SLS

Song Lyric Sunday – Isn’t She Lovely

Maggie

The prompt from Jim:

This week the theme is songs that feature the lyrics of either Birth, Death, or Life.

“Isn’t She Lovely” was written by Stevie Wonder to celebrate the 1975 birth of his daughter Aisha Morris. The song was released on the album “Songs in the Key of Life” in 1976.

The intro of the song starts with the cries of a new born baby (not Aisha, however). The track ends with the sounds of Wonder playing with his baby in her bath – an original recording of the two of the two interacting. Wonder refused to cut the song’s length which kept it off the Hot 100 charts, although it still became one of his most popular songs.

A shortened promotional version was eventually given to the radio stations. It’s popularity and air play pushed the song to the number 23 spot on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Wonder was not married to Aisha’s mother, Yolanda Simmons, but he refers to her lovingly in these lyrics:

Londie, it could have not been done
Without you who conceived the one

It was around this time that Stevie Wonder announced his plans to move permanently to Ghana, the place he believed his roots to be. His plan was to focus on humanitarian efforts there. His wardrobe changed to reflect the internal changes he was feeling. Brightly colored Dashiki Tunics became his wardrobe of choice. He did not move then, but has recently announced his intention to do so again. He does not want his grandchildren to grow up in a country of injustice.

All of the instrumentation in this song is done by Stevie Wonder with the exception of some of they keyboards done by session musician Greg Phillinganes. The original bass line was done by session bassist Nathan Watts but was eventually replaced by Wonder’s own keyboard bass line. (See original article https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isn%27t_She_Lovely).

“Isn’t She Lovely”
Lyrics from songfacts.com

Isn’t she lovely
Isn’t she wonderful
Isn’t she precious
Less than one minute old

I never thought through love we’d be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn’t she lovely, made from love

Isn’t she pretty
Truly the angel’s best
Boy, I’m so happy
We have been heaven blessed

I can’t believe what God has done
Through us he’s given life to one
But isn’t she lovely, made from love

Isn’t she lovely
Life and love are the same
Life is Aisha
The meaning of her name
Londie, it could have not been done
Without you who conceived the one
That’s so very lovely, made from love, hey

Song Lyric Sunday is hosted every Sunday by Jim Adams. If you would like to join in the fun, check out his blog for the rules and to take in all the other music posted by other bloggers.

18 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday – Isn’t She Lovely”

  3. I immediately thought of this song, from the British band, The Manic Street Preachers. It always sounds like a mini-symphony to me, a wall of sound.

    Design For Life (1996)
    (The lyrics come up on the video.)

    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I always liked this song Maggie and I learned a lot about Stevie Wonder from your post. I never listened to this 11:45 version of this song and it has such a long intro, I thought it was an instrumental. Aisha in Arabic means “one who lives”. I actually didn’t know that Stevie Wonder’s last name is Morris. He is a very talented artist, thanks for sharing his music.

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    1. Thank you for reading and listening to the video. Stevie was a savvy business man and negotiated a contract with Barry Gordy the likes of which had never been seen. He had been under contract since he was 11. Hard to imagine.

      Like

  9. I showed my students the performance of this song that Stevie Wonder did some time ago. And they were amazed at how he can play so many instruments (sing, play piano, and play harmonica).

    Liked by 1 person

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