In the last twelve months, we’ve had three 5-weekers, three 6-weekers, and a jumbo 9-weeker. I never had time to ask, but I’ll bet she approved of this one.īefore we go, it’s worth noting how long songs are staying on top of the charts at the moment.
As I’ve mentioned in posts before, that was a big bug-bear of my late Gran’s: pop singers you couldn’t make out. And you can see why… Aside from the blatant sentimentality, which other cultures don’t seem to mind as much, the lyrics are slow and simple, and you can make them out clearly. ‘Top of the World’ by The Carpenters, ‘My Heart Will Go On’, this. I’ve lived abroad for a lot of my life, in non-English speaking places, and I can confirm that this song is universal. At least it slightly redeems Stevie Wonder’s UK chart-topping career, after ‘Ebony and Ivory’… As it is, I like it a lot more than ‘Hello’ and, while I admire ‘Careless Whisper’, ‘I Just Called…’ is a simple love song, simply told. And if it were a little faster, and the production better, this could be a great song. And then there are the three rinky-dink notes that it ends on, possibly the laziest ever ending to a number one single.īut I do like the ‘second’ melody – the higher, synth line that compliments the chorus. Then there are the key changes, which start early, on the second chorus, and just keep coming (to be fair, they are so cheesy I can help enjoying them). The production is cheap and tacky – the drum machine is pure karaoke backing track. That’s not to say there isn’t quite a lot wrong with this song, though. (In fairness, some cynics have argued that if a man unexpectedly ‘just calls to say he loves you’, then he must just have done something fairly shitty…) It’s not Valentine’s Day, or New Year’s, or the 1 st of spring (?)… Stevie’s just calling to say he loves you. It’s a song a mother might sing to their baby, or that a dorky boy might sing down the phone to his crush. Plus, it’s an easy song to remember, and to sing. And I don’t mean that it’s dull, like ‘Hello’ I mean there’s something in its strangely reggae-ish rhythm that just chills you out. And while it’s not anywhere near Wonder’s best work, there’s a charm to it. No ‘Superstition’ (a #11), no ‘Sir Duke’ or ‘Master Blaster’ (both #2s)… Only ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’. It is fashionable – and quite correct – to scoff at this silly little song for being THE Stevie Wonder’s only solo chart-topper.
I Just Called to Say I Love You, by Stevie Wonder (his 2 nd of two #1s)Ħ weeks, from 2 nd September – 14 th October 1984
0 kommentar(er)
