All is fair in love (or All in love is fair)

Songwriter: Stevie Wonder
Performer: Stevie Wonder
Album: Innervisions (1973) - ALBUM OF THE YEAR
When I heard it: 2000.

Stevie is credited with having written some of the greatest songs in the 'rock' (post-60s) era or something like that. Two of these, supposedly, are "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" and "Isn't She Lovely".

"All In Love Is Fair" (or "All Is Fair In Love", whichever way you want to have it - it doesn't matter) appears on the Innervisions album, released in 1973. It won Stevie an Album of the Year Grammy Award, which he would win again in 1974 (for Fulfillingness' First Finale), and in 1976 (for Songs In The Key Of Life). The song itself was not a hit, being eclipsed by more important, influential and representative songs on the album such as "Living In The City", "Golden Lady" and "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing".

Just like most of the other songs on Innervisions, Stevie has played most of the instruments on "All In Love Is Fair", except the electric bass (played by Scott Edwards). It's a very controlled song, unlike some of Stevie's later efforts (especially on 1976's  Songs In The Key Of Life) where the fade to end became an extended jam session in itself.

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I have nothing to say about the lyrics - I cannot venture to say whether Stevie was just role-playing here or philosophising about love. It certainly sounds heartfelt and Stevie sounds in right earnest, if a bit too solemn.

At any rate, it's not so much the words, but the music and the songwriting that make the connect for me with this song. It's the fact that someone like Stevie could write a song that's in a traditional ballad form, redolent somewhat of Sinatra's or Nat's time, basically in the jazz-popular ballad idiom, but still using the instruments of today. It showed some ambition and a lot of respect for the era of the jazz-inflected popular song; but still sounding like today and not some bygone age.

Stevie's vocal is quite masterful, comfortably spanning the two-and-something octave range the song requires; and he consummately demonstrates as much effortless, inventive control as Nat at his best. He also brings a haunting intensity to the song that is hard to forget, nobly underlining its lyrics' solemn concerns.

I guess the musical form of the song is indeed a throwback to Sinatra and Nat, and their age. Whether this was unexpected in the context of Innervisions and Stevie at that point in his career (1973), I don't know; but the wonder of the song to me (and I do not hesitate to re-state it) is that if it is indeed mere nostalgia, it is nostalgia of the highest possible order, and it is also nostalgia that's firmly rooted in the relevance of TODAY, not in the time it attempts to remind us of. It certainly does remind us of how much jazz-inflection went into song-writing in that age - much more naturally and not as self-consciously as Stevie's song makes it appear - and how this added to the general quality of popular song in those days (unlike the arid 70s). The throwback, however, is done with charm, subtlety and with today's feel - an 'update', if you like, of that era.

The difference in the quality of songwriting (not to mention the intensity of interpretation) between that era and this one, however justifiably we may contrive to deny it - clearly shows :)

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POSTSCRIPT

Predictably, many have striven to 'update' Stevie's song for this age. A lot of Stevie's music routinely turns up on American Idol and similar shows- not surprising, because many certainly seek to attain the class of his singing and songwriting by association at least, if not by talent. Among the better versions on these shows are those of David Brown and J.D. Adams. There is also Renee Goldsberry's quite decent version; and one of the best versions is Michael Empeno's.

Even earlier than the 'Idol' updates, there were covers by Barbra Streisand, Cher, Michael McDonald, and recently, Marc Anthony. Streisand's version, apparently, was used in the film The Way We Were; Cher's version reveals the undeniably good timbre of her voice, and Marc Anthony's version is also a noble attempt.

I found quite a few interesting covers on the tube, surprisingly good, and not without a degree of charm or talent - and quite close to the original in some cases. Here they are - you judge how representative they are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsSG7vsDTos (sounds a lot like Stevie himself, down to the piano chords! The most correct of the versions, closest to the original chords)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k466sMpouw ( a guitar version - interesting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e5vz-PgaoI ( a good version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGe1CwzwPZo (ambitious attempt - see him strain to touch the note on the chorus - gives you some idea of how effortlessly easy Stevie makes this difficult part seem)

In my opinion, no one's managed yet to match Stevie's enduring, haunting intensity :)