I don't think Stevie Wonder is saying the Holy Rollers are junkies. It seems to be two separate thoughts, but linked by one thing that a higher being is watching them so they better "tell their story fast" or else, if they lie "It will come to pass". He seems to have looked into transcendental meditation at the time and mentions it here, too, but it doesn't seem like he's pushing for one type of worship.
With respect to Holy Roller, google search defines this as "a member of an evangelical Christian group that expresses religious fervor by frenzied excitement or trances.". This type of faith was quite popular when the song was written. Whether or not Stevie Wonder was practicing this or transcendental meditation like John Lennon when writing the song, I'm not sure – I didn't research all that in 10 minutes, but it seems as though he knew enough about it because a simple search on Google leads you to some of his history and he had been taken to a faith healer in his youth and the lyric plugs the latter, the meditation.
Personally, I recall hearing lots of news or word-of-mouth reports about crooked evangelical preachers back in the day. It was so prevalent, there was even a movie called "Leap of Faith" with Steve Martin. And interestingly, prior to Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, in his song "Harlem" wrote about said crooked preachers.
"Our crooked delegation
Wants a donation
To send the preacher to the holy land
Hey hey lord honey don't give your money
To that lying, cheating man.."
So when Stevie writes "Are you hearing, praying, feeling what you say inside?...Tell me holy Holy roller ... Are you standing for everything you talk about?" I don't think he's taking a jab at a particular religious group as a whole, but taking a jab at certain lying cheating leaders who pose as something else and will have to tell their "story fast" or "it will come to pass" for them. Basically, that they would be in trouble with God.
When you listen to this Stevie Wonder album Innervisions as a whole, you will hear a lot of anti-drug messages, or at least drug-related content put in a negative light so I understand that the "junkie" lyric is part of a recurring theme in the album.
I do find it interesting as well that he chose to use the words "Mother Mary", if at all he was referring to the Let It Be song, I don't think so because Paul McCartney said he wrote the song about his own mother named Mary, but if he did it could link the song to the John Lennon thing like someone already mentioned previously, but I think that's a stretch. I like the idea because some of the elements are there, but doubt it. He could just be referring to the common expression Mary Mother of Jesus.
I don't think Stevie Wonder is saying the Holy Rollers are junkies. It seems to be two separate thoughts, but linked by one thing that a higher being is watching them so they better "tell their story fast" or else, if they lie "It will come to pass". He seems to have looked into transcendental meditation at the time and mentions it here, too, but it doesn't seem like he's pushing for one type of worship.
With respect to Holy Roller, google search defines this as "a member of an evangelical Christian group that expresses religious fervor by frenzied excitement or trances.". This type of faith was quite popular when the song was written. Whether or not Stevie Wonder was practicing this or transcendental meditation like John Lennon when writing the song, I'm not sure – I didn't research all that in 10 minutes, but it seems as though he knew enough about it because a simple search on Google leads you to some of his history and he had been taken to a faith healer in his youth and the lyric plugs the latter, the meditation.
Personally, I recall hearing lots of news or word-of-mouth reports about crooked evangelical preachers back in the day. It was so prevalent, there was even a movie called "Leap of Faith" with Steve Martin. And interestingly, prior to Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, in his song "Harlem" wrote about said crooked preachers.
"Our crooked delegation Wants a donation To send the preacher to the holy land Hey hey lord honey don't give your money To that lying, cheating man.."
So when Stevie writes "Are you hearing, praying, feeling what you say inside?...Tell me holy Holy roller ... Are you standing for everything you talk about?" I don't think he's taking a jab at a particular religious group as a whole, but taking a jab at certain lying cheating leaders who pose as something else and will have to tell their "story fast" or "it will come to pass" for them. Basically, that they would be in trouble with God.
When you listen to this Stevie Wonder album Innervisions as a whole, you will hear a lot of anti-drug messages, or at least drug-related content put in a negative light so I understand that the "junkie" lyric is part of a recurring theme in the album.
I do find it interesting as well that he chose to use the words "Mother Mary", if at all he was referring to the Let It Be song, I don't think so because Paul McCartney said he wrote the song about his own mother named Mary, but if he did it could link the song to the John Lennon thing like someone already mentioned previously, but I think that's a stretch. I like the idea because some of the elements are there, but doubt it. He could just be referring to the common expression Mary Mother of Jesus.