"Higher Ground" is a funk song written by Stevie Wonder and first appearing on his 1973 album Innervisions. Against a driving, percolating clavinet-based arrangement, the lyric posits that religion and reincarnation can perhaps successfully do battle with the darker sides of human nature. It reached #4 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart and #1 on the U.S. Hot Soul Singleschart. The album version of this 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 Mutron envelope filter pedal. The bass is a Moog synthesizer. Via overdubs, Wonder played all instruments on the track, including drums.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the song #261 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, offering the ground" target="_blank">following explanation: ""Ground"" was recorded just before Wonder was involved in a near-fatal accident in August '73 that left him in a coma. Early in Wonder's recovery, his road manager sang the melody of "Ground" into the singer's ear; Wonder responded by moving his fingers with the music."
An especially ferocious performance of "Higher Ground" was given by _Alicia Keys along with Wonder and Lenny Kravitz at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards. Keys and Wonder then took a softer, improvised approach in a duet at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Later in 2006, fifth-season American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry gave an acclaimed, show-closing rendition that blended the original with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 1989 cover. At the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival, Marcus Miller also performed this song. "Higher Ground" was later released on his 2007 album "Free".
More recently in the 2007 run of Australian Idol, contestant Ben Mackenzie sung his own version, which was a mixture of a ballad and the hard rock from the version recorded by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
