Living for the City

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.{{rp|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgr0000sull_x5i5/page/236/mode/1up 236]}}{{rp|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YENkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 62]}}

The basic track (electric piano and Wonder's first vocal takes) was recorded on December 5, 1972. Moog bass was overdubbed the following day. Drums, harps, and Wonder's finalized vocals were recorded on December 8, 1972. The track was left untouched until April 20, 1973, when Stevie recorded backing vocals while either slowing down or speeding up the tape, in order to make his backing vocals sound either higher or lower respectively in comparison to his natural voice.{{Cite web |date=2021-07-15 |title=Expanding Soul |url=https://magazine.waxpoetics.com/article/the-technological-breakthroughs-of-stevie-wonder-and-tonto/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=wax-poetics |language=en}} Wonder played the majority of the instruments on the song and was assisted by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff for recording engineering and synthesizer programming.{{cite web | url = https://www.allmusic.com/song/living-for-the-city-mt0031975551 | title = Stevie Wonder {{!}} Living for the City | last = Hogan | first = Ed | author-link = | date = n.d. | website = AllMusic | access-date = 2021-09-01 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151017134258/http://www.allmusic.com:80/song/living-for-the-city-mt0031975551 | archive-date = 2015-10-17 | quote = 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." | df = dmy-all }} 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."{{rp|page=[https://archive.org/details/steviewonder00will/page/44 44]}}

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.{{cite magazine | author = | date = 1973-11-03 | title = STEVIE WONDER{{mdash}}Living For The City | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LgkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA59 | department = Top Single Picks (Pop) | magazine = Billboard | language = en-us | volume = 85 | issue = 44 | page = 59 | issn = 0006-2510 | access-date = 2021-09-01 | via = Google Books | quote = 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. | df = dmy-all }}

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.{{cite web | url = https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/stevie-wonder/8257 | title = Grammy Awards: Artist - Stevie Wonder | date = n.d. | website = The Recording Academy | access-date = 2021-09-01 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171117114559/https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/stevie-wonder | archive-date = 2017-11-17 | quote = BEST RHYTHM & BLUES SONG: Living For The City | df = dmy-all }}

It reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the R&B chart.{{cite book | last1 = Whitburn | first1 = Joel | author-link1 = Joel Whitburn | date = 2006-01-20 | title = Top R{{Ampersand}}B/Hip-Hop Singles 1942-2004 | language = en | publication-place = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin | publisher = Record Research | isbn = 978-0898201604 | lccn = 2005297809 | oclc = 643640391 | ol = OL8268962M | df = dmy-all }}{{rp|page=635}} Rolling Stone ranked the song number 104 on their 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".{{cite magazine| url =http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/2| title = The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004: 101-200| magazine = Rolling Stone| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080620035744/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/2| access-date = October 6, 2021| archive-date = 2008-06-20}}

• Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocals, Fender Rhodes, drums, Moog bass, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer, handclaps
• Malcolm Cecil - synthesizer programming
• Robert Margouleff - synthesizer programming
• Calvin Hardaway (Wonder's brother); Ira Tucker Jr.; a New York police officer; attorney Jonathan Vigoda - other voices

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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.

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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.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

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{{cite q | Q108369709 | last1 = Sullivan | first1 = Steve | chapter = Playlist 2 {{!}} Down Home Rag, 1897{{mdash}}2005 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgr0000sull_x5i5/page/236/mode/1up | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgr0000sull_x5i5/mode/1up | url-access = registration | language = en | volume = 1 | publisher = Scarecrow Press, Inc | publication-place = Lanham, Maryland | access-date = 2021-09-01 | via = Internet Archive | quote = The song explores modern urban realities through a narrative of a small-town migrant who arrives in New York City with bright hopes, is duped into drug running, and ends up sentenced to ten years in prison (much of the narrative is done through a dramatic playlet incorporated into the song.) | quote-page = 236 | df = dmy-all}}

{{cite q | Q108383603 | last1 = Owsinski | first1 = Bobby | author-link1 = Bobby Owsinski | title = Bobby Owsinski's Deconstructed Hits -- Classic Rock, Vol 1: Uncover the Stories & Techniques Behind 20 Iconic Songs | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YENkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 | via = Google Books }}

{{cite q | Q108381913 | last1 = Williams | first1 = Tenley | others = Introduction by James Scott Brady | chapter = Inner Vision | url = https://archive.org/details/steviewonder00will | url-access = registration | series = Overcoming Adversity }}

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{{Stevie Wonder}}{{Ray Charles}}{{Ike & Tina Turner}}

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Category:1973 singles

Category:Stevie Wonder songs

Category:Songs about New York City

Category:Motown singles

Category:Protest songs

Category:Songs about poverty

Category:Songs written by Stevie Wonder

Category:Tamla Records singles

Category:1973 songs

Category:Songs about racism and xenophobia

Category:Song recordings produced by Stevie Wonder