Summer In Stereo #83

Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" was Chart Bound on March 23rd, 1974 and was the chart's highest debuting single at #73 two weeks later on April 6th.  (The lowest debuting single that week was Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" which checked in at #100 and would find itself atop the chart in two months time.)  Wonder was in his creative prime at the ripe old age of 22 when he recorded "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" as part of his landmark Innervisions album.  It was the third and final U.S. single from the album and it was the fifth in an unprecedented streak of nine consecutive Top 3 singles on the R&B chart. Over on the Hot 100, the song stalled at #16 on June 1st, during a brief (by Wonder's own standards) nine week stay. Nevertheless, it was played very often on the radio and the jukeboxes HERC heard while living in Fort Worth, Texas in the Summer of 1974.  The song was immediately playful and exotic sounding with its Latin arrangement and instrumentation. Like all of Wonder's best stuff (and even some of his less stuff), the tune is as catchy as the day is long.  It stood out among all the other pop sounds of the day and still sounds funky fresh forty freakin' years later.  And did I mention he was just 22?!?!