Gooseneck

"Superstition" is the quintessential Stevie Wonder tune. The funky clavinet, the deep groove, the cool chord changes, the amazing vocal.

So we were stunned to learn this song was never meant for Stevie -- it was written for Jeff Beck.


In fact, Jeff Beck and Stevie were hanging out together in 1972, and Stevie was supposed to write him a few songs. Ironically, it was Jeff Beck's drumming -- not his guitar playing -- that inspired Stevie to pen "Superstition."

Here's Jeff Beck quoted in an Ultimate Classic Rock article:

“One day I was sitting at the drum kit, which I love to play when nobody’s around, doing this beat. Stevie came kinda boogieing into the studio: ‘Don’t stop.’ ‘Ah, c’mon, Stevie,’ I can’t play the drums.’ Then the lick came out: ‘Superstition.’ That was my song, in return for playing on Talking Book. I thought, ‘He’s given me the riff of the century.'”

So how did it end up on Stevie's record Talking Book rather than on Beck, Bogert and Appice? First, Jeff Beck's record was delayed for a variety of reasons. Second, when Stevie's bosses at Motown heard this song, they knew it would be a smash and made Stevie put it on his record.

The rest as they say is history.

Here's Stevie playing the "riff of the century" on an isolated clavinet track: