They've been spending most their lives living in a pastime paradise
They've been wasting most their time glorifying days long gone behind
They've been wasting most their days in remembrance of ignorance's oldest praise
Tell me, who of them will come to be?
How many of them are you and me?
Dissipation
Race relations
Consolation
Segregation
Dispensation
Isolation
Exploitation
Mutilation
Mutations
Miscreation
Confirmation
To the evils of the world
They've been spending most their lives living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives living in a future paradise
They've been looking in their minds for the day that sorrow's lost from time
They keep telling of the day when the savior of love will come to stay
Tell me who of them will come to be?
How many of them are you and me?
Proclamation
Of race relations
Consolation
Integretion
Verification
Of Revelations
Acclamation
World salvation
Vibrations
Stimulation
Confirmation
To the peace of the world
They've been spending most their lives living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives living in a future paradise
We've been spending too much of our lives living in a pastime paradise
Let's start living our lives, living for the future paradise
Praise to our lives living for the future paradise
Shame to anyones life for living in the pastime paradise
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; né Judkins; born May 13, 1950), 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.
Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, at the age of 13, making him the youngest solo artist ever to top that chart. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s. His "classic period" began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard. His works Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases. Wonder began his "commercial period" in the 1980s; he achieved his biggest hits and highest level of fame, had increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations (including with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson), political impact, and television appearances. Wonder has continued to remain active in music and political causes.
Wonder is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of over 100 million records worldwide. He has won 25 Grammy Awards (the most by a male solo artist) and one Academy Award (Best Original Song, for the 1984 film The Woman in Red). Wonder has been inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the U.S. In 2009, he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2014, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
