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Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder · Barber Cuts: Beats and Bars

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Welcome to Barber Cuts, Feeds and Bars.
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We're a father to daughter music podcast that slices into some of
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the greatest albums, one cut at a time.
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With no industry ties or formal training, just a shared love of
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music, we explore albums across genres, writing favorites and
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skips while digging into what makes each one iconic.
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I bring the beats. And I bring the bars and
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together we deliver real talk and fresh takes from both sides
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of the sound. Hey everybody, I'm Riley.
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And this is Todd, and welcome to this week's episode of Barbara
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Cuts, when we are talking about songs in The Key of Life by
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Stevie Wonder. It is from 1976.
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And it's. Long it is long.
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It is A2, originally 2LP1EP. So what is that on Spotify?
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21 songs and an hour and 45 minutes of listening.
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Pleasure. So it took took a couple walks
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around the neighborhood for me to get this one in.
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Yeah, that's one way of wording it.
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So all right, let's jump on in there.
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So least favorite 2 Riley? One of them was Contusion.
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There's no lyrics in that one, so I kind of counted out just
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'cause that's how it is. Also, there being so many songs,
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so many of them like blend together in my head.
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Contusion was one that I kind of counted out just because it's no
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lyrics. Kind of unfair when it's stacked
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up against everything else. My other least favorites were
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Another Star and Have a Talk With God.
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There were some songs on this album and those two were with
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were particular ones that I remember that just go so hard on
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the disco. They go.
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They really just hammer the disco side of things in.
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I don't know if Another star does it particularly.
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I know that like in Have a Talk with God, I think it has like a
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weird like Kirk now. Well, then it's like spring's
2:33
going off and it sounds really goofy.
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Yeah, It, you know what I'm talking about.
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Yeah. I, I didn't really think.
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I didn't really think Have a Talk with God was disco.
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You know, if I'm being fair, I I didn't really get a lot of disco
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vibes from any of these songs. OK, disco may not be the word.
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70s may be the. Word.
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Yeah. I mean, I got a heavy funk.
3:01
OK, 70s may be a better word. Yeah, and I just equate 70s with
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disco. Do you know the sound that I'm
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talking about though? It sounds like a little like
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Corkscrew sound. No, I guess I'd have to hear it
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to know which time out but but. I really hope it's in that song.
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Yeah, it could be. And I know that another star is
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more Latin. It sounds heavy, like salsa.
3:32
Yes. Yeah, so.
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No, disco's the wrong word. I know that it's just 70s.
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It's very 70s. These two songs, it became two
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70s. Yeah, it's it's, it's way more
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funk, soul, R&B then I would say disco.
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Have a talk of God does have like the weird like yeah, like
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at the very beginning, like the opening, it just makes it like
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completely takes me out of the album 'cause it's.
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Just. Goofy sounding.
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Yeah. So my least favorites, so one of
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them was the I don't know. There's it's 2/3 of it's a
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foreign language, so I didn't understand most of it.
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So I'm pulling my American card and saying I don't get it.
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No, I think it's yeah, no, it's, it's it, but it is, it's so as,
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as I'm listening to it, it, it's, it's Spanish, English.
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And then I think it's a, it's an African language and I can't
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remember what it what it was. And then the other one was
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easygoing evening, My Mama's call, which is the last one that
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you get to on Spotify. And again, it's a instrumental.
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So there's two instrumentals on this one, you know, and, and
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maybe it's a little bit unfair because this is this, this would
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have been originally as you're listening to this, the last song
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on the extra EP and not the actual last song of the album
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itself. And so it's just weird.
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But this is this is the last or this is the song that ends the
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listening experience, as I will call it on Spotify.
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So as a as a ending song, it was a little bit disappointing.
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The actual last song on the on the album itself is another
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star, which you know, as I just said, it's got the strong Latin
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beat, like a salsa dance, all kind of thing.
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So, but those are my 2 least favourites.
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What about favourites, right? For favourites, I'm not
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branching out here. Pastime Paradise is one of them.
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OK, let me tell you. Let me tell you my surprise.
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I had no clue. I had no clue.
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You have no clue on what? That's not the name of a song.
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Pastime Paradise. Yeah.
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Oh, you got no idea why it's your favorite?
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No, I had no clue that they got Gangster's Paradise from my boy
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Stevie Wonder. Oh yeah, yeah.
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I had no clue. Which therefore also means that
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what that what an Amish paradise.
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Amish paradise. Yeah, Yeah.
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I had no idea, so imagine my surprise.
