Stevie Surprise’s new single, “Can We Repair Our Nation’s Damaged Coronary heart?,” displays the legendary musician’s deeply-felt political and social issues. Surprise has integrated these issues into his music no less than since he was 16, when he had a high 10 hit on each the Billboard Sizzling 100 and High Promoting R&B Singles (because the chart was referred to as then) with a canopy model of Bob Dylan’s basic “Blowin’ within the Wind.”
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Surprise has additionally written and launched many songs of this nature, together with “Increased Floor,” a 1973 smash that he sang on the Democratic Nationwide Conference on Aug. 21. He carried out “All In regards to the Love Once more” at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Two of his politically-charged songs had been directed at Republican presidents who he felt weren’t representing all of the folks. “You Haven’t Completed Nothin’” was a biting assault on President Nixon, launched simply days earlier than Nixon was compelled to resign in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal. Surprise’s 1987 single “Skeletons” was an equally pointed assault on President Reagan amid the Iran/Contra scandal.
Surprise’s “Residing for the Metropolis,” with its finely-detailed songwriting (“her garments are outdated/however by no means are they soiled”) topped the R&B chart in 1973 and have become his second Grammy winner for greatest R&B track. Surprise’s 1980 track “Glad Birthday” helped in the reason for turning Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday right into a nationwide vacation. (A catchy track can do greater than a thousand speeches.) His 1982 teaming with Paul McCartney, “Ebony and Ivory,” is shiny and candy-coated, however the plea for brotherhood and racial concord was heartfelt.
Listed here are 18 politically or socially-charged songs that Surprise has written and/or recorded. They’re listed in alphabetical order by track title. Which is your favourite? Vote!
