Side three

If you write a song about your daughter called Isn’t She Lovely, accusations of cloying sentimentality are bound to follow, but you’d have to be a pretty cynical and cold-hearted being not to smile along with Stevie as he celebrates the birth of little Aisha.

It’s a common misconception that the baby crying at the start of the song is Stevie’s eldest daughter, but it’s actually a different newborn. However, the gurgling child who you can hear Stevie chatting to is Aisha.

The lengthy harmonica solo takes the running time of this one out to 6:34 - Motown wanted to release the song as a single edit (radio’s eagerness to play it suggested that it would have been another number one), but Stevie said no.