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Yeah, as it starts flying it. Started playing.
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Yeah, and you and you throw in Gangster's Paradise and it's
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like, oh wait, this isn't right. Yeah, so, but I I also liked the
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song. I like, I like the beat.
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Yeah. And so it was fun.
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And then come on. How can you not say that?
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Isn't She lovely? Is one of your favorite songs?
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How can you not? And you're gonna.
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Say you you're gonna say that you didn't, and that's wrong.
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It is. It is.
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It is not. Yeah, and that's wrong it.
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Was a It was a song from Stevie Wonder to his daughter, not from
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Todd to his daughter. That doesn't matter.
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That doesn't. Matter.
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I think it does. I think it.
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Does. No, it really doesn't that it's
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just such a great song. It makes you feel good.
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It feels personable because it has like the daughter's cries
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and their conversations in it. So you can feel the love in that
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song. Like it's just such a warm and
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cozy song and one that like you can just sing along to.
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It's not like a hard melody or anything.
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And it's a pretty simple song, so it's just easy to join in on.
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And it just, you can just feel the love.
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Yeah, it's so sweet. I agree My my my second
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favorite. I actually I I listed like
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several songs as I was trying to cut it down to just to I listed
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I wish as Ebony eyes. I really like Isn't she lovely?
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Was was one of them and passed on paradise and I agreed with
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you. I went with past time Paradise.
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It's just got hypnotic beat the the yeah, the strings and I'm
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calling them strings and and quotes for our audio listeners.
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For many of these songs, it sounds like strings.
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There are no strings. Those are all his synthesizer
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keyboard shifted to make it sound like like string sections,
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which again, is is fantastic from the musical side of of what
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he was able to do. And again, now it's everywhere.
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But in the 1970 or 76 this was this was pretty new, you know,
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and, and for me, just like you said, doesn't hurt that
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gangsta's paradise from the mid 90s.
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So like, Yep, that was right in my ironically grunge and hip hop
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loving days. So listen to that song quite a
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bit. Also Amish Paradise, which was
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more of a cover of Coolio's version.
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And the lyrics are really good too.
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Just not living in pastime in your pastime paradise, but
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trying to do better and make things make things more better.
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And then my favorite though, was Sir Duke.
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Like that's such a good song. And, and I'll be honest with
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you, I had no idea the name of that song was Sir Duke.
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And you know, like I, I didn't know, I didn't know that
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Gangsta's Paradise was from, from Stevie Wonder.
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But Sir Duke, I did not know that that was the name of the
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song. And so when it started going, I
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was like, I like this song. What's it called?
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Like Sir Duke, like what? You know, because I was just,
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you know, the you can feel it all over that piece.
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I just thought that was something to deal with the name
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of the song. So when I saw Sir Dude, I was
10:25
like, what? But again, that and I wish which
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comes right after those were the the two first singles from the
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album. Both of them reached number one.
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This one actually also reached #2 over in the UK.
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And the part that I didn't didn't realize because I never
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paid attention to the lyrics until now.
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I do at least all my favorites. I, I, I do try to look into the
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lyrics was written as a tribute to Duke Ellington, hence the
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name. And it's also got some other
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artists inside of it that were influential to Stevie Wonder and
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just a tribute to them, but also a, a tribute to music, you know,
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And so just the opening 2 lines. Music is a world with in itself,
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with a language we all understand.
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So a lot of what, you know, we started talking about music
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around love for just how we can see it differently, but yet we
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both love music and listen to different types of music.
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So. So for me, it was hard not not
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to really like that song. I was, I was tempted to say what
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our favorites from, you know, as far as Spotify, as far as
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Spotify goes like favorites from disc one and favorites from disc
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2 because I couldn't had a lot to narrow it down.
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Yeah, I know. So it was.
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It was more songs than I thought it was.
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I tried to have one from. Each yes, I did not, but I made
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made-up for it in other ways, and we'll talk about that in
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other ways. So done with that.
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Why? Why should people listen to an
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hour and 40 minutes worth of Stevie Wonder?
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One I would say you'll realize how much of the music you know
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comes from Stevie Wonder without trying to cause Oh boy, is it a
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lot like everybody uses his like sound bites, like his beats and
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stuff like small ones. Even I'd be like, I know this.
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I don't listen to this do. You wonder where do I know this
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from? Where do I know this from?
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Like it's so many of them. It's, it's crazy.
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So. Much of this stuff gets sampled
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and interpolated like somehow or just covered like just to just
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to cover that somebody does it in their own genre.
