You and I (We Can Conquer the World)

Last updated
"You and I (We Can Conquer the World)"
Song by Stevie Wonder
from the album Talking Book
Released1972
Genre Soul
Length4:38
Label Tamla
Songwriter(s) Stevie Wonder
Producer(s) Stevie Wonder, Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil

"You and I (We Can Conquer the World)" is a song written and sung by Stevie Wonder from his 1972 album Talking Book . Wonder is also credited for playing piano and T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer on the song.

Contents

Personnel

Cover versions

George Michael version

In April 2011, George Michael released a version of the song titled just "You and I" solely on MP3 as a gift to Prince William and Catherine Middleton on the occasion of their wedding on April 29, 2011.

Although the MP3 was downloadable for free, [3] Michael asked that downloaders make a contribution to the "Prince William & Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund".

The song had its world premiere on April 15, 2011 on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight . [4] The show repeated on Saturday, April 16. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevie Wonder</span> American musician (born 1950)

Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder.

<i>Talking Book</i> 1972 studio album by Stevie Wonder

Talking Book is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 27, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and Music of My Mind, released earlier the same year, are generally considered to mark the start of Wonder's "classic period". The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's use of keyboards and synthesizers.

<i>Stevie Wonders Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"</i> 1979 soundtrack album by Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" is an album by Stevie Wonder, originally released on the Tamla Motown label on October 30, 1979. It is the soundtrack to the documentary The Secret Life of Plants, directed by Walon Green, which was based on the book of the same name by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. It contains two singles that reached the Billboard Hot 100 charts: "Send One Your Love" and the minor hit "Outside My Window". The single "Black Orchid" reached No. 63 in the UK.

<i>Innervisions</i> 1973 studio album by Stevie Wonder

Innervisions is the sixteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on August 3, 1973, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. A landmark recording of Wonder's "classic period", the album has been regarded as completing his transition from the "Little Stevie Wonder" known for romantic ballads into a more musically mature, conscious, and grown-up artist. On the album, Wonder continued to experiment with the revolutionary T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer system developed by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, and Innervisions became hugely influential on the future sound of commercial soul and black music.

<i>Music of My Mind</i> 1972 studio album by Stevie Wonder

Music of My Mind is the fourteenth studio album by American soul musician Stevie Wonder. It was released on March 3, 1972, by Tamla Records, and was Wonder's first to be recorded under a new contract with Motown that allowed him full artistic control over his music. For the album, Wonder recruited electronic music pioneers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff as associate producers, employing their custom TONTO synthesizer on several tracks. The album hit No. # 21 in the Billboard LP charts, and critics found it representative of Wonder's artistic growth, and it is generally considered by modern critics to be the first album of Wonder's classic period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonto's Expanding Head Band</span>

Tonto's Expanding Head Band was a British-American electronic music duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were influential in the development of electronic music and helped bring the synthesizer to the mainstream through session and production work for other musicians and extensive commercial advertising work.

<i>Fulfillingness First Finale</i> 1974 studio album by Stevie Wonder

Fulfillingness' First Finale is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, released on July 22, 1974 by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. It is the fourth of five albums from what is considered Wonder's "classic period".

<i>Its My Pleasure</i> 1975 studio album by Billy Preston

It's My Pleasure is the tenth studio album by Billy Preston, released in June 1975 on A&M Records. The album shows the modernisation of Preston's music, placing a heavier emphasis on synthesizers. It was also his first collaboration with the singer Syreeta Wright who sings on one track. The album is notable for featuring harmonica by Stevie Wonder on two tracks. George Harrison also appears, playing guitar on "That's Life".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours</span> 1970 single by Stevie Wonder

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered " is a soul song, by American musician Stevie Wonder, released in June 1970 as a single on Motown's Tamla label. It spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at number three on the U.S. Pop chart. In the same year, the song was also released on the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)</span> 1972 single by Stevie Wonder

"Superwoman " is a 1972 soul track by Stevie Wonder. It was the second track on Wonder's Music of My Mind album, and was also released as the first single. The song reached a peak of number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

