“Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder

This song is an expression of the joy Stevie Wonder felt at the birth of his first child, a daughter by the name of “Aisha”. Indeed we can see that in the first verse that the titular “she” is “less than one-minute old”. However, he has already proclaimed her “precious”, “wonderful” and of course “lovely”.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Stevie Wonder's Isn’t She Lovely at Lyrics.org.

More to the point, the level of happiness he is experiencing due to her coming into the world has exceeded his expectations. So he gives a special shoutout to “Londie”, aka Aisha’s mother Yolanda, as being intrinsically instrumental in bringing this experience to pass. And overall he perceives the birth of the girl, via the two of them, as being something which “God has done”.

So conclusively, whereas some listeners may be impressed otherwise, this song is actually, succinctly put, the celebration of the birth of a bouncing-baby girl. More specifically it is Stevie recognizing that his own daughter and first child, Aisha, has been born.

Lyrics of “Isn’t She Lovely”

Facts about “Isn’t She Lovely”

The full version of this song includes actual vocals from baby Aisha. At the beginning, is the recording of her first cries as she entered the world. And near the conclusion is audio of she playing in the tub.

There are indeed two official versions of this song. The first, as featured on Stevie’s classic “Songs in the Key of Life”, is over six-minutes long. Thus Tamla Records (aka Motown) also released an edited version of about three minutes as a promotional single.

Stevie’s unwillingness to condense the song himself is apparently why it was never released as a standard single. As such, at that time it was ineligible to appear on some major charts. However, it still managed to make an appearance, via constant play on the radio, on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.

Also interesting to note is that the successful cover this song by a late phys-ed teacher in England in 2012 not only appeared on the UK Singles Chart but caused Stevie’s original to finally chart in the UK also.

And a cover by the cast of the hit television show “Glee” in 2011 caused “Isn’t She Lovely” to make the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, about 30 years after it first came out.

The child that Stevie Wonder is celebrating on this track is his first daughter, Aisha Morris. Her birth occurred on 2 February 1975. And she went on to become a professional singer herself, having collaborated with her dad on a few occasions. In addition to writing and producing the song, Stevie Wonder also played most of the instruments on “Isn’t She Lovely?” And the track was released as one of the “Songs in the Key of Life” on 28 September 1976.

Stevie Wonder was given the privilege of playing at the Diamond Jubilee Concert, which was held on 4 June 2012 in London in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. And one of the songs he performed was “Isn’t She Lovely”, though with the lyrics modified in honor of Queen Elizabeth

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