You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling | Lyrics | Righteous Brothers

You never close your eyes
Anymore when I kiss your lips.
And there’s no tenderness
Like before in your fingertips.
You’re trying hard not to show it, (baby).
But baby, baby I know it…

You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’,
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’,
You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’,
Now it’s gone…gone…gone…wooooooh.

Now there’s no welcome look
In your eyes when I reach for you.
And now you’re starting to
Criticize little things I do.
It makes me just feel like crying, (baby).
‘Cause baby, something beautiful’s dyin’.

You lost that lovin’ feelin’,
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’,
You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’,
Now it’s gone…gone…gone…woooooah

Baby, baby, I’d get down on my knees for you.
If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah.
We had a love…a love…a love you don’t find everyday.
So don’t…don’t…don’t…don’t let it slip away.

Baby (baby), baby (baby),
I beg of you please (please), please (please)
I need your love (I need your love), I need your love (I need your love),
So bring it on back (So bring it on back),
Bring it on back (so bring it on back).

Bring back that lovin’ feelin’,
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
Bring back that lovin’ feelin’,
‘Cause it’s gone…gone…gone,
and I can’t go on,
woh-oh-oh-oh

Bring back that lovin’ feelin’,
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
Bring back that lovin’ feelin’,
‘Cause it’s gone…gone…gone…
And I can’t go on.. wooooah

*************        *************

FACTS ABOUT THE SONG

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” is a 1965 number-one hit single in the US and the UK by The Righteous Brothers. In 1999, the performing-rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) announced that it was the most-played song of the 20th century. Additionally, the song was chosen as one of the Songs of the Century by RIAA.

Written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector and Cynthia Weil, the song is one of the foremost examples of producer Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” technique. Recorded in Studio A of the famed Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, it features lead vocals by Bill Medley. Bobby Hatfield reportedly expressed his annoyance to Spector upon learning that he would have to wait until the chorus before joining Medley’s vocals. When Hatfield asked Spector just what he was supposed to do during Medley’s solo, Spector replied: “You can go straight to the bank.” Among the background singers in the song’s crescendo is a young Cher.

Cynthia 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.” Even with his interest in the song, however, Medley had his doubts. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he recalled, “We had no idea if it would be a hit. It was too slow, too long, and right in the middle of The Beatles and the British Invasion.” Indeed, the song ran for nearly four minutes when released. This was much too long by contemporary AM standards, but Spector refused to cut it shorter. On the label where the time is indicated, he had “3:05” printed, instead of the track’s actual running time of 3:45. He also added a false ending which made the recording more dramatic, and would also trick radio deejays into thinking it was a shorter song. Upon being played the finished record over the phone, co-writer Barry Mann reacted to Medley’s deep baritone by telling Spector, “Phil, you have it on the wrong speed!”

During the Christmas of 1964, British R&B singer Cilla Black released a cover version of the song before the Righteous Brothers original was imported. In an attempt to garner support for the record on the English charts, Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham famously took out a full-page ad in Melody Maker, declaring:

“This advert is not for commercial gain, it is taken as something that must be said about the great new PHIL SPECTOR Record, THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS singing “YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVIN’ FEELING”. Already in the American Top Ten, this is Spector’s greatest production, the last word in Tomorrow’s sound Today, exposing the overall mediocrity of the Music Industry. Signed,
Andrew Oldham”

By mid-February 1965, “Lovin’ Feelin'” was No. 1 in both the US and the UK. It is the only song to enter the UK Top 10 three different times – first with the initial charting in 1965, and again when it was re-released in 1969 and 1990. Peaking at number 3, the 1990 re-release was prompted by the rekindled success of “Unchained Melody”, which itself hit number 1 after being used in the movie Ghost. The song was number 34 on the list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone.

In a scene from the 1986 action thriller movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards infamously sing the song in an attempt to win the affection of a fellow club-goer (and their future flight instructor), played by Kelly McGillis.

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