You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling…
The cover art for the Righteous Brothers’ 1965 album, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling is the lone single and title track from the 1965 album of the same name, from legendary recording duo, The Righteous Brothers. The song was written by legendary producer Phil Spector, along with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The song itself is a legendary song, famous the world over for its soulful vocals and iconic Phil Spector Wall of Sound styling. Spector, Mann, and Weil wrote the song in 1964, recording it with The Righteous Brothers on September 26th, 1964 at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, California. The Wall of Sound was a technique where the entire musical element, minus the vocals, was recorded in a large 30x40 recording studio with as many as twenty-five or thirty musicians playing at once. This muddled, bleeding sound would then be picked up by microphones and played on loud speakers in a concrete echo chamber at very loud volumes. The resulting echoing sound was then recorded by a microphone in the echo chamber, resulting in the final wall of sound style that Phil Spector was famous for. The Righteous Brothers were actually the first white group that Spector has worked with after focusing his work on black artists and groups to that point.
The song released to critical acclaim, it went to number 1 in both the US Billboard Hot 100 and US Cash Box Top 100 charts. The song hit number 1 in the United Kingdom and Canada as well. The song has gone on to be covered by such legends as Dionne Warwick, Hall and Oates, & Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. The song was listed as the most played song on the radio in 1997 when taking into account all of the versions released over the years. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling also appeared in the famous film Top Gun, acting as the end credits song at the end of the movie. This may be one of the song’s most famous moments as it plays out the iconic American war film starring Tom Cruise.
Why this song is important to me…
This is one of those songs that is just… perfect. It’s truly one of those songs that’s an earworm. I was watching Top Gun over the weekend and I just remembered how much I love You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling. The ending of Top Gun is positively iconic and it just stuck with me. Phil Spector’s catalogue of songs is truly something to behold and I implore everyone to look up all of the hit songs he produced during his career.