My Top 1000 Songs #731: Higher Ground

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.] 

Tell me you couldn't just listen to that funky wah-wah clavinet riff all day long! I don't listen to a lot of Stevie Wonder (I suppose I should?), but "Higher Ground" (off 1973's Innervisions) is, pardon the pun, on an entirely different plane for me, a funk anthem to end all funk anthems. (Plus, he apparently played every instrument on the track... what a freakin' monster!)

Incidentally, as I've eased into middle age, I've mostly shed the need to slag artists I don't care for; music is entirely subjective, and everyone is entitled to find joy in whatever music touches them. But that said, I really hate the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Just cannot stand that band. Nonetheless, I'll grudgingly concede that Flea's bass on their 1989 cover absolutely slaps. There, I said it. Move on.

Live 1974:

Live 2008:

Ok, fine, for the lone time, I'll include a RHCP clip: