I Wish

Lore & Background

The music for "I Wish" came to Wonder on a Saturday in the summer of 1976, the day of a Motown picnic. Despite a bad toothache, he had such a good time at the picnic that he went to Crystal Recording Studio right afterward. The vibe came to his mind—running at the picnic, the contests, everyone participating—and from that came the 'I Wish' vibe. The lyrics were more difficult: Wonder originally wanted to address broader topics like 'cosmic type stuff, spiritual stuff,' but he couldn't because 'the music was too much fun.' He said he 'couldn't come up with anything stronger than the chorus, "I wish those days [claps] would [claps] come back once more."' For the television series *Classic Albums*, Wonder recreated a small section from the song to demonstrate how he composed and arranged it, playing keyboards and drums himself and using most of the musicians who recorded the original.

In Their Own Story

The day I wrote it was a Saturday, the day of a Motown picnic in the summer of '76. God, I remember that because I was having this really bad toothache. It was ridiculous... I had such a good time at the picnic that I went to Crystal Recording Studio right afterward and the vibe came right to my mind – running at the picnic, the contests, we all participated. It was a lot of fun ... and from that came the 'I Wish' vibe.

Reader's Guide

Cash Box said that the song was chosen as the lead single from *Songs in the Key of Life* after 'radio stations spent weeks determining which... cut the public wanted most' and "'I Wish' came out on top in terms of popularity and editability." Record World said that 'this popular and much requested track should be a major hit.' Tony Parsons of NME said, 'Stevie Wonder fully deserves to be up there at the top of the heap. Sly keyboard lines, clean tight funky rhythm section, Stax yellow-label horns, slurred stoned vocals and much more.'

Did You Know?

• The song hit number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the soul singles chart.
• At the 19th Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder won Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male for this song.
• The music came to Wonder right after a Motown picnic in the summer of 1976, despite him having a bad toothache.
• Wonder originally tried to write lyrics about 'cosmic type stuff, spiritual stuff' but changed them because the music was 'too much fun.'
• For the TV series *Classic Albums*, Wonder recreated a section of the song, playing keyboards and drums himself.