After a 14-year hiatus, 14 years of wondering if we'd ever hear "Superstition" or "My Cherie Amour" or "Sir Duke" or "Living For The City" or "For Once in My Life" or "I Wish" or "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" or "Tell Me Something Good" (wait a minute -- that's Rufus & Chaka Khan, but he wrote it!) live again, the man is going from town to town and giving fans an early Christmas gift.

Unfortunately, it took the passing of his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, who died in May 2006 at 76, to get him back in performing mode. The 57-year-old Wonder recently took time out of his breakneck schedule to have a phone interview about his mom's passing and how he's just thankful to be on the road again.

Q: So we should let people know that your primary reason for hitting the road was the passing of your mother. Even after her death, she was the one who convinced you to go back on tour.

A: Basically, what I say then is what I always say, which is obviously that the passing of my mother was, by far, the worst day of my life. You know, it's unimaginable, and yet, I know it's very true. Meaning that it still is but it is very real, because I am not like some person that hides behind something that is not real. And the point is, I do know that it's very real. She's not gonna ever be on this planet again -- not on this time, as human beings. But that's a whole 'nuther thing.

So, the reality is, you know, I know that it's real, and [the tour is] really a celebration of the strength that she gave me. The love that she gave me.

Q: What's interesting is how the whole thing began as a few summer shows. Then, it trickled into a few fall shows. Now, it's evolved into this full-fledged tour. Did you know as you were doing it that it was going to progress into a tour, or was it more of a let's-wait-and-see situation?

A: What happened with this is I knew I wanted to do the [tour], you know, because I brought it to the agent. But the more I did and the more I performed -- I want people to really know how I really thank them. I do thank everyone for what their contribution has been to my life, making it possible for me to do things for my family and loved ones. And that's really what it's about.

Q: Do you and your band do a tight set list, or you do leave space to play around?

A: We vary every day. Every show is different. I mean, the gist of it is there. But, I mean, there might be certain days where I do different songs or not do certain songs. You know, it's a matter of how I feel. But the body of it is the same because, obviously, people come to hear me do the songs that they know. But there are some times we might do like "The Secret Life of Plants" or "Send One Your Love" or we might do some of the older stuff. In Philly, we did "Hey Love" and stuff we don't do everywhere because "Hey Love" was very popular in Philly.

Q: There isn't any way I could convince you to do "All Day Sucker" (from the "A Something's Extra" bonus 45 from "Songs in the Key of Life") when you come down here?

A: You know what's really funny? We do that in rehearsal all the time. Yeah, I can do it. You want me to do it? I'll do it for you. [Starts talking with someone in the background about "All Day Sucker."] I'll probably mess around with it. I may mess around with it on the bag or something. We'll do it, though. We've done it.

Q: At recent shows, you've been known to get very emotional while performing a song. Has the passing of your mother -- and even the passing of your first wife and former collaborator, Syreeta Wright, three years back -- made it difficult to get through some patches in your show?

A: I mean, there are people and memories and all those things -- you know, they fall into place when you are, as an artist, expressing yourself. It would be impossible for me to not think about the people through my life, and how they've affected my life. I just thank God for just the fact that I've been able to meet, know and love so many people, and get love back. And so those things are going to definitely bring you to having emotion.

So, I just say that I've had the blessing of knowing some really, really good people and sharing some really, really great moments with different people, from Ray Charles to Donny [Hathaway] to Stevie Ray Vaughan to different people that I've met in life.