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.
Castles In The Sand
Stevie Wonder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where young lovers meet
You can see them there
As they sit and build
Castles in the sand
Heavenly
She's so heavenly
And she helps you build
Castles in the sand
The time comes when you stop pretending
For all dreams must come to an ending
Remember what happens to castles of sand
The sea will wash them away, oh
And the beach
Where they used to meet
By the sand and sea
Waves have washed away
Castles in the sand
Castles in the sand
Where did they go?
Castles in the sand
Tell me, where did they go?
Castles in the sand
I wanna know where did they go
"Castles in the Sand" is a song by Stevie Wonder, that was released in 1964. The song talks about young lovers who meet and build castles in the sand. The first verse of the song goes, “On the beach where young lovers meet, You can see them there as they sit and build, Castles in the sand”. The song goes on to describe the girl as “heavenly,” and how she helps the guy build these castles.
However, the song takes a melancholic turn in the last verse, when it talks about how all dreams must come to an end, including the castles in the sand. Wonder goes on to say, “Remember what happens to castles of sand, the sea will wash them away.” Here, the sandcastles serve as a metaphor for fleeting moments of happiness or love that are ultimately washed away, just like castles in the sand.
The song is a poignant reminder of the temporality of things and how we should cherish every moment we have before it’s gone. Stevie Wonder, with his soulful voice, captures the wistfulness of youth with such beauty and simplicity, and his message is still relevant today.
Line by Line Meaning
On the beach where young lovers meet
At a location where young romantic partners gather,
You can see them there as they sit and build
Observing those couples sitting and constructing something,
Castles in the sand
They are creating castles from the beach's sand,
Heavenly, she's so heavenly
She looks like a matter from paradise,
When she smiles at you
If this woman smiles at you,
And she helps you build castles in the sand
She assists you in constructing these sand castles.
The time comes when you stop pretending
There will come a period when pretending is no longer feasible,
For all dreams must come to an ending
Since every dream must come to an end at some point, this is the case.
Remember what happens to castles of sand
Recall how sand castles typically behave,
The sea will wash them away, oh
The ocean's waves will eventually destroy them completely.
And the beach where they used to meet
The location where those partners once convened,
By the sand and sea waves have washed away
The waves and sand have washed away those locations,
Castles in the sand
The sand castles are now gone,
Castles in the sand
The sand castles are now gone,
Where did they go
Nobody knows their whereabouts now,
Castles in the sand
The sand castles are now gone,
Tell me, where did they go
If you know where they disappeared to, please tell me,
Castles in the sand
The sand castles are now gone,
I wanna know where did they go
I'm curious about the sand castles' whereabouts.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Hal Davis, Obrien Mary Lazzara, Frank Edward Wilson, Marcus Jr. Gordon
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!