On January 27, 1973, “Superstition”, the first single from Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book charted #1 in the US on Billboard’s Hot 100. It was Stevie’s first #1 in a decade, since his first Motown album in 1963, a span during which he released 15 albums. Talking Book marked a clear shift in Stevie’s music, from pure R&B to a funkier, “rockier” sound. Coming off his tour with the Rolling Stones on their 1972 tour, Talking Book showed that Stevie could produce music that rock audiences would buy. And, buy we did. “Superstition” won him a Grammy and launched an unprecedented run of crossover hits from his classic albums Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life.
Stevie was famous for playing nearly every instrument on his albums, but he still hired out the guitar work. Hearing that superstar Jeff Beck was a fan (“Stevie is the only guy I would have played lead guitar for”) Stevie reached out to him and a deal was quickly made: if Beck would play on Talking Book Stevie would write a song for him. “Superstition” was supposed to be that song.
According to an interview Stevie gave to NPR, the idea for the song came to him sometime during the Rolling Stones tour. Beck recalls that during the Talking Book recording sessions, he was “noodling around’ on the drum kit (as he was wont to do) when he came up with the drum riff intro to “Superstition”. Stevie heard it and took it from there, spinning out the music and lyrics, including that iconic clavinet part. Neither of them disputes that Stevie wrote the song or that it was meant for Beck. But, Barry Gordie and Motown, who had ultimate control, decided the song was too good to give away and that Stevie should record it for Talking Book and release it as the first single.
Beck was rightly pissed, but acknowledges that the record company made the right decision for itself and its artist. For his part, Stevie thought it would be a moot point, as Beck and his new power trio (Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice) recorded their version of “Superstition” in the Summer of ’72, while Talking Book was delayed (it would not be released until October). “Jeff recorded ‘Superstition’ in July, so I thought it would be out.” Unfortunately, Beck and his new band hit problems of their own that delayed the release of its eponymous album until the Spring of ’73. By that time, Stevie’s version had become the definitive take. Relations between Wonder and Beck were strained for a while (Beck: “We were gutted. . .We would have had a monstrous, monstrous hit.”), but by 1975 he happily included two Stevie Wonder compositions on Blow by Blow.
“Superstition” went on to become a minor hit for BBA, and their version still stands up today (as does the whole album – check below). Stevie’s version is ranked #74 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded a live version, released as a single from the album Live Alive (1986). Vaughan and Wonder also performed the song together on MTV’s 1989 special Stevie Wonder: Characters.
