It’s hard to lose that loving feeling when “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” played more than eight million times on radio and television from 1964 to 2000.
On December 13, 1999, music publisher BMI named it the most played song on the radio in the 20th century.
It hasn’t been quiet in the 21st century, either. The song was played another seven million times through 2011, along with another 26 million views on YouTube.
When “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling” was released in November 1964, the Righteous Brothers’ version was fighting a head wind. The song hit the airwaves in the middle of Beatlemania and the British invasion.
At four minutes, it was also longer than most songs disc jockeys were playing. Song producer Phil Spector played fast with the truth when he listed the time on the record as 3:05. Still, the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. and England in February 1965.
The husband-wife team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote the song at Specter’s request. They were inspired by “Baby I Need Your Loving” from the Four Tops.
The song title was supposed to be a placeholder, but Spector liked it, so he kept it. It was the first number one song for the Righteous Brothers and the songwriters.
The song was one of Spector’s best examples of the Wall of Sound. He spent thousands of dollars recording take after take of the Righteous Brothers singing, and putting down layers upon layers to give it the big sound.
A little bit of trivia: Cher, still an unknown, was one of the backup singers.
Song of the Day is created by Sheldon Zoldan, and produced by Pam James for WGCU. To receive the Song of the Day in your inbox every day, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
