Though originally directed at President Nixon, Stevie Wonder’s 1974 hit “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” has undergone plenty of renewed relevance over the years. It’s one of Wonder’s angriest songs, and now, during an onslaught of lip service and woke theatre from corporations and politicians, it hits especially hard:
We are amazed but not amused
By all the things you say that you’ll do
Though much concerned but not involved
With decisions that are made by you
But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Tellin’ how you are gonna change right from wrong
’Cause if you really want to hear our views
You haven’t done nothin’
The Bay Area’s Jazz Mafia has a long history with Stevie Wonder’s music—he even once hopped on stage at a small club in the Mission District to sing a couple songs with the band members. So it’s no surprise that the Jazz Mafia has updated Wonder’s song for 2020—complete with guest verses and a relevant exhortation, in the place of the Jackson 5’s original backup vocals, to “do the work.”
See the video below. (And: do the work.)
