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What It Feels Like...

(page 15 of 17)

… To Record the Most Popular Song in American Radio History

Bill Medley, 66
You might think of Top Gun when you hear “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” but singer Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers remembers his unsure reaction to a song that ended up being hugely popular for decades to come.
BY GARY WHITAKER

According to BMI music publishing, the Righteous Brothers’ 1965 No. 1 hit song “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” has received more radio play than any other song in recording history. Even more than the Beatles’ ubiquitous weeper “Yesterday.” And the first voice you hear is the deep baritone of Bill Medley, now performing at the Dick Clark Theatre in Branson. “The first time we heard ourselves sing the song on the radio, we knew it was a hit,” says Medley from his newly adopted home in 417-land. But the California native says he and his partner, the late Bobby Hatfield, initially had their doubts.

“At the time we were better known for more high energy songs like ‘Little Latin Lupe Lou’ and ‘My Babe,’ so when Phil Spector (the record’s producer) and Bobby Mann (the song’s main writer along with his wife, Cynthia Weil) sang it to us, I told them, ‘Wow, that’s a great song for the Everly Brothers, but not for us.’”

But Medley says Spector persisted and began customizing the song for the Righteous Brothers, lowering and lowering the key until the opening line, “You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips,” was a perfect fir for Medley’s deep voice. As you would expect, Medley loved it, but Bobby Hatfield was puzzled. He asked, “What do I do while he's singing the entire first verse?” Medley says Spector replied, “You can go directly to the bank.”

Spector had other tricks up his hit-making sleeve. He printed the time on the single as 3:05 so that radio stations would play it. The actual length is 3:50, but stations at the time rarely played songs much longer than 3 minutes. It took radio station program directors a while to figure out why their segments were running long, but by then the song was a hit.

“The radio guys thought it was too slow,” Medley says. “Some even thought we had recorded it at the wrong speed. But everything that was wrong about it made it special. I don’t think we appreciated its full impact until about 15 years ago. We sort of said to each other, ‘Holy mackerel, how wonderful that this song means so much to people.’ And that’s especially true when I hear from Vietnam veterans that the song sustained them and helped them through a very tough period. That’s when you finally get it and say, ‘Wow that was really us.’”

The song has a rich history. Not only was it a number one single in 1965, in the wake of the British invasion, it made it back into the U.K. top TK two more times when it was re-released in 1969 and 1990. It was used in the 1986 movie Top Gun in a scene where Tom Cruise sings it to woo Kelly McGillis. The 1990 re-release was prompted by the rekindled success of another Righteous Brothers’ hit “Unchained Melody,” which itself hit No. 1 after being used in the movie Ghost.

In 2003, the Righteous Brothers played the song to open the ceremonies when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was odd timing, as Phil Spector had been arrested on murder charges just a month before the ceremony. It was also poignant timing because Bobby Hatfield passed away less than a year later.

Now the song lives on in Medley’s Branson show.

“It’s a lot of song to sing, even now,” says Medley. “But as a 66-year-old man, singing that song takes me right back to where it all started. If there was no audience, it would be boring to try and sing. But when you see and feel their excitement, it all feels brand new again.”

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