Stevie Wonder Channeled The Beatles When Writing This Massive Hit

In 1984, Stevie Wonder released “I Just Called To Say I Love You”. One of the biggest hits of his career, the song is on the soundtrack for the film, The Woman In Red. Written by Wonder, “I Just Called To Say I Love You” stayed at the top of the charts for three weeks. 

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By the time Wonder released “I Just Called To Say I Love You”, he was more than two decades into his career as a major superstar. But with “I Just Called To Say I Love You”, Wonder channeled an act even bigger than himself: the Beatles. During a lawsuit filed by Lloyd Chiate and Lee Garrett, claiming the idea for the song was originally theirs, Wonder revealed how the Beatles inspired him to write the feel-good tune.

“I had the melody and the lyric that I had for the chorus. I imagined in my mind when hearing the chords that the Beatles were singing with me. And that idea and feeling is what inspired me to use the vocoder when I heard about the vocoder,” Wonder testified (via Songfacts), referring to an audio processor Wonder uses in the song. “And I always imagined myself and The Beatles singing that. It was in 1980, I believe, or ’81 when John Lennon was killed, that I knew that the dream would never be fulfilled.”

The Message in “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder

“I Just Called To Say I Love You” says, “No April rain / No flowers bloom / No wedding Saturday within the month of June / But what it is is something true / Made up of these three words that I must say to you / I  just called to say I love you / I just called to say how much I care / I just called to say I love you / And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

The uptempo tune remains one of Wonder’s most successful songs of his career, even if not everyone was a fan of the song. “I Just Called To Say I Love You” comes after Wonder had released unique hit singles like “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”, “I’m Yours”, “Superstition”, “Sir Duke”, and more. With “I Just Called To Say I Love You”, the lyrics and melody may not have been as intriguing as some of his other hits. Still, it resonated with fans all over the world. It also earned him an Oscar for Best Original Song.

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