Album: Talking Book
Year: 1972
. . .
You’ll probably have noticed that none of the Stevie Wonder songs I’ve written about so far have been ballads. And of course, those of you who have been reading this blog for quite some time are probably well aware of my propensity for fast ones over slow ones.
Which is one of the reasons why I’m skipping the massive ballad that opened up Talking Book (and provided Stevie his second #1 hit single in a row), “You Are The Sunshine of My Life,” a song where I can hear what the rest of the world loves about it while being totally immune to its charms.
Not so with the ballad that closed Talking Book, the etherial “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever),” — one of the songs on the album where Stevie Wonder plays and sings the entire thing — which starts out almost floating on a bed of formless keyboard clouds while Stevie sings about the darker side of his soul.
Shattered dreams, worthless years
Here am I encased inside a hollow shell
Life began, then was done
Now I stare into a cold and empty well
The many sounds that meet our ears
The sights our eyes behold
Will open up our merging hearts
And feed our empty souls
But then as Stevie the drummer finally picks up the beat, he sings one of the more gorgeous choruses of his entire career, his overdubbed backing vocals already leading the way.
I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever
I believe when I fall in love this time it will be forever
After the second verse, the song becomes almost pure chorus, a gorgeous multi-track army of Stevies singing “I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever / I believe when I fall in love this time it will be forever” over and over and over, eventually counterpointing himself with even more Stevies noting that “God surely answered my prayer” all of which builds so magisterially that you just assume that it’s going to last until the fade.
But Stevie has one last twist up his sleeve, as the song suddenly gets funky as Stevie exhorts:
Come on, let’s fall in love
You’re the woman I’ve been waiting for
Come on, let’s fall in love
You’re the girl that I really adore
Come on, let’s fall in love
(Don’t you wanna, don’t you wanna, don’t you wanna fall in love with me)
Come on baby, let’s fall in love
Come on let’s fall in love
This is what takes “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” to its fade, a coda as cool as it is unnecessary, and goes to the eight zillion musical ideas that Stevie Wonder was having. I mean, it could literally be its own song, but instead it’s the last 30 seconds of “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” because why the hell not.
“I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)”
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