Song Lyric Sunday – Isn’t She Lovely

This week our friend Nancy, The Sicilian Storyteller, has given us the prompt for Song Lyric Sunday. It is to find a song about parenting, or a child and parent relationship. I didn’t think too hard about it and went straight to a Stevie Wonder favorite, “Isn’t She Lovely” written for his daughter. I love the video I found. Only Stevie can sound so good 50 years after it was first recorded. Hope you all have a great Sunday.

The Song

Wonder wrote this to celebrate the birth of his daughter. Aisha Zakia Morris was born on February 2, 1975. She was born to Wonder and his then-partner, Yolanda Simmons, who he met when she applied for a job at his publishing company.

Aisha is one of Wonder’s most famous children. She was the inspiration for this, one of his best-known songs, which features her on the recording. Wonder has said that the sound of Aisha splashing in the bathtub inspired the song. Aisha has also performed with her father at live shows and was a Grammy nominee herself. In 2018, she became the music director at KJLH, a radio station in Los Angeles.

The song opens with the crying of a just-born baby. It is not Aisha, but at the end of the song when Stevie says, “Come on, Aisha. Get out of the water, baby,” the splashing and protests (familiar to many parents at bathtime) are really her, recorded during a memorable moment between Stevie and his daughter.

Wonder had Aisha with Yolanda Simmons, whom he mentions near the end of the song: “Londi it could have not been done, without you who conceived the one.”
Wonder played all of instruments on this track except some of the keyboards, which were done by Greg Phillinganes. Wonder improvised the harmonica part, which came out sounding very good.

The song runs 6:34 with a long fadeout where Wonder interacts with his daughter. Wonder, who had control of such matter thanks to a comprehensive contract he signed with Motown, would let the song be edited down and released as a single in America, which kept it off the Hot 100 despite being one of his most popular songs. The song was released as a single in the UK, where it was cut down to 3:26.

Much of the album was recorded at The Hit Factory, a legendary recording studio in New York City where John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon also recorded. Wonder was the first client at The Hit Factory, which closed in 2005.

In 2015, Wonder was honored with the TV special Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life – An All-Star Grammy Salute. This was performed at the ceremony by Ne-Yo, who was joined midway through the song by Aisha Morris, surprising Wonder, who didn’t expect to hear his daughter’s voice.

American Idol finalist Clay Aiken performed this on the TV show Scrubs in the Episode “My Life in Four Cameras.”

This appears in the 2003 Cuba Gooding Jr. film The Fighting Temptations. Other movies to use the song include Sea of Roses (1978) and Juwanna Mann (2002). TV series to use it include Designing Women, Doogie Howser, M.D., and Desperate Housewives.

From Songfacts

The Lyrics

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old

I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely, made from love

Isn't she pretty
Truly the angel's best
Boy, I'm so happy
We have been heaven blessed

I can't believe what God has done
Through us he's given life to one
But isn't she lovely, made from love

Isn't she lovely
Life and love are the same
Life is Aisha
The meaning of her name
Londie, it could have not been done
Without you who conceived the one
That's so very lovely, made from love, hey

Writer/s: Stevie Wonder
Publisher: Black Bull Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind