It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” by Stevie Wonder
February 2, 1966
“Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” by Stevie Wonder
#1 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles chart, January 22 – February 25, 1966
At 15 years old, Stevie Wonder was almost a has-been. He had started his career at Motown four years earlier, where the blind 11-year-old, formerly known as Stevland Judkins, was rechristened Little Stevie Wonder and molded into a miniature Ray Charles. Shortly after his 13th birthday, Wonder earned his first hit with “Fingertips – Pt 2,” a live, largely improvised record showing off his harmonica skills. “Fingertips” unexpectedly topped both Billboard’s pop and R&B charts, but Wonder and Motown had a tough time replicating its success. Follow-up single “Workout Stevie, Workout” — recorded in studio but, like its predecessor, mainly an excuse for extended harmonica riffing — stalled at #33 on the pop charts. His only other entry into the Top 40, 1964’s “Mr. Harmonica Man,” climbed to #29, but as its title suggests, wasn’t much of a departure.
Meanwhile, Wonder had hit puberty; his voice was changing, and he was aging out of the novelty of being a harmonica prodigy. (He dropped the “Little” from his name in 1964.) In Craig Werner’s book Higher Ground, songwriter Sylvia Moy recalls the sorry state of affairs at Motown: “They would go through the list of artists and give assignments to the various producers. In 1965, no one wanted Stevie.” Nevertheless, Moy and fellow songwriter Henry Cosby tried their luck with Wonder, asking the young musician if he had any ideas for a potential hit. Eventually, Wonder sang a fragment of a song he’d had in his head: “Everything is alright, uptight.”
Inspired by that line, Moy and Crosby fleshed out “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” into the story of a poor boy in love with a girl from “the right side of the tracks,” “raised in a great big old house, full of butlers and maids.” Wonder, fresh from touring with the Rolling Stones, wanted something that matched the intensity of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and so “Uptight” borrows its punchy rhythm and two-chord riff. The record opens with a solid 4/4 beat on the snare drum accompanied by a groovy bass intro, establishing the buoyant, unwavering beat that will carry the whole song. When the joyous horns beam in a couple of measures later, it’s immediately clear that Wonder has found his hit.
It’s Wonder’s mature performance, however, that truly makes the song. Not only has his voice stabilized into its adult range, but he has also developed richer, more thoughtful phrasing. With no obvious differentiation between verse and chorus, “Uptight” is essentially a song in one part. Wonder’s run-on lines (“she’s a pearlofagirl, Iguessthat’swhatyou might say”), unexpected pauses (“I’m the … apple of my girl’s eye”), and stretched emphases (“a GRRRRREAT big old house”) add variety to the song, playing against the steady rhythm. “Uptight” is the moment where Wonder reveals himself as more than a fading gimmick, but potentially one of Motown’s greatest talents — and all without relying on a single harmonica lick.
The growing pains of the past two years were immediately wiped away by Wonder’s assured delivery and the impeccable, hook-packed production by Mickey Stevenson and longtime Wonder collaborator Clarence Paul. “Uptight” shot to #3 on the Hot 100 and topped the R&B chart; its success led to the LP Up-Tight, which yielded three further hits (“Nothing’s Too Good for My Baby,” “With a Child’s Heart,” and the Bob Dylan cover “Blowin’ in the Wind”). Wonder’s musical relationship with Moy and Cosby would go on to yield a string of hits that kept Wonder on top through the decade, including 1967’s “I Was Made to Love Her,” 1968’s “Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day,” and 1969’s “My Cherie Amour.” As Wonder’s first co-written hit, however, it also hints at the greater creative control that he would pursue in the years to come, while the influence of the Rolling Stones presages his future genre-busting explorations. “Uptight” not only saved Wonder’s career, it staked out a path to follow into adulthood.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
