That Lovin' Feelin'

Occasionally I’ll dust off something I’ve written in my
journal and clean it up for the blog. When I do that you know I’m out of ideas.
For whatever reason I wrote it a year ago and kind of gave up on it. Maybe it felt flat.
Maybe it lacked purpose. Whatever the reason, I’m trying again.

As a kid I had trouble pinpointing the reasons I like a particular song. But I’ve always thought the musical (melody) part is where the memories are, not the lyrics. It’s the sound of the piece that takes you back. Like the Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin”. Since 1964 the track
has been played on the radio something like 8 million times. That number includes all versions of it (Hall and Oats, Tom Jones) but still, that's an impressive run.  It’s from a different generation that I grew in with but I always liked the way it evokes sadness and loss. 

A good song contains both pointed lyrics and emotional heft. I especially love the falling melody at the end of the verse, gone, gone, gone. It drops with every utterance of the word “gone” and feels heavier each time.  

You lost that lovin' feelin'
Now it's gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh

I saw an interview with the writers of the song a few years ago on CBS’s Sunday Morning. I don’t mean the Righteous Brothers, it was written for them by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in 1964. Actually Mann and Weil didn’t know who they were writing for. Phil Spector, recording extraordinaire,
commissioned them to write it. Spector mostly recorded mostly Black artists but thought of this song for the Righteous Brothers. There seemed to be some animosity toward the artists and their lack of humility surrounding the success of the song. The sense I got from the interview with the composers was they didn’t think the Brothers deserved to get the song. Although light on specific reasons it was clear they didn’t work well together. It’s hard to untangle old knots and assign blame. I usually side with the writers because I imagine singers, like actors, are an arrogant group concerned with getting credit. 

This is probably unfair but we all have our biases. 

My earliest memory of the song was in Top Gun. The track isn’t actually played until the end but it
informs so much of the film that it feels like we’ve already listened to it a few times before the movie ends. The scene in the first act shows the young pilots embarrassing a beautiful woman at an open mic night in a local dive. It’s a scene built to show how assertive and care free the cocky pilots are.
But the song sticks in our heads until the end and at the closing credits we hear the verse, “Bring back that lovin' feelin' cause it's gone, gone, gone” as the fighter jet soars into a setting sun.

I like how they tie together Maverick’s (Cruise) lost love of flying with the death of his navigator Goose (Edwards). Sorry was that a spoiler? The first half of the film is love and passion and live for the day type recklessness. The second half is somber and measured with a focus on mortality. It’s a perfect emotional break for the song, what we used to have and what we need to get back. Even through the pain we remember how much it all meant, how much we loved.

Movies and songs no matter how sad and destructive should ALWAYS leave us with a hopeful sense that some spark still exists for better. The future needs to be always just out there, alive and within reach.

The song is an obvious reference to a couple that’s fallen out of love. No one knows how it started but the story is familiar. They took each other for granted; they looked other places for happiness or fulfillment. Every case is different but the feelings are the same. Trying to get back what
was lost is a different battle than trying to gain something you’ve never had. Whether romantic love or a passion for a hobby, hope is near if you can grab it.

But only if you remember how much you loved and hold on tight before it’s gone, gone, gone.