Four Tops – Baby I Need Your Loving

I saw the Four Tops and The Temptations in the 80s. It was held at Opryland and I had a friend who worked there. He snuck us in the back way with me using his sister’s work ID badge they never checked. Both groups were super and it was a great concert. Those voices were pure gold. Hmmm…I hope the statute of limitations has run out!

The song was written by the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland). It was recorded at the Hitsville U.S.A. studio in Detroit, Michigan, which was the primary recording studio for Motown Records.

This song was their first Motown release which was in 1964. The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada. The song is one of those near-perfect pop songs. Johnny Rivers would later peak at #3 with this song in 1967. Altogether there are 62 cover versions of this song.

The Four Tops were formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1953. Initially, they performed under the name the Four Aims before changing it to the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers who were popular at the time.

Baby, I Need Your Loving

Baby, I need your lovin’Baby, I need your lovin’Although you’re never nearYour voice I often hearAnother day, ‘nother nightI long to hold you tight‘Cause I’m so lonely

Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all your lovin’Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all you lovin’

Some say it’s a sign of weaknessFor a man to begThen weak I’d rather beIf it means having you to keep‘Cause lately I’ve been losing sleep

Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all your lovin’Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all you lovin’

Empty nights echo your nameWhoa, sometimes I wonderWill I ever be the same?Oh yeah!

When you see me smiling, you knowThings have gotten worseAny smile you might seeHas all been rehearsedDarling, I can’t go on without youThis emptiness won’t let me live without youThis loneliness inside, darlingMakes me feel half alive

Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all your lovin’Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all your lovin’Baby, I need your lovin’Got to have all your lovin’

Journey -Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’

This band is not in my usual wheelhouse.  I do however like some songs and I liked Journey up until their mega album Escape. This coincided with the addition of ex-Babys keyboardist Jonathan Cain and the departure of singer/keyboardist Gregg Rolie.

After Cain joined…the songs had an obvious radio-friendly sound and they lost some of the bite of their earlier songs. Cain favored a then-modern synthesizer sound versus Rolie’s Hammond B-3 which had a lot to do with it. I just couldn’t connect to them after that and I was in the minority with my peers.

Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ was the highest-charting single from Journey’s fifth studio album Evolution, and the group’s first-ever single to break into the top twenty. The song was on Evolution and it peaked at #20 in the Billboard Album Charts and #37 in Canada.

When I heard this song I loved it. In the mid-eighties, our band covered this song. Our singer was the only singer around who could sing this one and any AC/DC song… with Bon Scott. We would always close with this song and people were amazed because the vocals excluded most other bands from covering it.

I have to admire these guys. They slowly built their popularity. I’ve listed their albums up to Escape and see the slowly rising chart success of each one. Journey, #138, Look into the Future, #100, Next, #85, Infinity, #21, Evolution, #20, Departure, #8, and Escape, #1.  My personal favorite is Departure.

Steve Perry wrote Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’and it peaked at #15 in the Billboard 100, #12 in Canada, and #37 in New Zealand in 1979.

Gregg Rolie on why he left: “Everyone thinks it was because Perry came in and started singing all the leads. My God! Again, I was spread so thin with all these keyboards parts and singing leads, he was a welcome sight to me. And he could sing like a bird! It wasn’t too hard to figure out. I was never against it.”

“And by the way, my family was my best work, it truly is. My son and daughter, my wife, it’s extraordinary. I did the right thing, but it just doesn’t play well with the guys on Facebook.”

Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’

You make me weep and want to die
Just when you said we’d try
Lovin’, touchin’, squeezin’ each other
When I’m alone all by myself
You’re out with someone else
Lovin’, touchin’, squeezin’ each other
You’re tearin’ me apart
Every day, every day
You’re tearin’ me apart
Oh what can I say?
You’re tearin’ me apart

It won’t be long, yes, till you’re alone
When your lover, oh, he hasn’t come home
‘Cause he’s lovin’ who he’s touchin’, he’s squeezin’ another

He’s tearin’ you apart
Ooh, every day, every day
He’s tearin’ you apart
Oh girl what can you say?
‘Cause he’s lovin’, touchin’ another
Now it’s your turn, girl, to cry

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