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 artist ever to top the 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 tied-record holder for the most Album of the Year wins, with three. He is also 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 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 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.
Wonder was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan, on May 13, 1950, the third of five children born to Lula Mae Hardaway, and the second of Hardaway's two children with Calvin Judkins. He was born six weeks premature which, along with the oxygen-rich atmosphere in the hospital incubator, resulted in retinopathy of prematurity, a condition in which the growth of the eyes is aborted and causes the retinas to detach, so he became blind.
Can't Imagine Love Without You
Stevie Wonder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In the palm of your hand
The entire universe
As a tiny grain of sand
And it feels impossible to do
As I can't imagine love without you
Think of drinking every sea
Sprinting 'round the world three times
Faster than a rocket fly's
And the thought of it you can't pursue
As I can't imagine love without you
Some thoughts just know great news
Not worth the amount of time
Yet others inconceivable
So they never cross your mind
Travel back through life and times
One Atlanta summers night
Add up every single star
Since the day the first was light
How and when they started? Have no clue
As I can't imagine love without you
Yet others inconceivable
So they never cross your mind
Travel back through life and times
One Atlanta summers night
Add up every single star
Since the day the first was light
How and when it started? Have no clue
And the thought of it you can't pursue
'Cause it feels impossible to do
As I can't imagine love without
I can't imagine love without, you, oh-oh
In Stevie Wonder's song "Can't Imagine Love Without You," the singer expresses how unable he is to fathom certain things in life without the presence of his lover. He describes the enormity of the universe and how seeing the earth in the palm of one's hand and the universe as a tiny grain of sand still doesn't compare to the feeling of not being able to imagine love without his partner. The singer also mentions imagining the impossible; drinking every sea and traveling three times around the world faster than a rocket, but still, the thought of love without his partner is too much to bear as some thoughts are too inconceivable to even imagine.
Moreover, Wonder adds that some things are not worth the time, while others are entirely impossible, so they don't even cross one's mind. He ends the song by referring to a specific summer's night in Atlanta and the stars that have been lighting up the sky since the very beginning, yet the thought of life without the other is too much to fathom.
In conclusion, Stevie Wonder's "Can't Imagine Love Without You" is an emotional song that describes the indescribable feeling of not being able to picture life without a loved one, using some inconceivable notions such as the entire universe in the palm of one's hand, traveling faster than a rocket, and all the stars that have been lighting up the sky since the beginning of time.
Line by Line Meaning
Can you picture mother earth?
Can you imagine the vastness of the world and everything in it?
In the palm of your hand
As something small enough to fit in your hand
The entire universe
The entirety of all that exists
As a tiny grain of sand
As something miniscule relative to the grand scheme of things
And it feels impossible to do
It seems unsurmountable, or unable to be comprehended
As I can't imagine love without you
In the same way, I cannot imagine my existence without your love and presence
Think of drinking every sea
Imagine trying to consume all of the world's oceans
With it's salty waters dry
Until there is no liquid or moisture left
Sprinting 'round the world three times
Running as fast as possible around the circumference of the earth three whole times
Faster than a rocket fly's
Even faster than a rocket or other super fast vehicle
And the thought of it you can't pursue
It is too incomprehensible to even try to think about
Some thoughts just know great news
Some thoughts are more pleasant or positive in nature
Not worth the amount of time
Undeserving of excessive consideration or thought
Yet others inconceivable
Some are so difficult to comprehend or imagine
So they never cross your mind
That they may never even occur to someone
Travel back through life and times
Think back to earlier years, decades, or centuries
One Atlanta summers night
One particular moment in time and place
Add up every single star
Attempting to count every star in the sky
Since the day the first was light
Since the very beginning of time, when the first star came into existence
How and when they started? Have no clue
Without any knowledge or even a guess as to how or when this process began
And the thought of it you can't pursue
It is simply too overwhelming or impossible to fathom
'Cause it feels impossible to do
Similar to the previous lines' sentiments, the idea or task at hand seems unattainable or too large to tackle
As I can't imagine love without
Once again circling back to the central theme of the song - the idea of love and how it is intertwined with this person's life
I can't imagine love without, you, oh-oh
Emphasizing the point by repeating the sentiment
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Stevie Wonder
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Cheryl Rowland Hall
on Isn't She Lovely
Dedicated to my lovely daughter, Amy Kathleen Rawson, the lovely child who helped mom to grow up!