"Isn't She Lovely?" by Stevie Wonder

OK I'm feeling better (temp down to a reasonable 100.3)

From the Album Songs in the Key of Life

I love this song for the sheer joy it expresses. Stevie wrote this song for his daughter in celebration of her birth (if you can't tell from the lyrics). The song is completely strophic, with the same music repeating over and over again. Not one of Stevie's most complex song, but it accomplishes it's task well. The music begins with a babies cry and bass toms rolling into the bassline that will serve as the groove that the song is based within. Gotta love soul music for bassline grooves...The harmonic structure of the piece is a repeating VI-ii-V-I (CIRCLE OF FIFTHS ALERT!!!) progression with little variation. The synth acts as chord outlines, while most of the percussion is tambourine and snare hits, followed by a fill between repeated progressions. A small harmonic difference comes in before the the titular words, when westart with a more standard but a little jarring minor six chord in the progression, then at the end we double the five chord for a little extension before ending in a PAC. This song also includes a LONG harmonic solo (LONG=the entire second half of the song). In the background of the solo we have actual sound footage of Stevie playing around in the bathtub with his daughter (not like that, Jacko). This song is on his concept ablum, and really doesn't seem longer than usual since the entire album clocks in at over 4 hours. Honestly I can listen to this album for weeks on end and never tire of it, because the entire album is so nuanced. Just this song takes a simple harmonic structure and pulls every ounce of imaginable joy into it. I'm guessing I don't even know the half of it, never having experienced the miracle of child-birth.