Ever since Stevie Wonder was a spry young man, he has had music pouring out of his ears. Given his nack and ability to seemingly write songs on a whim, the man has never viewed any one of his songs as incredibly precious. Instead, he sees songs for what they are, which is something that needs to be heard by any means necessary. That being so, did you know Stevie Wonder nearly gifted Jeff Beck, “Superstition?”
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Jeff Beck and Stevie Wonder reside within the same fan base and certainly cross over on their diverse musical spectrums. Thanks to these similarities, the two met on an arbitrary date in 1972 and that is when Wonder nearly changed the musical landscape of the 1970s.
Stevie Wonder’s Near Fate-Changing Decision
In 1972, Stevie Wonder recorded his iconic album, Talking Book. In those sessions, his producer, Robert Margouleff, invited Jeff Beck to collaborate on a few of the tracks. However, this is where the story takes a turn, and Margouleff recalled all of it in an interview with Anthony Morelli Music per Farout.
Margouleff started his story by remembering what Stevie said to Beck, “Stevie said, ‘If you play on my record, I’ll give you a song.’” As the conversation continued, Margouleff realized what song Stevie was planning to give away. “[Stevie] was going to give him ‘Superstition,’” Margouleff recalled.
Regarding Stevie’s decision, Margouleff added, “We already had a sort of rough mix of [‘Superstition’] in the control room” and “The powers that be, including me and [producer] Malcolm [Cecil], said, ‘Steve, you have to do this song! You cannot give this song to anybody. You need to keep that song for yourself.’”
It seems Stevie Wonder wanted to give Beck the song not only for transactional purposes but also to thank him for playing on the first “Superstition” demo track. However, when Motown CEO, Barry Gordy, heard about the situation he quickly put an end to the potential musical mishap. Even though a Jeff Beck rendition of “Superstition” would have been legendary, that song belongs to Stevie Wonder and fits his style impeccably well.
Luckily, Wonder ultimately viewed it that way as well. Following its 1972, Wonder’s single peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went triple platinum and the UK. Needless to say, if Stevie Wonder had given this tune to Jeff Beck, he would have given away one of the crutches that prop up his iconic legacy.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
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