Let's get one thing straight right away: when people search for the Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always, they are almost always looking for the masterpiece titled "As." It's an easy mistake to make. The hook is so incredibly dominant, so spiritually massive, that the actual title feels almost too small for the song it represents.
If you've ever sat through a wedding in the last forty years, you’ve heard it. But hearing it at a reception while sipping a lukewarm gin and tonic is a world away from actually listening to what Stevie was doing on Songs in the Key of Life. We are talking about 1976. Stevie was at the absolute zenith of his "classic period." He had total artistic control from Motown, a feat that was practically unheard of for Black artists at the time. He used that freedom to craft a seven-minute epic that basically tries to redefine the limits of human commitment.
The Poetry of Impossibility in the Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always
Most love songs are lazy. They promise to love you "forever" or "until the end of time." Those are fine, I guess, but they're clichés. They don't have teeth. Stevie took a different route. He decided to define his love by listing things that are physically impossible.
Think about the lyrics for a second. He isn't just saying he'll be there; he's saying he will love you until the ocean covers every mountain. Until the dolphins fly and parrots live at sea. It sounds whimsical, but in the context of that driving Fender Rhodes piano, it feels like a manifesto. He's using the absurdity of the natural world turning upside down to illustrate the permanence of his emotion.
The Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always—or "As"—actually functions as a philosophical argument. It’s about the concept of "Always." In a world that is constantly decaying or changing, Stevie identifies the few things that remain constant. It’s heavy stuff for a pop song.
Why the Fender Rhodes is the Secret Sauce
You can't talk about this track without talking about the sound. That warm, bell-like keyboard tone? That's the Fender Rhodes. Stevie played it himself, obviously. But it’s the way he played it—this percussive, almost gospel-inflected style—that gives the song its heartbeat.
Honestly, the track starts out almost subdued. It’s just Stevie and that Rhodes. Then the drums kick in. Then the background vocals start layered in like a Sunday morning choir. By the time you get to the five-minute mark, the song has transformed from a ballad into a full-blown spiritual possession.
The Recording Session That Changed Everything
Recording Songs in the Key of Life was a chaotic, beautiful mess. Stevie was a perfectionist. He would stay in the studio for forty-eight hours straight, driving engineers like Gary Olazabal and John Fischbach to the brink of exhaustion.
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There's this legend—which is pretty much verified by anyone who was there—that Stevie had so much material he didn't know what to do with it. "As" was one of those tracks that felt like it had its own gravity. It wasn't just another song on the tracklist; it was the emotional anchor of Side Three.
The background vocalists on this track deserve a Nobel Prize. Seriously. You have Mary Lee Whitney and others creating this wall of sound that responds to Stevie's lead. It’s a call-and-response tradition rooted deeply in the Black church, and it’s why the Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always feels more like a prayer than a radio hit.
Breaking Down the Seven Minutes
Most radio edits chop "As" down to three or four minutes. That is a crime. If you aren't listening to the full version, you're missing the entire point of the song's structure.
The first half is the promise.
The second half is the celebration.
Around the 3:30 mark, the key shifts. The intensity ramps up. Stevie starts ad-libbing. He starts growling. You can hear the grit in his voice. This isn't the "I Just Called to Say I Love You" Stevie. This is the raw, visionary Stevie who was trying to channel the divine through a microphone.
George Michael, Mary J. Blige, and the Cover Problem
Look, covers are a touchy subject. In 1999, George Michael and Mary J. Blige teamed up to cover "As," and it was a massive hit, especially in the UK.
It’s a good cover. George Michael had the soul to pull it off, and Mary J. Blige is, well, she's the Queen. But there is a specific "weight" to the original Stevie version that can't be replicated. Stevie’s version feels like it was unearthed from the ground. It feels ancient.
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When people search for the Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always, they often stumble upon the George Michael version first because of its 90s production value. But if you want the soul of the song, you have to go back to '76. You have to hear the slight imperfections in the analog tape.
Is it really a "Wedding Song"?
Yes and no.
It’s played at weddings because of the "I'll be loving you always" line. But if you really look at the lyrics, Stevie is also talking about self-love and the state of the world. He mentions "hate's pollution" and the idea that "we all know that life's out to end."
It’s a bit darker than your average "we're getting married" tune. It acknowledges that the world is kind of a mess, and in the middle of that mess, this love is the only thing that makes sense. That’s a much deeper commitment than just saying "I like you a lot."
How to Truly Appreciate "As" Today
In 2026, we consume music in bites. We listen to 15-second clips on social media. "As" defies that. You can't "get" this song in fifteen seconds.
If you want to experience the Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always the way it was intended, you need to do a few things:
- Get the Vinyl (or Lossless Audio): The compression on standard streaming services kills the warmth of the Fender Rhodes. You need to hear the bottom end of the bass.
- Listen to the Lyrics Closely: Don't just hum the melody. Listen to the metaphors. "Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky." That's incredible writing.
- Wait for the Outro: The last two minutes of the song are where the magic happens. The "Always... Always... Always..." chant becomes a mantra. It’s designed to put you in a trance.
The Technical Genius of the Composition
Musically, the song is a beast. It’s primarily in B Major, but it moves through chords that shouldn't necessarily work in a pop song. Stevie’s use of accidental notes and complex jazz harmonies is what keeps the ear engaged even though the melody is relatively simple.
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He was essentially bridging the gap between Duke Ellington and the future of R&B. He took the sophistication of jazz and wrapped it in a package that anyone on the street could understand. That is the definition of genius.
The Impact on Modern Music
You can hear the DNA of "As" in everything from Alicia Keys to H.E.R. and Bruno Mars. Any artist who uses a soulful keyboard hook to drive a mid-tempo ballad is essentially borrowing from the house that Stevie built.
The Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always hasn't aged a day because it wasn't chasing a trend. In 1976, disco was starting to take over. Stevie could have easily made a four-on-the-floor dance track. Instead, he made a timeless hymn about the endurance of the human spirit.
It’s also worth noting that this song appeared on an album that won the Grammy for Album of the Year. It was a moment when the industry and the public were in total agreement. We all knew we were witnessing something that would outlive us.
Actionable Ways to Explore Stevie's Catalog
To get the most out of your Stevie Wonder journey beyond just this one track, here is how you should approach it:
- Listen to the "Big Three" Albums in Order: Start with Innervisions, move to Fulfillingness' First Finale, and end with Songs in the Key of Life. This gives you the full arc of his creative explosion.
- Watch the 1970s Live Footage: Search for his performance at the 1974 Rainbow Theatre or his appearance on Sesame Street. Yes, really. His Sesame Street performance of "Superstition" is arguably the funkiest thing ever caught on film.
- Analyze the Lyrics as Poetry: Take the lyric sheet for "As" and read it without the music. Notice the rhythm of the words and the internal rhymes. It stands up as literature.
- Explore the "Original Musiquarium I" Compilation: If you're overwhelmed by the studio albums, this 1982 compilation is the gold standard for his greatest hits, featuring a slightly different mix of several tracks.
The beauty of the Stevie Wonder song I'll be loving you always is that it grows with you. It sounds different when you're twenty and falling in love for the first time than it does when you're fifty and you've actually lived through the "always" part of the promise. It’s a rare piece of art that manages to be both a technical masterpiece and a deeply personal companion. Go back and play it again—the full version this time. It’s worth every second.