#FlashbackFriday – Higher Ground

This is a new idea I recently had to write a little about covers of popular and favorite songs of yesteryear. I’ll try to steer clear of obvious choices (I Will Always Love You, Nothing Compares 2 U, etc.), and focus on songs people didn’t know were covers or that a certain artist actually covered a song by X. Below is the first installment of #flashbackfriday.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (Stevie Wonder)

Before they were giving it away under the bridge, the Red Hot Chili Peppers reached for “Higher Ground,” a Stevie Wonder cover. Released in 1989 on their fourth studio album, Mother’s Milk, the George Clinton-inspired Chili Peppers saw their first cross over hit as they were paying homage to Stevie Wonder and the important role he played in popular music.

The original, was released in 1973 on Stevie Wonder’s Innervisons album (which also included Living for the City, All in Love is Fair, Don’t You Worry ‘bout a Thing). It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview with the New York Times, Stevie said the song lyrics addressed the issue of reincarnation.

Rolling Stone ranked the original song #265 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.