Videos by American Songwriter
You’d be hard-pressed to name any artist that enjoyed a finer stretch of music in the 1970’s, or any other era for that matter, than the one that Stevie Wonder put together from 1972 to 1976. Talking Book, one of Wonder’s masterpieces from that era, was released in 1972 at a time when he was taking charge of his music so that he could express who he was and what his concerns, frailties and obsessions were in ways he never attempted when he was part of the Motown hit factory in the 60’s.
When he spoke to NPR in 2000 and recollected the making of the album, Wonder made clear that he was expanding the boundaries of the subject matter in his songs on that album. “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to say anything except where I wanted to just express various many things that I felt — the political point of view that I have, the social point of view that I have, the passions, emotion and love that I felt, compassion, the fun of love that I felt, the whole thing in the beginning with a joyful love and then the pain of love,” he explained.
Love is certainly one of the pet topics on Talking Book, and the album features the masterful closing ballad “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever.)” As romantic testaments go, it’s hard to top, in part because Wonder understands that the bright side of love looks all the more luminous when compared to the unfathomable darkness of loneliness.
The opening verse, with the musical backing floating weightless behind Wonder (who played all the instruments on the track), seems to be setting us up for the ultimate downer: “Shattered dreams, worthless years/ Here am I encased inside a fragile shell/ Life began, then was done/ Now I stare into a cold and empty well.” But as the music tentatively peeks out of this abyss, Wonder suggests that “empty souls” can be healed by “merging hearts.”
In the second verse, Wonder waxes cosmic on the possibilities of this union: “What has been must never end/ And with the strength we have won’t be erased.” The following lines leave any lasting doubts behind, so that the woeful beginning to the song is a fleeting memory: “When the truths of love are planted firm/ They won’t be hard to find/ And the words of love I speak to you/ Will echo in my mind.”
The refrain eliminates any fanciness in the wordplay, leaving just a direct proclamation about how indestructible love can be when you find the right person to share it: “I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever.” The music in the choruses struts confidently, with all of Wonder’s various keyboard sounds intertwining in a heady embrace. After the triumph of the refrains, the funky coda is the victory lap, for both the song and the album.
When you’re making your Valentine’s Day playlists, it’s easy to sink in a sea of sap. “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)” is a no-brainer of a selection, because of how Stevie Wonder stresses that even in the sweetest love story, there are some sour chapters to endure.
