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 Click the titles to the right to read their story. |
You've
Lost That Lovin' Feeling ------ You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling It was the sixties and Phil Spector asked us to come out to LA to work with him. We flew out with our dog, Jody and stayed at the Chateau Marmont because it was the only place that would accept a German Shepherd as a guest. On top of that they let us bring in a rented piano. Phil played us a record of two Orange County white boys who had a Sam and Dave sound and had had two local hits with up-tempo songs. We loved what we heard and inspired by the passion and yearning in our favorite song of the day "Baby I Need Your Loving", we went back to the hotel and wrote two verses and choruses of "YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELING". We weren't sure how to end the chorus and thought the title wasn't strong enough. We called and played what we had over the phone for Phil. He told us that when we hit the line "something beautiful's dying" it brought tears to his eyes. We told him we'd come up with a better title but he said "No! That's it". We then met with him to work on the end of the chorus, write the bridge and complete the song and he went on to produce one of the most soulful, innovative and creative records ever made.
We originally wrote "ON BROADWAY" for a group called The Cookies. Our friends Carole King and Gerry Goffin were writing for them and Gerry was producing and they were short one song. Barry had this concept of writing a "Gershwinesque" pop song and I, being a Broadway fanatic wanted to write a lyric about my favorite street and all it stood for. The ideas seemed to mesh so we wrote the first version of "ON BROADWAY". The Cookies and later The Crystals cut it but neither record was released. Then our publisher told us that Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller were looking for songs for The Drifters. We played them our song and they thought we needed to make some changes for their group. They said we could go home and work on it or rewrite it with them. We idolized them and jumped at the chance to team up. Using the basic melody that Barry had written and my opening lines all we created the "ON BROADWAY" that went on to be a hit by The Drifters and George Benson.
This was a case of using a friends experience as inspiration for a song. I had a dear friend who was seeing someone who kept breaking her heart and then coming back. I could always here it in her voice when she was getting involved with him again. Barry and I wrote "HERE YOU COME AGAIN" for her. It was recorded by a number of artists, including Barry Mann, before the definitive Dolly Parton record that captured Country Song Of The Year and crossed her over from country to pop. Actually we later heard Dolly had to be talked into recording it because she thought it was too pop. We're so glad she decided to do it.
The lyric was written for my husband and partner who is surely a "soul blessed with inspiration". Barry and Tom Snow wrote the melody and were not happy with the lyric they'd come up with so they brought it to me. The song was also recorded a number of times before the Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville version. There was a Bette Midler record, a Bill Medley record and a Barry Mann record. Linda held on to it for two years before actually going in and recording it. I never thought she'd really do it but I'm so happy that she did.
Our agent, Michael Gorfaine told us that Steven Spielberg was involved in a musical animated film and James Horner was scoring it. A number of other writers had taken a pass at writing songs for the project but no one had hit the jackpot. James felt that the same team should do all the songs and he was interested in collaborating with them and incorporating the songs as themes in the film. We had four weeks to deliver. Barry and James wrote separately and then came together to collaborate. I had some ideas for titles and themes. The songs were slotted in the script and the slot for "SOMEWHERE OUT THERE" was called The Mouse In The Moon. We all thought the script was a delight and the situation of the brother and sister mice separated and singing on separate rooftops inspired the new title. Animation at that time had not yet made it's comeback and none of us thought this would be the amazing success it turned out to be. When we played the songs for Steven Spielberg and the production staff they all applauded and we were thrilled.
Our co-publisher suggested that Barry collaborate with a young Canadian singer/ songwriter named Dan Hill. He was a huge success in Canada but had not as yet made any headway in the states. Both Dan and Barry were apprehensive about this "creative blind date". When they got together Dan gave Barry a complete lyric that he had written and Barry brought it home to work on. The melody just flowed out of him. A few hours later Dan was having lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel when Barry called him. They brought a phone to the table and Barry sang the entire song for him. Dan couldn't believe that Barry had written something so quickly and almost passed out when he heard the amazing melody his lyric had inspired. I must confess when I heard the record I said "This is too beautiful and sensitive to be a hit"....wrong again (but that's another song)!
Lionel Richie usually wrote both words and music but we had the same attorney and she kept telling him that we ought to work together. Finally Lionel got stuck on a melody. He always had a harder time finding the words and this time he was stymied. He knew the essence of what he wanted but couldn't figure out how to say it. He called me and we made a lunch date. He kept calling and changing and postponing. Twenty-four hours after the original appointment we finally met at the restaurant. It was a four-hour lunch. He is one of the most charming people in the world so I couldn't even be angry at the delay. He gave me a tape of the melody and said "Write me a music video" so I did. Much later the song was used for a Pepsi commercial. I bought my Mercedes with my share and always called the car "Lionel".
Barry had always sung the male vocals on our demos (demonstration records) but he decided that we needed a real soul singer for JUST ONCE. We had heard that Quincy Jones was recording George Benson and thought it would be perfect for him. Our friend, Linda Perry, who was working at our co-publisher's office suggested a singer named James Ingram. Someone else had used him on an up-tempo song and Linda thought he'd be right for us. On her recommendation we booked him for the session. Robbie Buchannen, one of the world's great keyboard players, worked with Barry in laying down the track. When James began to sing we were so blown away that Barry had to stop the tape. He told James that he was the best singer he'd heard in the past 15 years". James proceeded to give an amazing performance and we sent it over to Quincy. A few days later Quincy called and said" I love this song, I want to do it on my album and Barry's really singing his ass off". I broke the news to him that it wasn't Barry singing this time. He called James and the rest is history. The Grammy's that year opened with James singing JUST ONCE and Quincy's album, The Dude, won the album of the year Grammy. It's a lot of years later and we're still blown away by the incredible vocal talent of James Ingram.
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