016-03-04 . dmy-all .
  12. . 1974-12-28 . 44. LIVING FOR THE CITYStevie WonderTamla (Motown) . Top Pop Singles . . en-us . Billboard's Annual Talent In Action . 86 . 52 . 8 . 0006-2510 . 2021-09-01 . . dmy-all .

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