Song · Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and YouTube Music · 1977
Pass it on
Motown · Universal Music Group
Sir Duke
66Worth an evening.
Motown, under Universal. He names the dead who taught him, and the band proves he listened.
The review
Tamla released it. Universal holds Motown. Wonder stops the party long enough to say Ellington, Basie, Ella. Then the band shows the debt in the playing.
A house that only plays the new thing should hear this and ask who taught the people they like.
Song · Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and YouTube Music · 1975
Pass it on
Columbia · Sony Music Entertainment
Born to Run
66Worth an evening.
Columbia, under Sony. The highway is an escape. The reason is a life together.
The review
Columbia released it. Sony owns Columbia. The song is not only a car. It is a man who has looked at the work on offer and decided he will not spend Wendy on it. The romance is real. So is the risk that 'the night' becomes the whole plan.
Play it for someone about to take a smaller life out of fear. Then ask where they will actually live when the highway ends.
Redemption Song is still a music song, and it scores 78 instead of 66. What you gain is piety: Redemption is the word he chose, and he does not water it down.
The eight
9
Industry
A wall of players, arranged like a last chance. That is labor.
7
Household
Wendy, named. He wants her in the passenger seat, not as a night.
4
Piety
The town is a trap. The sacred thing is getting out.
8
Courage
He is scared and he says go.
6
Republic
A dying town, a job that will not save them. He tells the truth about it.
5
Temperance
The night is huge. It is aimed at a future, not a blackout.
7
Truth
He does not pretend the street is fine.
7
Stewardship
A young vow. Worth hearing before a person settles for less.