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And you're like, you know, we'd go back to, I guess we talked
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about it last week, Johnny Cash with Hurt and how it sounds so
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different than the 9 Inch Nails version that it, you know, you
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go into it like that's not the same song, but.
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I know of. Course it is.
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So I mean that alone is easy to go listen.
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It's just like the impact that he's had on music.
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Yeah, and, and, and you mentioned that just to just to
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say some of the people like Elton John and Prince, who
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Prince, we got a an episode of the Purple Rain actually a few
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episodes back. Both of them said that this
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particular album was their favorite album.
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Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston have talked about how
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great this album is. And then we've already talked
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about Coolio, but Will Smith, Mary J Blige, Luther Vandross,
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some of the bigger names have either sampled or covered songs
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from just this album. And there were others that were
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in there as well that I found that I just listed some of the
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bigger names. But you mentioning names.
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So there's quite a few names that most people would probably
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at least recognize. Yeah, and I mean also, and I
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wanted to mention this, 'cause this is like neither of us, you
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and I will be able to understand, like the real impact
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that Stevie Wonder had on like, music and culture and all of
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that because we're not a part of that culture.
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But like, I can still appreciate it from afar.
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Like he, I don't know, all of his songs are just deeply
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analyzing the world in different ways, like each and every one of
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his songs. And a lot of the times it's from
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within, like his own culture and his identity and like village
15:07
ghetto land and all of these things.
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And it's a two-part of like, like village ghetto land was a
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great example of this, I think, where it was honoring the
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culture. And you see that with black man
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too, where they're listing out all of the different things.
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And he doesn't specifically focus on one culture.
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He mentions multiple ones. Steven says.
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I think white man is in there at one point, white woman and all
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of that like. So it was what, Yellow man,
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Brown like, like there's all kinds of basically saying we're
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all doing it. Yeah, and then Village ghetto
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land was not like a idolization of like where he's come from
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either. Like there's critiques to it.
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There's but like not forgetting it.
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And the pastime paradise, it's like don't stay back there.
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And like all of these things like very introspective and
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thoughtful lyrics and ideas behind his songs.
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And you have almost 2 hours straight of that, plus more two
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hours straight and one album is crazy impressive to have that
16:15
much to say and that much to say that's like worth saying.
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It's not just filler there. There's a point to each song.
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I, I worded it when I, well, when I was thinking about it, I
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worded it in my head is each song feels like an ending song,
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like an end of the album. Like each song feels like
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they're, he's ending a concert. And so it's all of the drums
16:40
and, or like big beats and guitars or whatever and
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synthesizers, like all of it's going out and each song feels
16:49
like, oh, this could end the concert.
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This song could end the concert. Like it's they're all so big and
16:55
have so much to say. But yet rolls right into the
16:58
next song. It somehow gets.
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Bigger. What, What?
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Yeah. So I and I mean like the impact
17:07
that he's had, just like by the names you've listed on like
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Black artist and all of that. Like like I said, I don't know
17:13
if we'll ever be able to fully feel the impact.
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You can feel parts of it, but you can recognize that for sure.
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You know, and, and I mean you, you saying that you don't like
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Michael Michael Jackson talked about how great it was.
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I mean, Thriller, just because it came out when I was young,
17:34
like that was one of the first albums I ever bought.
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You know, and, and you know, directly influenced by this
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particular album. You know, is, is, is neat.
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The you know, some some other stats about it.
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You know it it, it was released in September of 76 and it
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entered the charts at #1 And at that time it was only the third
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album to do that and the first by an American artist.
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The other two albums were both Elton John albums.
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And it entered in September 76 and stayed there until night
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January of 77. And it was knocked off by
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playing 6° of Barbara cuts episodes here.
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Hotel California by the Eagles is what actually knocked it off
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of its number one, you know, and and so that was interesting. the
18:30
IT won at the Grammys album of the year and I believe 7476.
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And, and I think, I think I read where Stevie Wonder was the only
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artist to do this. He released an album in 7374 and
18:50
76 and all three of those 1 Grammy album of the year.
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I think he's the only, only artist to ever have 3
19:00
consecutive releases win 3 consecutive albums of the year.
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And he didn't put out an out an album in 75.
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And I think, I think it was the Paul Simon that won that year,
19:15
but I can't remember who won. But whoever it was in their
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acceptance speech. Thanks, Stevie Wonder for not
19:22
releasing an album. I was like, that's pretty funny.
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And then, you know, we also talked about The Rolling Stones
19:30
top 500 albums, this one or we occasionally mentioned it,
19:37
especially when they get real high.
