Just Enough For The City

By: Terrance Brown & Donte Bouyer

Living For The City FactsWritten By Stevie Wonder Created in 1973

Reached #8 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and #1 on the R&B chart,

Rolling Stone ranked the song #104 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

What the song means The song begins with Wonder describing the life of a boy born in "hard time Mississippi". His family is poor, but his parents work hard and encourage him, in spite of the dreadful conditions they live in, which include lack of food and money, and racism. As the track progresses, the tension and anger build in Wonder's voice, matching the growing frustrations of the subjects in the song.

A spoken interlude midway through the song has the young boy, now a young man, arriving in New York City for a new beginning. Stevie then goes into the main idea of the song which is how he’s working just enough to live for the city. Wonder's growling voice reveals the inner rage that has been building throughout the song. "Living for the City" still holds a substantial edge in social commentary.

LyricsA boy is born in hard time Mississippi Surrounded by four walls that ain't so pretty His parents give him love and affection To keep him strong moving in the right direction Living just enough, just enough for the city...ee ha!

His father works some days for fourteen hours And you can bet he barely makes a dollar His mother goes to scrub the floor for many And you'd best believe she hardly gets a penny Living just enough, just enough for the city...yeah

His sister's black but she is sho 'nuff pretty Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy To walk to school she's got to get up early Her clothes are old but never are they dirty Living just enough, just enough for the city...um hum

Her brother's smart he's got more sense than many His patience's long but soon he won't have any To find a job is like a haystack needle

Cause where he lives they don't use colored people Living just enough, just enough for the city... Living just enough... For the city...ooh,ooh [repeat several times]

His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty He spends his love walking the streets of New York City He's almost dead from breathing on air pollution He tried to vote but to him there's no solution Living just enough, just enough for the city...yeah, yeah, yeah!

I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow This place is cruel no where could be much colder If we don't change the world will soon be over Living just enough, just enough for the city!!!!

Work Related LyricsHis father works some days for fourteen hoursAnd you can bet he barely makes a dollar

His mother goes to scrub the floors for manyAnd you best believe she hardly gets a penny

To find a job is like a haystack needleCause where he lives they dont use colored people

The GenerationWell the song speaks of a family who’s growing up amongst injustice

They were unable to get a job because of the color of there skin.

Unemployment was pretty high in the 70s for everyone.

Terkel“Status becomes important…society, they feel, looks upon them as lesser”

I think that the general family he was talking about would take society’s opinion on them because it was mainly negative at the time. So they really couldn’t help but notice.

ConclusionThis family is one of many that was probably unrightfully denied jobs in this time.

The jobs that they were left with wasn’t the best and had them living paycheck to paycheck which results in to title of the song where they are not living just for themselves but living for the city.