"Higher Ground" is a funk song written by Stevie Wonder which first appeared on his 1973 album Innervisions. The song reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the US Hot R&B Singles chart. Wonder wrote and recorded the song in a three-hour burst of creativity in May 1973. The album version of the song contains an extra verse and runs 30 seconds longer than the single version. The unique wah-clavinet sound in the song was achieved with a Mu-Tron III envelope filter pedal. The bass line is provided by a Moog synthesizer and using overdubs, Wonder played all instruments on the track, including drums and percussion. The song was released in the UK but achieved only modest success, reaching number 29 in the UK Singles Chart.
Subject
The song lyrics address the issue of reincarnation. Wonder commented, when interviewed by The New York Times:
I would like to believe in reincarnation. I would like to believe that there is another life. I think that sometimes your consciousness can happen on this earth a second time around. For me, I wrote "Higher Ground" even before. But something must have been telling me that something was going to happen to make me aware of a lot of things and to get myself together. This is like my second chance for life, to do something or to do more, and to value the fact that I am alive.
According to Billboard, the lyrics are about "people who are moving ahead in love and in all phases of life."
Critical reception
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the song number 265 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, adding: "'Higher Ground' was recorded just before Wonder was involved in a near-fatal accident in August 1973 that left him in a coma. Early in Wonder's recovery, his road manager sang the song's melody into the singer's ear; Wonder responded by moving his fingers with the music." According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 515th most celebrated song in popular music history.
The funkrock band Red Hot Chili Peppers released a cover as the first single from their fourth studio albumMother's Milk. It has been featured in films, TV shows and video games, including ', Beavis and Butthead, Center Stage, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Walking Tall, The Longest Yard, The Karate Kid, The Change-Up, Rocksmith and Guitar Hero Live. A remixed version by the X-Ecutioners was featured in the video game SSX 3 while a cover version appeared in Guitar Hero. FX used the song to promote ' and it also serves as the show's theme song. As part of the "Year of a Million Dreams" Celebration, Space Mountain at Disneyland in Anaheim, California was transformed into Rockin' Space Mountain. The song was used as its soundtrack for 16 weeks, from January 3, 2007 to April 26, 2007. In 2000 British magazine Total Guitar named it the second greatest cover ever. Red Hot Chili Peppers performed the song with other musicians as part of the all-star jam during the band's induction into the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
