Best Songs Ever: Stevie Wonder 'Sir Duke'

“Sir Duke” was Stevie Wonder's tribute to Duke Ellington, the jazz pianist, who died in 1974. The song also name dropped Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. But lil' did Wonder know that one day he, too, would become one of those “music pioneers that time will not allow us to forget,” all thanks to Best Songs Ever like this! Queue those horns:

“Sir Duke” is lifted from Wonder's eighteenth (eighteenth!) studio album, and arguable opus, Songs in the Key of Life. In 1977, it topped both the Hot 100 and the R&B charts in the US. That same year, it peaked at #2 in the UK, Wonder's highest charting hit across the pond at the time.

The song has since been covered by the French singer, Joe Dassin, the British singer, Olly Murs and the Filipino singer, Ogie Alcasid. It also ricocheted around Madison Square Garden during Knicks games in the 1990s, was heard throughout the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and featured in a commercial for Lee Jeans in 2009.

In 2009, Wonder released his first ever live DVD, Live At Last. It was filmed at London's 02 Arena in October 2008, during the Wonder Summer Nights tour. Check out today's Best Songs Ever, “Sir Duke,” from said live DVD, below! With a voice like Stevie's ringing out, “there's no way the band can lose”:

Lyrics:

Music is a world within itself
With a language we all understand
With an equal opportunity
For all to sing, dance and clap their hands
But just because a record has a groove
Don't make it in the groove
But you can tell right away at letter A
When the people start to move

They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people
They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people

Music knows it is and always will
Be one of the things that life just won't quit
But here are some of music's pioneers
That time will not allow us to forget
For there's Basie, Miller, Schimo
And the king of all Sir Duke
And with a voice like Ella's ringing out
There's no way the band can lose

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
I can feel it all over-all over now people

Can't you feel it all over
Come on let's feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
Everybody-all over people