The artist Elton John caleld one of the most beloved of all time: “There aren’t many like that”
There’s always been a certain hierarchy when it comes to rock and roll musicians. There are many people who are happy to be writing tunes for anyone that’s willing to listen to them, but there are always going to be a few that chip away at the mechanics of songwriting to come up with something that no one would have ever conceived during their peak. And while Elton John deserves to be in the second category just as much as people like The Beatles, he knew that there were many people whom artists shouldn’t really try to match.
Even by John’s standards as a rock and roll legend, though, he’s never forgotten about being a fan of all types of music. He has always kept a finger on the pulse of his favourite new artists, and while it might have left his older fans confused seeing him work with people like Kanye West and Alice in Chains, it has always been about discovering new music for him every time he listens to something.
Because, really, John is the same kid who fell in love with music from the first time that his mother listened to Elvis Presley. He may have had a more flamboyant look than anyone else in rock and roll when he first started, but it was alright as long as he had a song in his heart and the kind of musical muscle to keep every song interesting whenever Bernie Leadon came back with a finished lyric.
Although there are many pieces from the likes of Beethoven and Bach in his delivery, John didn’t want to be thought of in the same way as classical musicians. He wanted to do for rock and roll what jazz greats like Count Basie and Duke Ellington had done for jazz, and looking back at what some of his idols were doing, he figured that Stevie Wonder could never be beaten in terms of the mark he left on music.
Wonder may have started out as a kid when making his first hits, but John felt that his spirit is the reason why the R&B legend was one of the most beloved artists of his time, saying, “He has got an immeasurable amount of talent — so much talent that sometimes it can seem like he’s kind of lost. Stevie is an amazingly positive, peaceful man. When you ask him to do something, he is generous. He loves music. He loves to play. When he comes into a room, people adore him. And there aren’t many artists like that.”
And it’s not like Wonder doesn’t deliver on that kind of passion for music whenever he performs live. There are occasional moments where he lets out some of his aggression on his classic records like ‘Living for the City’, but whenever he gets behind the piano, everything comes from a place of fun for him.
Was it always the best song ever made? Not necessarily, but it didn’t have to be. There are a handful of songs that Wonder has been involved that people probably don’t ever need to hear again, but when someone has written an album as essential to music as Songs in the Key of Life, it’s impossible to think of him as anything less than a musical genius, especially with his phenomenal playing on ‘Sir Duke’.
Many artists of Wonder’s generation would have gladly sat atop their mountain of gold records by this point, but he was never in it for the massive success. It’s nice to make a living doing what you love, but Wonder always seemed to be playing because it helped make the world a better place to live in.
