teachers keep on teachin'

I was in line at the Starbucks in our office building the other day waiting for my fix and grooving to Stevie Wonder singing "Higher Ground" on their PA system when a young lad who could not have been of legal drinking age tilted his head to the side, listened to the song playing, and requested of the barista which CD they had on.  Being a buttinski, know-it-all, pain-in-the ass kinda chick, I happily declared, "It's Stevie Wonder!" and expected him to nod his head in recognition.  Instead he said, "Oh, because it sounds like maybe a cover of the Chili Peppers."  I just about lost it. I slapped my hand against the counter.  "No! No! No!" I cried. "Stevie did it first!  It's Stevie's song! Stevie Wonder!"  He looked at me with a whatever, dude expression on his face, but I couldn't stop. "The Chili Peppers covered him! It's his song. Stevie Wonder. He wrote it!"  Other customers started to wonder what the ruckus was about. Young Blonde Boy gave the baristas a look and hightailed it on out of there. The baristas had to lead me gently away from the counter so less crazed folks could get their coffee.  I was still muttering "But it's Stevie!" to myself as the elevator rose to the 23rd floor.

Comments

[Mikey]

You tell 'em darlin.

[GraceD]

Oh God, we're going to get along like a fuckin house on fire, girl.

[Karen]

Kids these days! Sheesh!

[Paul]

Yeah, I know what you mean. The other day I had to explain why I'd said "Dave? Dave's not here, man" when they introduced Dave Hansen at the Mariners game.

A cover of the Chili Peppers. The mind reels. Don't they teach kids anything?

Apparently, those Chili Pepper youngsters did indeed cover Stevie's song on their 1989 album 'Mother's Milk'. (Hey, I may be old, but I can use Google and Amazon.)

[nina]

I know, I HAVE the Chili Peppers' version and in it they sing/rap all sortsa references to Stevie Wonder. That's part of what added to my indignation--if you know the Chili Peppers' song, you should know it's a Stevie song.

[bluepoppy]

but Nina, you exercised SUCH restraint! Me? I would've wrestled him to the ground and pounded his head in until he understood . . . the magic of Stevie Wonder . . . of course, Stevie probably wouldn't appreciate my violent approach.

[terrilynn]

You showed remarkable restraint. I will say that my boy (6 years old) prefers the RHCP version (it's a guitar thing), but at least he had heard them both before choosing.

[JimR]

Back when "Dangerous Minds" came out as a movie (1995?), my oldest son, Francis, and I went to see it on a Friday night. I could not believe that my 16-year-old wanted to be seen in public with me, let alone on a Friday night. Maybe it was because I was paying, who knows? I had read the book that the movie was based on ("My Posse Don't Do Homework"), had been inspired to go into classroom teaching by Bel Kaufman's "Up the Down Staircase", had done my student teaching in an inner city school (Hartford Public H.S.) and thought Michele Pfieffer was kinda hot.

As the movie opened, Coolio was rapping the opening song, "Gangsta Paradise."

I leaned over to Francis and said, "Whoa, he's really ripping off Stevie Wonder." Coolio had sampled "Pastime Paradise" and, to be fair, gave SW full credit in the music credits at the end.

Francis responded, "Dad!" (which translates to "You're embarassing me. Please shut up.")

The next morning, when I heard Francis stumbling up the stairs from the basement, I ran to the living room, found my copy of "Songs in the Key of Life" and fired up "Pastime Paradise" on the turntable. I turned it up very loud and let the Speakerlab 7s go to work.

Francis shuffled onto the landing above the living room and said, "Whoa, he really did rip off Stevie Wonder" Then he added the coup de grace, "Hey dad. This is vinyl, huh?"

So much good music, so little perspective - - it is our duty to educate!