19:38
This one is #4 and it is one spot ahead.
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Again, 6° of Barbara cuts episodes one spot ahead of Abbey
19:49
Road, which is in the five spot, and there's just three behind
19:53
the number one spot, if my math is correct, which is Marvin Gaye
19:58
that we've also done an episode of so.
20:00
He just has so much to say. I think this album alone is like
20:05
what a lot of people nowadays would dream their career lineup
20:10
being. Yeah, like it's just incredible.
20:14
Yeah, And, and I think I saw somewhere even Speaking of
20:19
careers, like, you know, Kanye West at one time even said like,
20:24
I'm not comparing myself to anybody currently.
20:28
I'm comparing myself to songs in the key of life.
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Like that is the epitome of what I'm trying to get to, you know.
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And, and again, all these artists that we that we talk
20:40
about say what you say, you may or may not like them, that
20:43
that's irrelevant. They're big names.
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They've done a lot. And so to for those types of
20:52
artists that I've accomplished so much to say I'm just trying
20:56
to be as good as this album or this particular artist that
21:01
that's, that's crazy. You know, Stevie, Stevie Wonder
21:06
itself has done quite a lot and and this is considered his best
21:10
album. So if if you want to do a Stevie
21:14
Wonder dive, this is this is this is where to start, you
21:19
know, and, and one of the things, I guess before we before
21:22
we go off really into best beats is, you know, the one of the
21:29
things that I thought was neat about it.
21:32
And, and, and you can, you can hop in here with, with some of
21:36
these because two of, and I'm going to, I'm going to talk
21:40
about very high level, but the first six songs, two of those
21:46
were your least favorites. Song 1, you know, Love's in need
21:50
of love today. Great first song is an
21:54
introduction, first of the lyrics.
21:57
Here's your friendly announcer. And so basically he writes a
22:00
song about what the rest of the album is about, you know, and,
22:06
and so you you also actually see that and, you know, going back
22:09
to Abbey Road, we mentioned in there Sergeant Pepper and they
22:15
actually do that. The intro song of Sergeant
22:18
Pepper is really an introduction to the album.
22:21
But it's got a good soul, good R&B vibe to that song.
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Then it switches second song have a talk of the God, way more
22:30
funk than that first album. And and it's a hard transition
22:36
just because it flows right into it gives what do you call it?
22:40
Corkscrew, Corkscrew scound, you know, but then goes to village
22:46
ghetto land. It sounds like the the Corkshrew
22:50
that I'm talking about, and the real ones will know.
22:53
It sounds like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, how they have like
22:57
the weird little like Mouseketeer noises and Goofy's
23:01
doing like his little dance. Like I feel like I could do that
23:03
dance to that song in not a great way, you know what I'm
23:07
saying? Do you know the dance that I'm
23:08
talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:11
Yeah, I did. You could do.
23:12
That dance? What was that?
23:13
Saturday morning cartoons with y'all.
23:15
Yeah. Yeah, so the so, so, so, so so
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song 3 was village, village, ghetto land, which you've also
23:26
talked about. Again, another complete switch
23:30
in sound, this one. And I'd be interested to see
23:34
what, what, what you thought of it.
23:36
Every time I listen to it, I thought of a wedding
23:39
processional, like very formal, like beautiful type of music.
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And again, the strings that aren't really strings, they're
23:51
his synthesizer. But yet comparing that beautiful
23:57
type of formal, royal regal type of sound.
24:03
And then go look at the lyrics like talking about a a big
24:07
juxtaposition. Those those lyrics don't match
24:11
the sound and and which is again, always neat to see that 4
24:16
songs contusion you mentioned it's instrumental, but it's way
24:19
more on the jazzy side than any of the others and a way faster
24:25
tempo than coming off a village ghetto land.
24:30
And then you hit songs 4IN front of Sir Duke and I wish, which
24:36
are like really, I think on here his two most streamed songs.
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Nope, isn't she lovely is more than I wish, but these are these
24:47
are two of it, two of the top three and like they're just pop
24:54
happy, but still soulful, made for the radio almost type of
24:59
songs. And so in those first six songs
25:05
and again knocks me off my feet is a slow build.
25:08
And then you hit past on paradise.
25:09
Like you could just keep going with the with the songs.
