‘Living for the City’ is a 1973 single by Stevie Wonder from his Innervisions album. It reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the R&B chart. Rolling Stone ranked the song number 104 on their 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Born into a poor family in Mississippi, a young black man experiences discrimination in looking for work and eventually seeks to escape to New York City (alluding to the Second Great Migration) in hopes of finding a new life. Through a series of background noises and spoken dialogue, the man reaches New York by bus, but is then promptly framed for a crime, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to ten years in prison.
Reflecting on the messages in his songs, Wonder said: "I think the deepest I really got into how I feel about the way things are was in 'Living For The City.' I was able to show the hurt and the anger. You still have that same mother that scrubs the floors for many, she's still doing it. Now what is that about? And that father who works some days for 14 hours. That's still happening."
Wonder played all the instruments on the song and was assisted by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff for recording engineering and synthesizer programming. Tenley Williams, writing in Stevie Wonder (2002), feels it was "one of the first soul hits to include both a political message and ... sampling ... of the sounds of the streets - voices, buses, traffic, and sirens - mixed with the music recorded in the studio." Wonder asked one of the janitors at the studio to say the "Get into that cell, ni--er" line. Public Enemy later sampled the line on "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" a track on their 1989 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back album.
The song has won two Grammy Awards: one at the 1974 Grammy Awards for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, and the second for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1975 Grammy Awards for Ray Charles' recording on his album Renaissance. It reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the R&B chart. Rolling Stone ranked the song number 104 on their 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Label – TamlaSongwriter – Stevie Wonder
Producer – Stevie Wonder
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]A 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
[Verse 2]
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)
[Chorus]
Da da da, da da da da
Da da da da la la la
Da da da da
Da da da la la (Hey)
[Verse 3]
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 (Mmm)
[Verse 4]
Her brother's smart, he's got more sense than many
His patience's long, but soon he won't have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
'Cause where he lives they don't use colored people
Living just enough, just enough for the city (Yeah)
[Chorus]
Da da da, da da da da
Da da da da la la la
Da da da da
Da da da la la (Ow)
[Post-Chorus]
(Living just enough for the city)
Living for the city, yeah
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Ain't nothing but a city, eee
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Living for the city, yeah yeah
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Nothing but a city, eee
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Live for the city, yeah yeah
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
The funky, crowded city
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Ah, live for the city
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Ain't nothing but a city, woo
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Everybody clap their hands together now, woo
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
Hmm, for the city yeah
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
For the city, yeah yeah
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
For the city, yeah
(Oh, living just enough for the city)
[Chorus]
Da da da, da da da da
Da da da da la la la
Da da da da
Da da da la la
[Spoken Interlude]
Bus for New York City!
Hey, bus driver! I'm getting on there, hold it.
Thanks a lot.
Wow, New York, just like I pictured it.
Skyscrapers and everything.
Hey, hey brother, hey come here slick. (Huh?)
Hey you look, you look hip man.
Hey, you wanna make yourself five bucks man? (Yeah)
You look hip, run this across the street for me right quick.
Okay, run this across the street for me.
What? Huh? I didn't know! What?
Gimme your hands up you punk!
I'm just going across the street.
Put that leg up, shut your mouth.
Hell no, what did I do?
Okay, turn around, turn around.
Put your hands behind your back, let's go, let's go.
A jury of your peers having found you guilty, ten years.
What?
Come on, come on, get in that cell, nigger.
God, Lord.
[Verse 5]
His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty
He spends his life walking the streets of New York City
He's almost dead from breathing in air pollution
He tried to vote but to him there's no solution
Living just enough, just enough for the city
[Verse 6]
I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow
And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow
This place is cruel, nowhere could be much colder
If we don't change, the world will soon be over
Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city
[Chorus]
Da da da, da da da da
Da da da da la la la
Da da da da
Da da da la la
Da da da, da da da da
Da da da da la la la
Da da da da
Da da da la la
Da da da, da da da da
Da da da da la la la
Da da da da
[Outro]
Oh, oh
Oh lo lo
Lo lo, lo lo
Lo lo, lo lo
Lo lo