You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” is a song by Phil Spector, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, first recorded in 1964 by the American vocal duo the Righteous Brothers. This version, produced by Spector, is cited by some music critics as the ultimate expression and illustration of his Wall of Sound recording technique. The record was a critical and commercial success on its release, reaching number one in early February 1965 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The single ranked No. 5 in Billboard’s year-end Top 100 of 1965 Hot 100 hits – based on combined airplay and sales, and not including three charted weeks in December 1964 – and has entered the UK Top Ten on an unprecedented three occasions. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” has been covered successfully by numerous artists. In 1965, Cilla Black’s recording reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. Dionne Warwick took her version to No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969. A 1971 duet version by singers Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Long John Baldry charted at No. 2 in Australia with his 1979 remake and a 1980 version by Hall and Oates reached No. 12 on the US Hot 100. Various music writers have described the Righteous Brothers version as “one of the best records ever made” and “the ultimate pop record” In 1999 the performing-rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) ranked the song as the most-played song on American radio and television in the 20th century, having accumulated more than 8 million airplays by 1999, and nearly 15 million by 2011 It held the distinction of being the most-played song for 22 years until 2019, when it was overtaken by “Every Breath You Take”. In 2001 the song was chosen as one of the Songs of the Century by RIAA, and in 2003 the track ranked No. 34 on the list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone. In 2015 the single was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
In 1964, music producer Phil Spector conducted the band at a show in San Francisco where the Righteous Brothers was also appearing, and he was impressed enough with the duo to want them to record for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles Records featured African-American singers, and the Righteous Brothers would be his first white vocal act. However, they had a vocal style, termed blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector. Spector commissioned Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to write a song for them, bringing them over from New York to Los Angeles to stay at the Chateau Marmont so they could write the song.[1] Taking a cue from “Baby I Need Your Loving” by The Four Tops, which was then rising in the charts, Mann and Weil decided to write a ballad.[10] Mann wrote the melody first, and came up with the opening line, “You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips”, influenced by a line from the song “I Love How You Love Me” that was co-written by Mann and produced by Spector – “I love how your eyes close whenever you kiss me”. Mann and Weil wrote the first two verses quickly, including the chorus line “you’ve lost that lovin’ feelin'”. When Spector joined in with the writing, he added “gone, gone, gone, whoa, whoa, whoa” to the end of the chorus, which Weil disliked. The line “you’ve lost that lovin’ feelin'” was originally only intended to be a dummy line that would be replaced later, but Spector liked it and decided to keep it.[1] The form of the song is of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus or ABABCB form.[14] Mann and Weil had problems writing the bridge and the ending, and asked Spector for help. Spector experimented on the piano with a “Hang On Sloopy” riff that they then built on for the bridge Weil recalled that, “after Phil, Barry and I finished [writing it], we took it over to the Righteous Brothers. Bill Medley, who has the low voice, seemed to like the song.” However, Medley initially felt that the song did not suit their more uptempo rhythm and blues style, and Mann and Spector had sung the song in a higher key: “And we just thought, ‘Wow, what a good song for The Everly Brothers.’ But it didn’t seem right for us.” The song, which has a very big range, was originally written in the higher key of F. But to accommodate Medley’s baritone voice, the key was gradually lowered to C♯ in the recording, which, together with slowing the song down, changed the “whole vibe of the song”, according to Medley. Bobby Hatfield reportedly expressed his annoyance to Spector when he learned that Medley would start the first verse alone and that he had to wait until the chorus before joining in. Prior to this, they would have been given equal prominence in a song. When Hatfield asked Spector just what he was supposed to do during Medley’s solo, Spector replied, “You can go directly to the bank!”