25:13
The music is just changing so much, but yet there's still
25:18
still this underlying like soulful vibe to all of them,
25:24
which is really, really well done from the music side of
25:28
things. And I, and I think, and you can
25:32
correct me if I'm wrong, like lyrically, I think there's a lot
25:36
of some of the same things that are going on throughout the
25:39
album as as as well. Yeah, I mean, yes, I mean he's
25:45
Stevie Wonder is a social and political or was activist, did a
25:51
lot of stuff within that vein. He was not.
25:53
He did not have his opinions and then not act on them.
25:56
He very much acted on his opinions as well and the stuff
26:01
in the songs like Work to get Martin Luther King Junior
26:05
Holiday, like all of these things.
26:07
Very much a social and political activist, which goes along with
26:11
a lot of the stuff that you hear in his lyrics.
26:15
But I think he's just a really great example of how cool music
26:20
can be and art can be 'cause he approaches, I don't want to say
26:25
like taboo, but quote UN quote taboo topics, like topics that
26:29
aren't pleasant to hear or talk about or listen to.
26:33
Like read the lyrics to Village Ghetto Land and tell me you want
26:37
to listen to a song that's talking about babies dying and
26:41
family seeing dog food and all of these things like, and you
26:44
have your happy songs. You have, isn't she lovely?
26:47
You have like these more upbeat songs, The Black Man where it's
26:52
kind of praising different cultures and all of this.
26:55
Like you have all of that, but in the same vein, you're talking
27:01
about these kind of hard topics in a way that makes it
27:04
digestible and makes people comfortable enough to approach
27:09
the topic from a new perspective.
27:11
And that's beautiful. And that's what art is.
27:13
And not to sound hokey, but I mean, that is what art is
27:16
supposed to do is that's what it's there for.
27:19
And I think he is a key example of using that and doing that for
27:26
good. And one of the first examples
27:28
that I we've I've seen in music with us covering some older
27:34
albums than this even. He's one of the first to really
27:37
kind of have a lot to say. Him and Marvin Gaye are some of
27:41
the first to really. Yeah, I agree.
27:44
And and I think the fact that he's putting lyrics and again we
27:48
go back to village ghetto land, putting very hard to digest
27:54
lyrics. I mean, like you, you mentioned
27:56
some of them, but then putting it to this regal esque music and
28:01
then mixing it in with, you know, following it with A and
28:07
and again, you you you didn't like it, but it's a jazzy
28:11
instrumental that's very upbeat right after this this song and
28:17
then pop song with Sir Duke where he's not doing anything
28:22
really social or political. It's just an homage to people in
28:27
music that have influenced him and how much he loves them.
28:32
And so you get all these, you know, he was Sir Duke.
28:36
I'll call it a a quote surfacey song, but but yeah, just because
28:43
it doesn't have say, the political social impact that a
28:46
village, ghetto land or or black man does.
28:50
But yet the combination of having those two so close
28:53
together goes back to what you were just saying.
28:56
It makes it so palatable to hear in your and OK, let me try to
29:02
understand like I know I can't because I, I can't put myself in
29:07
somebody else's shoes, but let me let me at least try and song
29:14
and hearing those lyrics is, like you said, a great way for
29:18
for people to to try and figure that out and hear it.
29:22
So let's move on to best beat and par.
29:28
There we go. Best bar.
29:32
I mean any lyric from isn't she lovely?
29:36
What a sweet song. It'll get ya.
29:40
I mean reading from some of them like it's pure joy.
29:44
You can feel the love is the isn't she pretty truly the
29:48
angel's best boy. I'm so happy we've been heaven
29:51
blessed. I can't believe what God has
29:52
done. That's just so sweet.
29:56
And then to mention like, could not have been done without you
29:59
to conceive the one, like bitching, all of that.
30:02
Isn't she precious? Less than a minute old.
30:04
I never thought true love would be making one as lovely as she.
30:08
Oh, it's just a sweet song. It's just such a good song.
30:12
Yeah. It's just makes me happy.
30:16
It is and the music or the splashing and baby voice at the
30:24
beginning is like his daughter in the tub.
30:28
Like he recorded it and then used it as part of the intro and
30:32
getting into it so. Yeah, well, there's there's a
30:36
yeah, baby crying at the beginning and then laughing and
30:40
then later on in the lyrics you hear, I presume his wife or
30:44
partner talking and baby babbles and then laughing and being
30:48
like, I think she just said this and all of this stuff.
30:51
Like it's, it's truly, it feels like a home video.
30:54
Warm and cozy, just lovely. Yeah, but before you go into
31:04
that, a home, like legit home video that all of us have done,
31:10
like we we've got home videos that you've watched and
31:14
different things, but then you just happen to come in and be
31:19
one of the greatest musicians ever and you put song and lyrics
31:26
around it. Like, that's so cool.