<i>Love Lives Forever</i> 1980 studio album by Minnie Riperton

Love Lives Forever is the sixth and final studio album by the American soul singer Minnie Riperton. Released posthumously in 1980, it was co-produced by her husband Richard Rudolph and released on her then-label Capitol Records. It consists of tracks that she recorded in 1978 during vocal sessions before her death, and music recorded after her early death, occurred on July 12, 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">As (song)</span> 1976 Stevie Wonder song

"As" is a song written and performed by American singer and musician Stevie Wonder from his eighteenth album, Songs in the Key of Life (1976). The song was released in October 1977 by Tamla and reached number 36 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Black Singles chart. It gets its name from the first word of its lyrics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder song)</span> 1985 single by Stevie Wonder

"Overjoyed" is a hit single written and performed by American R&B singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder on the Tamla (Motown) label from his 1985 album In Square Circle. The single peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1986, remaining in the Top 40 for six weeks. In addition, "Overjoyed" was a No. 1 hit on the adult contemporary chart, the eighth of his career. An alternate single release featured an instrumental version on the B-side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Cecil</span> English musician and record producer (1937–2021)

Malcolm Cecil was a British jazz bassist, record producer, engineer, electronic musician and teacher. He was a founding member of a leading UK jazz quintet of the late 1950s, the Jazz Couriers, before going on to join a number of British jazz combos led by Dick Morrissey, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He later joined Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner to form the original line-up of Blues Incorporated. Cecil subsequently collaborated with Robert Margouleff to form the duo TONTO's Expanding Head Band, a project based on a unique combination of synthesizers which led to them collaborating on and co-producing several of Stevie Wonder's Grammy-winning albums of the early 1970s. The TONTO synthesizer was described by Rolling Stone as "revolutionary".

Robert Margouleff is an American record producer, recording engineer, electronic music pioneer, audio expert, and film producer.

<i>Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway</i> 1980 studio album by Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Roberta Flack. Released via Atlantic in March 1980, the album features posthumous vocals by close friend and collaborator Donny Hathaway, who had died in 1979. At the 23rd Grammy Awards in 1981, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. The award, however, went to Stephanie Mills for "Never Knew Love Like This Before."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">He's Misstra Know-It-All</span> 1974 single by Stevie Wonder

"He's Misstra Know-It-All" is a single by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla (Motown) label, from his Innervisions album, which reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1974. The song takes the form of a mellow ballad with a steady beat, principally a solo performance with Wonder providing lead vocal, background vocal, piano, drums, handclaps and congas. Ethereal flute-like sounds are provided by his TONTO modular synthesiser. Willie Weeks, on electric bass, is the only other musician. Towards the end of the song the mood changes to a stronger feel, more strident singing and with hand-claps emphasising the beat, half-beat and quarter-beat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Cassidy</span> Disk jockey, record producer and MC

Cassidy Durango Milton Willy Podell, known as DJ Cassidy, is an American DJ, record producer and MC.

"Golden Lady" is a song by the American musician Stevie Wonder, released in 1973 on his album Innervisions. While it was never released as a single, the album itself peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Top 200. The love song, written by Stevie Wonder, contrasts with the other songs on the record that comment upon societal issues within America. Examples include his comments on drug addiction within the song "Too High" and his political commentary on US President Richard Nixon in "He's Misstra Know-It-All".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvonne Wright</span> American songwriter(1951-2016)

Yvonne Lowrene Wright was an American songwriter and vocalist best known for co-writing with Stevie Wonder in the 1970s. Their songs appear on the albums Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants".

References

  1. Norman Paul (story), Sid Dorfman & Wayne Kline (teleplay); Gerren Keith (director) (September 23, 1978). "Florida's Homecoming: The Wedding". Good Times. Season 6. Episode 3. CBS.
  2. Felsenthal, Carol (April 7, 2015). "Here Are the Best Stories from the New Michelle Obama Biography". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  3. Download page on George Michael official website Archived April 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. George Michael's world premiere royal wedding song unveiled on "Piers Morgan Tonight"
  5. George Michael website: George Premieres His Royal Song on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight