But in 1965 at age 15 his voice had begun to change, and Motown CEO Berry Gordy was worried that he would no longer be a commercially viable artist.

As it turned out, however, producer Clarence Paul found it easier to work with Wonder's now-mature tenor voice, and Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby set about writing a new song for the artist, based upon an instrumental riff that Wonder had devised.

'"[7] The resulting song, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", features lyrics depicting a poor young man's appreciation for a rich girl seeing beyond his poverty.

[8] Cash Box described it as a "rhythmic, fast-moving, chorus backed pop-r&b ditty all about a lucky fella who’s got the world on a string.

A note-for-note re-recording of Wonder's version was used as the backing track for Bill Cosby's 1967 musical comedy single, "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)", which was a US number 4 hit.

In 1994, British reggae singer C. J. Lewis released a cover version under the title "Everything Is Alright (Uptight)".