Top of the Charts: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers

Feb. 5, 1965 - Hitting No. 1 today on the Billboard Hot 100 was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin,’” a single by the Righteous Brothers.

Last year, producer Phil Spector was involved with 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 label, Philles Records. Spector commissioned Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to write a song for them, bringing the songwriters from New York to Los Angeles to stay at the Chateau Marmont so they could write the song.

Mann wrote the melody first and came up with the opening line, “You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips.” Mann and Weil then 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.

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 they then built upon for the bridge.

When Hatfield and Medley went to record the vocals last September, all the instrumental tracks had already been recorded and overdubbed. They recorded the vocal many times — Medley sang the opening verse over and over again until Spector was satisfied, and the process was then repeated with the next verse. The recording took over 39 takes and around eight hours over a period of two days.

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