Living For The City by Stevie Wonder (1973)

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Just enough…for the city.’ (Stevie Wonder, 1974)

Living for the City is a single from Innervisions album by Stevie Wonder, which peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the R&b chart. The soul song positioned in number 105 for Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song is about a young black man who experienced discrimantion in looking for a job. Born in a poor family in Mississippi, made him seek to escape to New York hoping of finding new life. But then he promptly framed for a crime, convicted, arrested, and sentenced to ten years in prison. [1]

Key Lyrics

boy is born in hard time Mississippi

Surrounded by four walls that ain't so pretty

His parents give him love and affection

To keep him strong moving in the right direction

Living just enough, just enough for the city

His father works some days for fourteen hours

And you can bet he barely makes a dollar

His mother goes to scrub the floors for many

And you'd best believe she hardly gets a penny

Living just enough, just enough for the city (yeah)

His sister's black but she is sho 'nuff pretty

Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy

To walk to school she's got to get up early

Her clothes are old but never are they dirty

Living just enough, just enough for the city (um-hum) [2]

Black Empowerment

Living for the City portrays a black man living in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era. Facing hardships, encourage him to leave his hometown and seek hope in the promised land, New York City. However, he faced and got caught up in a different system of inequality, leaving him imprisoned, homeless, jobless, and sick. [3]

On the other side, the song also portrays the structural racism characteristics rooted in the US labor market, with African-Americans consigned to long hours, low pay, as well as backbreaking work as their lot in life. Black women are stuck with few options of domestic work. Living for the City captures the young activists’ aspirations and assertions of the freedom struggle. [4]

References

  1. Livign for the City. wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 24, 2021
  2. Living for the City Stevie Wonder. genius.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021
  3. Living for the City Stevie Wonder. genius.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021
  4. Graff, Daniel. Stevie Wonder, Living for the City Labor Song of the Month (September, 2017). November 2, 2017. lawcha.org. Retrtieved january 24, 2021