Superstition: The Funk Classic Stevie Wonder Almost Gave Away

By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-06-27

Superstition, from Stevie Wonder’s 1972 album Talking Book, is one of the greatest grooves ever recorded — built on a thick, snarling clavinet riff that Wonder layered into something almost impossibly funky. It marked the heart of his early-70s creative explosion, the period when he seized full artistic control and started making the records he heard in his head.

The riff that nearly belonged to a guitarist

By the widely told account, the song took shape partly during sessions with rock guitarist Jeff Beck, and there was an understanding that Beck would get to record it. Motown, hearing how strong Wonder’s own version was, wanted it as his single — and it came out under Wonder’s name first, becoming a number-one hit. Beck got his own version out later, but the definitive Superstition was Wonder’s.

Groove as the message

Lyrically it’s a warning about the self-defeating logic of superstition — how believing in nonsense makes the bad things you fear more likely. But its genius is that the body hears the groove long before the brain hears the lesson. It’s a song that makes you move first and think second.

What it measures like

On our measurements it’s driving and high-energy — a tight, relentless funk engine, dense and propulsive from the first bar. Full profile on its song page.

Superstition appears on Stevie Wonder’s 1972 album Talking Book. The account of its origins in sessions involving Jeff Beck reflects the widely reported history. No lyrics are reproduced.