Hey Love (Stevie Wonder song)

"Hey Love"
Single by Stevie Wonder
from the album Down to Earth
A-side"Travelin' Man"
ReleasedDecember 1966
Recorded1966
GenreSoul
Length2:41
LabelTamla
Songwriter(s)Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax, Stevie Wonder
Producer(s)Clarence Paul
Stevie Wonder singles chronology
"Travlin' Man"
(1966)
"Hey Love"
(1966)
"I Was Made To Love Her"
(1967)

"Hey Love" is a 1966 song by Stevie Wonder, from his album Down to Earth. It was released as a B-side to "Travelin' Man," but it also reached the charts in its own right, peaking at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the R&B Singles chart in the spring of 1967.[1][2] It has been covered by other artists, including Bettye LaVette and R. Kelly.

Composition and recording

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"Hey Love" is the closing track on Stevie Wonder's 1966 album Down to Earth. Co-written with Morris Broadnax and Clarence Paul, it is the best-known of the four songs on the album for which Wonder received a writing credit.[2]

Ed Hogan of AllMusic said the song's "dominant, looping rhythm echoes the tick-tock of a clock, which gives the down-tempo track a melancholy late-night vibe, emphasizing the feeling that the singer is giving his all in a one last chance to get the direct attention of the object of his affectations."[1]

In The Sound of Stevie Wonder: His Words and Music, James E. Perone writes, "What is notable is Wonder's developing melodic sense over what is a fairly simple harmonic scheme that involves just the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords... 'Hey Love' presents a hint of what was to come in his compositions and performances in the 1970s."[2]

"Hey Love" has been included on several Stevie Wonder greatest hits compilations, including Greatest Hits (1968), Looking Back (1977), Love Songs: 20 Classic Hits (1985), At the Close of a Century (1999), and The Definitive Collection (2002).

Chart performance

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Charts Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] 90
U.S. Billboard R&B Singles[4] 9

Cover versions and samples

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hogan, Ed. "Hey Love". AllMusic. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Perone, James E. (2006). The Sound of Stevie Wonder: His Words and Music. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780275987237.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 925.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 635.
  5. ^ "A Little Help From My Friends / Hey Love". 45cat. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  6. ^ Nelson, Daryl (2014-09-19). "Raekwon Puts a Spin on Stevie Wonder's 'Hey Love'". Retrieved 19 January 2017.