Signed, Sealed & Delivered (1970)
RELEASE DATE
7 AUGUST 1970
LABEL
TAMLA (MOTOWN)
BILLBOARD 200
#25
BILLBOARD R&B ALBUMS
#7
PLAYLIST
| SIDE ONE | SIDE TWO | ||||
| 1 | NEVER HAD A DREAM COME TRUE | 7 | DON’T WONDER WHY | ||
| 2 | WE CAN WORK IT OUT | 8 | ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO DO | ||
| 3 | SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED I’M YOURS | 9 | I CAN’T LET MY HEAVEN WALK AWAY | ||
| 4 | HEAVEN HELP US ALL | 10 | JOY (TAKES OVER ME) | ||
| 5 | YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER | 11 | I GOTTA HAVE A SONG | ||
| 6 | SUGAR | 12 | SOMETHING TO SAY |
LEAD VOCALS
PRODUCERS
HENRY COSBY, STEVE MARCEL BEGA, RON MILLER & STEVIE WONDER
BACKUP VOCALS
VENETTA FIELDS, LYNDA LAURENCE, THE ORIGINALS & SYREETA
GUITAR
DENNIS COFFEY
OTHER INSTRUMENTS
THE FUNK BROTHERS
SINGLES
“NEVER HAD A DREAM COME TRUE”
“SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED I’M YOURS”
“HEAVEN HELP US ALL”
“WE CAN WORK IT OUT”
TRIVIA
- This is the first album in Stevie Wonder’s discography in which he was granted production credit. The singer is acknowledged with having produced two tracks, We Can Work It Out and Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours, on his own. He also co-produced Anything You Want Me to Do and I Gotta Have a Song. And the latter three songs on that list were co-written by his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway.
- This is the last (studio) album Stevie dropped in which he did not have full creative control. Signed, Sealed & Delivered was released when he was 20 years old. Upon turning 21 the following year, in 1971, he renegotiated his contract with Motown and in the process was granted a virtually unprecedented amount of artistic freedom as an individual musician. As such, Signed, Sealed & Delivered may be considered the final album from the first decade of Wonder’s career. For instance, it marked his last project to employ the likes of Henry Cosby and The Funk Brothers. Its follow-up, 1971’s Where I’m Coming From, was the precursor to Stevie entering the independent (so to speak), “classic era” of his career.
- Signed, Sealed & Delivered also appears to the last Stevie Wonder album upon which Lula Mae Hardaway wrote some of the songs.
- The ‘title track’ to this album – Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours – is not a verbatim reflection of the actual name of the LP, which is Signed, Sealed & Delivered.
- In peaking at number 25 on the Billboard 200, this was Stevie’s second-worst performing studio album of the 1970s, only being preceded in that regard by Where I’m Coming From.
- This project reached seventh place on Billboard’s R&B Albums list (which is currently known as Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums).
- The title track of this album topped Billboard’s Best Selling Soul Singles (aka Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) ranking. It also proved to be a notable hit in the United Kingdom, even though the album itself did not chart across the pond. Besides that, it’s the first single in Stevie’s discography that he produced on his own.
- We Can Work It Out is a song that was originally dropped by The Beatles in 1965.
- The shortest track on the album, at about 2 minutes and 10 seconds, is Joy (Takes Over Me). And the longest, at approximately 4 minutes and 55 seconds, is Don’t Wonder Why.
SOURCES
“Signed, Sealed & Delivered”. Wikipedia. Last edited on 10 June 2024.
“Stevie Wonder discography”. Wikipedia. Last edited on 7 June 2024.
“Stevie Wonder – Signed, Sealed & Delivered Lyrics and Tracklist”. Genius. Accessed on 27 June 2024.
Brandon Ousley, “Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed & Delivered” At 50″. CultureSonar. 7 August 2020.
Vinyl Records. “Stevie Wonder – Signed, Sealed & Delivered (1970) {Full Album}”. YouTube. 1 November 2023.