They Don’t Know What You’ve Done For Me

Syreeta “I Love Every Little Thing About You”

“I Love Every Little Thing About You” is a Stevie Wonder song, a cover produced by Wonder himself and released only a few months after his own recording of the song on Music of My Mind in 1972. Syreeta was married to Wonder at the time the song was written and recorded, but their marriage had ended before either recording was released. This is tremendously ironic, as both versions radiate such a pure feeling of warmth and love that it’s very hard to imagine the spell these two people were under would break so soon after making this music together.

I strongly prefer Syreeta’s version of “I Love Every Little Thing About You.” Wonder’s is fine but for my taste the arrangement is a little too airy and the hooks don’t land quite as well. The Syreeta recording has a funkier groove and sounds very grounded, which works well for the song when her vocal is the part of the song that feels lighter. The contrast makes her sound like she’s rising up and transcending her physical being through this love, or at least feeling the intoxicating rush of chemicals that go along with love. The other major difference between the two recordings is that the Syreeta version sounds far more modern, to the point that it’s actually kind of amazing to think this was released 50 years ago. Some of it is in Wonder’s relatively minimal arrangement and tonal palette, but a lot of it is just that this music feels like it’s staking out a middle ground between traditional R&B sounds and more electronic textures that simply became a default territory for this music down the line.

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