Deep Cuts - Stevie Wonder's 'Creepin''

DEF|Y|NE Media's series about overlooked yet exceptional tracks from renowned musicians. Stevie Wonder's "Creepin'" is soulful and evocative ode to the mysterious allure of love.

There are experiences that nobody is immune from. All people come from different walks of life and circumstances, but as humans, we all have the capacity and potential to go through certain episodes.

Stevie Wonder is the kind of songwriter who has managed to capture more of these episodes above and emotions more comprehensively and accurately than any other ever. One such subject that he mastered in song form is unrequited love.

The plight of those who yearn for another and don’t receive the same from their object of affection is agonizing and not easily met with empathy. When you’re in love with someone and you’re the only one who knows it, all you have is your imagination, which tends to run wild – ranging from fantastical to masochistic. Wonder’s “Creepin’” is an appropriate expression of such a feeling.

(Stevie Wonder, circa 1974. Photo credit RB/Redferns, via GRAMMY.com)

When “Creepin’” was recorded in 1974, Wonder had emerged from a near-fatal car crash that put him face to face with his cryptic premonitions of an early demise. The mood of its album, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, is not as joyous as Signed, Sealed, Delivered, or as incendiary as Innervisions. While flashes of joy and anger show up in the album’s two hit singles “Boogie On Reggae Woman” and “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” respectively, Fulfillingness’ First Finale mostly contains dragging melodies, ominous instrumentation, and deliberately fatigued singing.

“Creepin’” embodied Stevie’s state of mind at that time: Happy to be alive, but drained from a physically and spiritually rigorous episode. Such can be the state of mind of someone in love with another and unsure of the chance of reciprocity.

With each slush of the hi-hat on every upbeat during the chorus, the pendulum swings back and forth before your eyes, hastening your descent into a longing trance. The hypnotic cipher of ARP synthesizer chords incites a state of indifferent consciousness: being able to vividly imagine oneself in the arms of your desired lover while also getting swept in a hazy, swaying undercurrent of uncertainty.

The harmonica solo sounds like lonely weeping, humanized by the twain of its long notes. Stevie’s despondent vocal delivery of his lyrics evokes the melancholy that comes with unrequited love:

“When I sleep at night, baby/I feel those moments of ecstasy/
When you sleep at night, baby/I wonder do I creep into your dreams/
Or could it be I sleep alone in my fantasy?”

The presence of Minnie Riperton’s lush, sensuous soprano serenely adjacent to Wonder’s voice brings a layer of hopefulness to an otherwise hopeless happening. Ultimately, we all pray for the best, even in the face of fear and disappointment.

“Creepin’” never became a single, but Luther Vandross connected with its emotion, covering it on his 1985 album, The Night I Fell in Love. Vandross’ version became a fan favorite, as he featured it in his live shows for many years. Still, Vandross and co-producer Marcus Miller’s slick production, while pleasing in the era it was released, couldn’t retain the ethereal melancholy that made the original so special.

It’s all but guaranteed that we’ll each fall in love someday, but it’s not guaranteed that someone will fall in love with us. And while that’s a scary realization, it’s something that we all share in universal harmony. Thank you, Stevie Wonder, for reminding us of that.

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