"Shit, That Sounds Tremendous!" Tom Jones On His 13 Favourite Albums | Page 10 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

9. Stevie WonderTalking Book

Great songs. I had it on 8-track in my car. I heard ‘Fingertips’ first, and I thought "Shit! Who’s playing harmonica on that for a start off?" So those Motown records were happy records, great for dancing and parties and things. But then it got deeper, more personal, which is why I picked that record. I think people should try things and if you have something to say, something in you, then do it. That can happen in different times of your life, and I think for him, he had that to prove – you know he had done the jolly records, and wanted to get deep. And he did.

Favourite song would be ‘Blame It On The Sun’. It was different, "but my heart blames it on me" – blame it on this, blame it on that, but at the end of that day, my heart blames it on me. I love clever lyrics… and its a simple story but the way he put it together was very clever.

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