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In 1976, Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" album spent 13 weeks at the top of Billboard's Album Chart...and for an encore, it was the second biggest selling album of 1977 (behind Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours).!
In 1976, the first single from the album, "I Wish," spent 5 weeks at #1...and for an encore, Stevie's follow-up single "Sir Duke," spent 3 weeks at the top in 1977!
In 2019, (November 26) we saluted "I Wish" as a "Great Song of the '70s," so, for a 2020 encore, we're saluting--you guessed it--"Sir Duke!"
This was Stevie's tribute to some of the great jazz artists that influenced his music. He wanted to make sure that when they were gone (and most of them had already passed), they were not forgotten.
To people of a certain age, the names Stevie mentioned in the lyrics were--and still are--legends: Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and of course, the Duke himself: Duke Ellington.
CHART TRIVIA: In addition to reaching the top of the Hot 100 in the US, the song went to #1 in Canada, #2 in the UK , #4 in Switzerland, and #10 in Germany.
Here's Stevie, with a "Great Song of 1977!"
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