31:29
You know you. Wrote a poem.
31:31
Well, I did, but like I'm, I'm putting music to it like, you
31:35
know, but you know, and and so we go into it.
31:41
I'll, I'll come back to our Yoko bashing from last week.
31:47
Right. Like this is an awesome song.
31:52
See what Stevie Wonder is there and he gave me a tribute song
31:56
and it's isn't she lovely. John Lennon gives me a tribute
32:00
love song and it's Hey Yoko, which which again, we talked
32:03
about in her eyes, she loved it. But like, I don't know, I guess
32:09
if your name's not Yoko, you wouldn't have liked it.
32:12
There, there's no wonder that I keep hitting these puns.
32:16
There's no wonder that I mean people dance to that with their
32:21
father daughter dance like and there's like it's clear why,
32:25
like it's such a sweet as someone, it's a one.
32:29
Song from a dad to a daughter like.
32:31
Yeah, you don't. You don't get many of those.
32:34
And so when you do, it's special and it's sweet.
32:36
You have that in Cinderella and those are your two choices for
32:39
father daughter dances. You know, that's what you got.
32:41
OK. And that's great.
32:44
But it's it's just always great to hear one of those songs.
32:47
Yeah. And then to juxtapose it,
32:50
Village Ghetto Land also has some great lyrics, albeit really
32:55
tough, tough ones. But I think he ended it with
33:01
just like the perfect little bit that sums up the song is now
33:06
some folks say that we should be glad for what we have.
33:09
Tell me, would you be happy in Village Ghetto Land?
33:12
And I mean, before this, he just has all of these things that are
33:16
bad, like like babies sighing, eating dog foods, being for
33:21
suffering and grief and all of this stuff.
33:24
And like, that's such a true thing.
33:25
It's like when you're going through all of that and
33:26
someone's like, well, be grateful for what you have.
33:28
It's like, no, 'cause you're not going through it.
33:30
You can't tell me to be grateful for what I have.
33:34
And I think he's it's just a great call out of some hip, hip
33:38
hypocriticism or hip. Hippopotamus.
33:43
Hypocrisy. There we go.
33:46
Some hypocrisy and a good like call out that's not harsh or
33:51
anything mean, but just like A and that song with that I think
33:55
is very smart and very well done.
33:57
Yeah, that is, that is well done.
34:01
You know, for me on the on the best beat side of things, no, it
34:08
is actually not the beginning of Sir Duke, although that that was
34:14
definitely in the running like and.
34:16
It wasn't. No, that's, we'll, we'll wait
34:22
and do that one on the Coolio or Weird Al album, you know.
34:28
But as you mentioned, like you just, you just round off to from
34:32
the music side with what Stevie Wonder was doing.
34:36
Like it. There's a lot to choose from
34:38
here, yeah. There.
34:41
Is and so like I was going through like, what do what do I
34:44
want to do? You know what what keeps coming
34:46
back to me? What made me think twice?
34:49
What made me, as you alluded to couple episodes ago, What, what
34:55
what causes the the angry face as you're listening to it?
34:59
Like, Oh yeah, and I'm going to I'm going to go with something
35:05
different because I did keep going back to it.
35:08
And so if I if I can be different on it, I like that.
35:13
But it's from the song as and you know, I probably wouldn't
35:18
know I was talking about, but it's the part where he switches
35:23
his voice. Do you remember this section?
35:25
Where is his deep voice to start singing?
35:28
Did did she's laughing at me? Did did you think a new person
35:33
started singing? I did well.
35:37
We did have other singers on this album, so I never knew.
35:42
Right, I did too and and this is this was one of the neat things
35:47
about listening to this album, especially if you go and look at
35:51
all the credits like that, the credits of musicians, singer
35:54
like people that had like is super long.
35:57
Most of it was done by Stevie Wonder and like that's the part
36:02
that made me start to go back and look at it.
36:05
So right about 3 minutes and 45 seconds comes right out of a
36:08
solo and he hits this deep voice that is gritty and raspy and not
36:16
near like it's the only part in the album.
36:19
He he, he switches to it. I, I, I saw a couple places
36:25
refer to it and this is funny, but it made so much sense as his
36:29
Fozzie the bear voice. And I think, I think I saw where
36:35
he only used it one or two other times and all of his, you know,
36:39
catalog. But, you know, normally he's got
36:43
a very silky smooth voice, and this is anything but that again.
