| Living For The City |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT LIVING FOR THE CITY | |
| 1973 songs | |
| 1973 singles | |
| 1974 singles | |
| billboard hot ramp;b---hip-hop songs number-one singles | |
| stevie wonder songs | |
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The song begins with Wonder describing the life of a poverty stricken young boy in Mississippi. His family is poor, but his parents work hard and encourage him, in spite of the dreadful conditions they live in: lack of food and money, and Racism as well. As the record progresses, the tension and anger build in Wonder's voice, matching the growing frustrations of the subjects in the song. A spoken interlude midway through the song has the young boy, now a young man, arriving in New York City for a new beginning. Unfortunately, the young man is unaware of the dangers of the city, and is tricked into transporting something illegal (presumably Drugs ). After being brutalized by the Police and convicted in court, he winds up in prison, ending the song as a homeless vagrant on the streets of New York. The tension in Wonder's voice boils over at this point into an angry growl, but then subsides again as he ends the song on a positive note. The spoken interlude can be seen as an electro-acoustic experiment, exploring the composer's main sensory input. Presumably, all voices in the interlude are his, from grown-up kid to judge, and when returning to the song, the growling voice reveals the inner rage that has been building throughout the song. "Living For The City" still holds a substantial edge in social commentary. |
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