#MusicMonday – October 22, 2018

Nine more days until Halloween, and something is very superstitious about Allison’s Written Words…

Kicking off today, and going until October 31st, we’re celebrating Halloween on Allison’s Written Words.  That means facts, commercials, and yes even music – with a Halloween theme!

Let’s kick off the fun with a song that isn’t about Halloween, but it has that feel and tone.  Something about thirteen-month-old babies breaking a mirror (darn babies, can’t have nice things!), extensive (and excessive) hygiene, the devil, daydreams, and seven years of bad luck.

Sounds a bit…superstitious, wouldn’t you say?

“Superstition” is a song by Stevie Wonder, released on Wonder’s 1972 album Talking Book (his fifteenth album) as its lead single.  Released on October 24, 1972 (forty-six years ago this week!), the song talks about popular superstitions and its ill effects.

There was no basis or inspiration (or, at least, none that I can find) for the song’s existence, but obviously someone had to write about all the weird things people do in the name of warding off bad luck.

British musician Jeff Beck (of the Yardbirds, Beck, Bogert, and Appice, and The Jeff Beck Group) was an admirer of Wonder’s work at the time this song was to be recorded.  Beck created the opening drum beat, and helped create the first rough demo for “Superstition” in the same day.  Beck would later release the song with his own group a few months after Wonder’s version was released.

Knowing all of that, why not listen to all of the crazy superstitions people have be revealed?

Click play below!

“Superstition” topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Soul Singles charts in 1972-1973 (#26 for the year 1973 on the Billboard Hot 100), and was Wonder’s first number one single since “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”  He performed it on Sesame Street in 1973 (episode 514), and the Jackson 5 covered it at a concert in Japan in 1973.  That cover later became part of their 1973 album The Jackson 5 in Japan, and the performance on Sesame Street was featured on the album Songs from the Street: 35 Years in Music.  

Here’s the Jackson 5 version:

And the version on Sesame Street:

Oh, and it was featured on 2012’s Just Dance 4.  It is one of several of my 10,000-points/5 star songs.

So yeah, Halloween is kicked off.  Too bad you can’t check your Halloween costume in the mirror, because the 13-month-old baby broke it.

Dammit, baby!  Can’t have nice things!

Anyway, there you have it for your Music Monday.  Halloween on Allison’s Written Words continues until we get to Wednesday, October 31, 2018!

Until next time, have a spooky Music Monday, and enjoy the music!