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Friday Funk #9 – ‘Maybe Your Baby’ by Stevie Wonder
Friday Funk #9 – ‘Maybe Your Baby’ by Stevie Wonder
Friday Funk #9 – ‘Maybe Your Baby’ by Stevie Wonder
‘Maybe Your Baby’ was track 2 on Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book (1972), the album that featured ‘Superstition’. It features Wonder playing the Clavinet, a snarling Moog bassline, drums, and singing lead and background vocals.
Wonder’s bass playing on the Moog is footstompingly funky. He played riffs that resembled a traditional electric bass, although they were easily weird enough for you to question what instrument was responsible. (Check out Wonder’s isolated bass from ‘Superstition’ on Rick Beato’s video analysing that song.) The bass hits the One nearly every bar, allows space for the Clavinet parts in the verses and first chorus, and rivals the guitar as lead instrument in the outro (an extended chorus).
In the verses, the interlocking Clavinet parts fill almost every beat available, contrasting with the bass both in their pitch and restlessness. Together with the stereo mixing and echo, those parts add up to a sense of near-claustrophobia, which is relieved by the transition into the chorus. Listen from 1:00 where the verse comes to an end, and then the Clavinet plays two soft chords and there’s a few bars with more space. The drums, until this moment playing only the essentials, then pick up when the guitar ratchets up the intensity.
The song was one of only two tracks on the album to feature guitar (the other being ‘Lookin’ for Another Pure Love’). It dovetails brilliantly with Stevie’s dual vocals (“Hee-hee”, “Yeah”) at the end of that first chorus. In the second verse, the guitar and mostly Clavinet reply to Stevie’s vocals, adding to the unease of the lyrics (“I feel like I’m slippin’ deeper / Slippin’ deeper into myself / And I can’t take it / This stuff is scarin’ me to death”).
There’s some great drumming in the middle 8 (usually a section with a change of melody between second and third choruses). As Stevie sings forebodingly, “Little Silly Walker, sittin’ in a saucer” that rare rhyme is given extra bite with the cymbals, and there’s a brief drum fill before the cymbals are hit on three beats in a row, giving great momentum to the following line (“Checkin’ out the guys that are passing by”).
The repetitions of “by, by” in that section continue that momentum together with a repetitive high-pitched riff that sounds like it could be either guitar or another Clavinet part. Many of these details are quite low in the mix and you wouldn’t necessarily notice them unless listening closely, but your subconscious will hear them, and feel them.
The guitar is played by Ray Parker Jr, who wrote/co-wrote songs for artists like Bobby Womack (‘Love Ain't Something You Get For Free’, later referred to as ‘Love Ain't Something You Can Get For Free’), Herbie Hancock (‘Doin’ It’), and Rufus, Chaka Khan’s band (‘You Got the Love’).
Wonder’s vocal has a slightly uneasy quality throughout. Although a lot of the lyrics are repeated in the chorus and outro (“Maybe your baby done made some other plans”), there’s constant variation with Stevie’s overdubbed vocals (“Baby, your baby, stupid baby, your baby”, “Hee-hee-hee”, “Ah-hah, ha-hah”).
The end of the song ventures into something like hard rock with wailing guitar and drum rolls, but the One, hit hard, ensures danceability. None of the track really resembles funk by any other artist. By this time, Wonder had greater creative freedom and was less directed by Motown. Resembling other people wasn’t on his agenda.
‘Maybe Your Baby’ was track 2 on Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book (1972), the album that featured ‘Superstition’. It features Wonder playing the Clavinet, a snarling Moog bassline, drums, and singing lead and background vocals.
Wonder’s bass playing on the Moog is footstompingly funky. He played riffs that resembled a traditional electric bass, although they were easily weird enough for you to question what instrument was responsible. (Check out Wonder’s isolated bass from ‘Superstition’ on Rick Beato’s video analysing that song.) The bass hits the One nearly every bar, allows space for the Clavinet parts in the verses and first chorus, and rivals the guitar as lead instrument in the outro (an extended chorus).
In the verses, the interlocking Clavinet parts fill almost every beat available, contrasting with the bass both in their pitch and restlessness. Together with the stereo mixing and echo, those parts add up to a sense of near-claustrophobia, which is relieved by the transition into the chorus. Listen from 1:00 where the verse comes to an end, and then the Clavinet plays two soft chords and there’s a few bars with more space. The drums, until this moment playing only the essentials, then pick up when the guitar ratchets up the intensity.
The song was one of only two tracks on the album to feature guitar (the other being ‘Lookin’ for Another Pure Love’). It dovetails brilliantly with Stevie’s dual vocals (“Hee-hee”, “Yeah”) at the end of that first chorus. In the second verse, the guitar and mostly Clavinet reply to Stevie’s vocals, adding to the unease of the lyrics (“I feel like I’m slippin’ deeper / Slippin’ deeper into myself / And I can’t take it / This stuff is scarin’ me to death”).