36:49
Yeah, I thought it was a different person.
36:51
And I'm like, who sings the deep voice, you know, going to Google
36:55
on as by Stevie Wonder? Like, it is Stevie Wonder.
36:58
It's like, no, I got, I messed up my Google search somehow
37:02
because like, that's not Stevie Wonder.
37:05
And so I was like, all right, this is my best beat.
37:10
And it's in the way that Wonder uses his voice as an instrument
37:15
in this case. So it's a shift away from what
37:18
he's normally doing. You know, I wouldn't really
37:20
paying attention to the lyrics at the time, but it's just that
37:23
shift from the silky smooth to this raspy, hard, angry voice
37:31
that, you know, angry and quotes.
37:35
That was my best beat. So there we go.
37:40
Ratings Riley. Well, oh, come on, Objective
37:46
Reading's gotta be a 10. I mean, it's gotta be.
37:50
And we just talked about all of these artists using this as like
37:52
the epitome of music. Like you can't say all of that
37:56
and not give it a 10. Mine's mine's A10 as well.
38:00
You can't. Who are we kidding?
38:02
It's it's it's it's. Hard like you, you, you get all
38:06
the people That and you may not like some of the albums in that
38:11
Rolling Stone top 500, but like you get all the people and
38:14
experts and everything that have said like a these are probably
38:17
some of the best of all time. Like who are you?
38:20
And I had to come by and go, yeah, I'm gonna give that one
38:22
A9. No, that's a.
38:24
That's a 10. It's a 10 now, personally.
38:28
Yeah, it's like a 5, five and a half.
38:35
It's not my country music. I'm gonna go 5 1/2.
38:38
I'll give it. Isn't she lovely and good enough
38:40
for five and a half? It's good.
38:41
Enough for that extra half point, so.
38:44
It's it's not my type of music. The lyrics are listening to it.
38:49
Sometimes it's not I'm I'm just not a big like pop funk girl and
38:55
that's what he is. So the songs that were a little
38:59
different, I enjoyed some of the pop songs I enjoyed.
39:03
Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible album.
39:05
It's just not my incredible album.
39:07
Yeah, that is, that is funny to me.
39:12
Do you know? Do you know what she rated
39:15
Marvin Gaye, which is very close.
39:18
Super high, yeah. Yeah.
39:20
So they're very similar genres. And you know what?
39:23
It's because I didn't have to listen to two hours straight of
39:25
Marvin Gaye. Yeah.
39:26
OK, I can give you that so. Marvin.
39:29
Gaye I mean, and they're and they're and they're slightly
39:32
they're, they are slightly different.
39:34
You know, they're they're very close in their genres, but not
39:38
not exact. Let me tell you, give me half of
39:41
the I probably liked half of the songs on the album.
39:45
Give me just half of them and it gets so much higher.
39:48
Yeah. Because it's not so.
39:50
Makes sense so. Much makes sense so, but yeah.
39:55
Yeah, so I already said my objective was a 10 and I am
40:01
going the opposite direction of you from Marvin Gaye.
40:05
I like this one more. My official rating is an 8.
40:09
There you. Go.
40:11
Yeah, you're wondering. Oh, I'm not going to say that.
40:16
Yes, sorry guys. So it is.
40:22
It's like I really liked it, you know?
40:26
Yeah, there's again some, and it's not my normal genre, but
40:31
this? This is surprising to me,
40:34
honestly. I'll say it.
40:36
I'll say it. You.
40:37
You telling me that Sir Duke is your favorite?
40:39
Partly because of the It's like, come on, man.
40:44
Who? Are you?
40:44
It's just, you know, there's, there's certain times that even
40:49
even though, you know, neither you nor I are big pop music fans
40:56
now, that doesn't mean that there's not pop songs that we
40:59
like, you know? Where my phone at by?
41:03
Yeah, You know, yeah, it's, it's become the Barbara anthem.
41:10
Thanks, Charles. Which I need to figure out a way
41:13
to make that like the song like when you lose your phone and you
41:17
hit your watch instead of the Dane have the phone like where
41:21
am I start singing that song back to me.
41:23
That would be awesome. That would.
41:25
Be awesome. OK, brief tangent there.
41:29
But of course there's pop songs that we like.
41:31
Like I've said, I'm not a fan of the 80s.
41:34
There are things from the 80s that I like, but overall.
41:38
But yeah, this was just one that I don't know what it was.
41:41
It just, it just resonated with me.
41:44
What got you going? Yeah.
41:47
And so I really, really like this.