There’s some great drumming in the middle 8 (usually a section with a change of melody between second and third choruses). As Stevie sings forebodingly, “Little Silly Walker, sittin’ in a saucer” that rare rhyme is given extra bite with the cymbals, and there’s a brief drum fill before the cymbals are hit on three beats in a row, giving great momentum to the following line (“Checkin’ out the guys that are passing by”).
The repetitions of “by, by” in that section continue that momentum together with a repetitive high-pitched riff that sounds like it could be either guitar or another Clavinet part. Many of these details are quite low in the mix and you wouldn’t necessarily notice them unless listening closely, but your subconscious will hear them, and feel them.
The guitar is played by Ray Parker Jr, who wrote/co-wrote songs for artists like Bobby Womack (‘Love Ain't Something You Get For Free’, later referred to as ‘Love Ain't Something You Can Get For Free’), Herbie Hancock (‘Doin’ It’), and Rufus, Chaka Khan’s band (‘You Got the Love’).
Wonder’s vocal has a slightly uneasy quality throughout. Although a lot of the lyrics are repeated in the chorus and outro (“Maybe your baby done made some other plans”), there’s constant variation with Stevie’s overdubbed vocals (“Baby, your baby, stupid baby, your baby”, “Hee-hee-hee”, “Ah-hah, ha-hah”).
The end of the song ventures into something like hard rock with wailing guitar and drum rolls, but the One, hit hard, ensures danceability. None of the track really resembles funk by any other artist. By this time, Wonder had greater creative freedom and was less directed by Motown. Resembling other people wasn’t on his agenda.
‘Maybe Your Baby’ was track 2 on Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book (1972), the album that featured ‘Superstition’. It features Wonder playing the Clavinet, a snarling Moog bassline, drums, and singing lead and background vocals.
Wonder’s bass playing on the Moog is footstompingly funky. He played riffs that resembled a traditional electric bass, although they were easily weird enough for you to question what instrument was responsible. (Check out Wonder’s isolated bass from ‘Superstition’ on Rick Beato’s video analysing that song.) The bass hits the One nearly every bar, allows space for the Clavinet parts in the verses and first chorus, and rivals the guitar as lead instrument in the outro (an extended chorus).
In the verses, the interlocking Clavinet parts fill almost every beat available, contrasting with the bass both in their pitch and restlessness. Together with the stereo mixing and echo, those parts add up to a sense of near-claustrophobia, which is relieved by the transition into the chorus. Listen from 1:00 where the verse comes to an end, and then the Clavinet plays two soft chords and there’s a few bars with more space. The drums, until this moment playing only the essentials, then pick up when the guitar ratchets up the intensity.
The song was one of only two tracks on the album to feature guitar (the other being ‘Lookin’ for Another Pure Love’). It dovetails brilliantly with Stevie’s dual vocals (“Hee-hee”, “Yeah”) at the end of that first chorus. In the second verse, the guitar and mostly Clavinet reply to Stevie’s vocals, adding to the unease of the lyrics (“I feel like I’m slippin’ deeper / Slippin’ deeper into myself / And I can’t take it / This stuff is scarin’ me to death”).
There’s some great drumming in the middle 8 (usually a section with a change of melody between second and third choruses). As Stevie sings forebodingly, “Little Silly Walker, sittin’ in a saucer” that rare rhyme is given extra bite with the cymbals, and there’s a brief drum fill before the cymbals are hit on three beats in a row, giving great momentum to the following line (“Checkin’ out the guys that are passing by”).
The repetitions of “by, by” in that section continue that momentum together with a repetitive high-pitched riff that sounds like it could be either guitar or another Clavinet part. Many of these details are quite low in the mix and you wouldn’t necessarily notice them unless listening closely, but your subconscious will hear them, and feel them.
The guitar is played by Ray Parker Jr, who wrote/co-wrote songs for artists like Bobby Womack (‘Love Ain't Something You Get For Free’, later referred to as ‘Love Ain't Something You Can Get For Free’), Herbie Hancock (‘Doin’ It’), and Rufus, Chaka Khan’s band (‘You Got the Love’).
Wonder’s vocal has a slightly uneasy quality throughout. Although a lot of the lyrics are repeated in the chorus and outro (“Maybe your baby done made some other plans”), there’s constant variation with Stevie’s overdubbed vocals (“Baby, your baby, stupid baby, your baby”, “Hee-hee-hee”, “Ah-hah, ha-hah”).
The end of the song ventures into something like hard rock with wailing guitar and drum rolls, but the One, hit hard, ensures danceability. None of the track really resembles funk by any other artist. By this time, Wonder had greater creative freedom and was less directed by Motown. Resembling other people wasn’t on his agenda.