41:50
Really like the song. There's, as I mentioned in some
41:53
of the ones that I like songs from both sides, both LP's and
42:00
the EP. So.
42:02
So I was, I was not. It did take a bit to listen to
42:07
hour and 45 minutes, but it was enjoyable.
42:11
Enjoyable for me so. I feel like this album would go
42:15
great with deep cleaning. Does that make sense to you?
42:19
Yeah, I can see that. It's hard to be upset listening
42:22
to this album. True, true.
42:25
I'll give you that. All right, So song of the week.
42:29
My song of the week is Dugout by the Backseat Lovers.
42:35
Backstreet Boys all. Right.
42:38
No Backstreet Boys. No.
42:40
Backseat Lovers, good song. He has the lead singer has like
42:48
this wailing voice at some part. It's just really nice.
42:52
And he's saying like wait inside and all of that and it's it's
42:58
just a good song. It's a lot of their songs aren't
43:01
slow, but they aren't fast and this one's a little bit slower
43:06
and you can just kind of feel the emotion in the song.
43:11
Just good song, good song to listen to and their really good
43:14
life. I like them a lot.
43:16
Very good. My song of the week is an oldie,
43:23
even older than Stevie Wonder, so 1969 by Zeppelin.
43:30
So off their second album Bring It on Home.
43:33
So it's the last song on the album, the one that starts off
43:39
bluesy, starts off with a muted guitar, muted harmonica, muffled
43:43
voice. They they said it was an homage
43:48
to the original recording in in 63 from Sonny Boy Williamson.
43:54
The second. There are other people that have
43:58
said it's not necessarily on homage, but straight up theft of
44:04
a song. So, you know, it's somewhere in
44:07
between those two or both. But and what what I like about
44:14
it is it's it's got that muted side of it.
44:18
And then about 1:45 into the song, it switches to what you
44:22
know, the loud guitar driving rock that you know, mainly
44:27
Zeppelin 4, but then ends the song by going back to the subtle
44:34
harmonica muffled sound. So bring it on home by Zeppelin.
44:41
Very nice, my time for the week, next album.
44:45
Time for next album it is. The next album is The Stone
44:51
Roses by the Stone. Roses.
44:57
I don't know this band name. Oh, do you not?
45:02
I know The Rolling Stones and the Stone Temple Pilots and
45:04
Stone Roses of are not in my top three stone band names.
45:09
Yeah, the Stone Roses are over in Manchester, I believe.
45:15
I man you. Yeah, I first picked up on them
45:19
because of Manchester United, so.
45:23
Glory, Glory. Man United.
45:26
Yeah. So that that's for whatever
45:30
reason, doing something and and saw them and or saw that band
45:35
name and so so there we go. Well, yeah, until then, yeah.
45:42
Follow us on all our. Stuff just follow us on all our
45:45
stuff Instagrams, Spotify may leave a comment on Facebook.
45:53
We got some Yeah X. We don't even know what we got
45:57
at this point. Yeah, Barber Cuts Pod is who we
46:01
are. We're also Barber Cuts Pod at
46:03
gmailbarbercutspod@gmail.com. And then also a programming
46:10
note. As you'll know, we will after
46:17
this one comes out. We will not release over
46:21
Thanksgiving, so we'll be home. We'll be.
46:25
Sitting in person fun time instead of on the screen fun
46:31
time. Also respectfully, I think Mama
46:35
Pod and Brother Pod would roll their eyes drastically if we
46:39
told them we had to leave family times.
46:42
Yeah, I think they. Go.
46:44
I, I, I think they would understand, I think.
46:47
They'd understand, but we'll we'll spend time as a family.
46:49
You know, duty, duty calls. The the real, the real reason is
46:54
because this podcast is done over a distance.
46:57
We don't have a microphone at home that would actually work.
47:01
So that's really. All yeah, I think it it would be
47:07
funny. It would be arguably funny if
47:10
the one week of like, I don't get to come home that much
47:13
anymore. The one week that I am home, an
47:17
hour and a half of that time has to be spent in a separate room
47:20
from you so that I can spend time with you.
47:23
So. So I hope everyone understands.
47:25
It would be family podcast time and it would be the the two that
47:30
don't enjoy it when we talk music joining us as we talk
47:34
music, which would probably not be listening fun for people, you
47:41
know, but anyway. So yeah.
47:45
So yeah, we'll catch you back. Next episode will be December
47:50
5th will be the next one. So until then, I am Todd.
47:57
And I'm Riley, and let's get another episode of proper text.