The Richest Songs in the World Page #8

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So why might this be?

Why are these songs of sadness the songs that we cherish?

They're disproportionately favoured among women.

And women create the huge hits.

Boys create the cult hits.

If you want to sell records in huge quantities, you sell them

to women, right across the population, as currently being

borne out once again by the enormous success of Adele.

# Throw your soul through every open door... #

There's something almost empathic as well as cathartic about it.

We feel like the singer and everybody involved with

the record is expressing what we're feeling.

And therefore making it bearable and almost sort of noble,

and almost noble.

We want to feel that our heartbreak isn't just completely insignificant.

Which it usually is.

And so we come to the top three of the world's richest songs.

And the next one is a real classic of song-writer's art,

composed by an American husband-and-wife team.

And there's a really interesting tale behind this one.

Two different versions by two different artists,

vying for the top of the UK charts.

This then, is our number three.

# But, baby, baby, I know it

# You've lost that lovin' feeling

# Whoa, that lovin' feeling

# You've lost that lovin' feelin' Now it's gone, gone, gone... #

We've had a fair few ballads in our countdown so far.

But this is the big one, the Mount Everest of heartbreak songs.

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' was probably one of the greatest

combinations of song, production and artist, that I think we'd ever had.

I think so too.

And it was everything coming together that made

the song as successful as it was.

Mann and Weil worked in New York's Brill Building,

along with Leiber and Stoller who

wrote our number six richest song, Stand By Me.

But to write this song, Mann and Weil were flown out to LA

by legendary producer, Phil Spector.

We were in California, and staying at the Chateau Marmont,

rented a piano, we had our dog with us.

We wrote most of the song and then we got stuck on the bridge

and we called Phil and, Phil said,

"Come on over. We'll finish it together."

And he came up with that bridge part.

The idea of doing the Hang On Sloopy bit. # Bum, dum, dum, dum. #

That was his concept.

# Baby, baby, I get down on My knees for you... #

- And to do that call and response thing...

- Right, right.

- ..was very fresh for a pop song.

- Yeah.

- # Baby

- Baby

- # Baby

- Baby... #

Spector got a third of the songwriting royalties

for Lovin' Feelin', but his contributions weren't always

welcome at the time.

I didn't know how to end the chorus,

and this is going to sound funny. And he said...

"Gone, gone, gone, woah, woah, woah,"

which was his... He contributed that to the chorus,

and it sounds ridiculous, but the truth is, it worked.

And she felt, after that, any song that has whoa, whoa, whoa, in it...

THEY LAUGH:

# Whoa, whoa... #

Phil said, "This is going to be a very big song for all of us."

I said, "Phil, any song with whoa, whoa, whoa, in it, can't be big,

"or important."

You know, I was kind of a Broadway star,

and, I just thought, once he threw in whoa, whoa, whoa, and Barry liked it,

and nobody would listen to me, that, you know, it could have...

That's why we never listened to anything more.

That's right, it was the end of my credibility.

# There's no welcome look... #

Spector was right.

The record hit number one in the US charts.

This song, like Yesterday, also has a strong connection to Liverpool.

Because in the UK, someone else had already recorded it.

Singers were often given, you know, big hits, records that had been big

hits in America, and they recorded those and sometimes did quite

a good job with them and sometimes didn't do quite such a good job.

# You're trying hard not to show it... #

Cilla Black sang a home-grown version of Mann and Weil's song.

# Baby, I know it

# You've lost that lovin' feelin'... #

They just don't have the sort of cavernous majesty that

Spector's Wall of Sound productions do.

# Whoa, that lovin' feelin'

# You've lost that lovin' feelin' Now it's gone, gone, gone... #

Maybe not. But in the mid-'60s,

Cilla Black was a big star in Britain. The chart for 24th January

The only way to fight back was to

bring the Righteous Brothers to Britain.

From memory, I got on the phone and said,

"Phil, if you want your record to happen you've got to send them over."

# Baby, baby

# I'll get down on my knees for you... #

In the '60s, radio play was the key to chart success.

And Cilla's manager, Brian Epstein,

appeared to have the broadcasters on his side.

It wasn't so easy on the BBC with the Righteous Brothers

because one of the DJs on the Light Programme in those days

was a former comedian.

I called him up and asked him if he'd play the record and he

was quite adamant that he wouldn't even play this record in his toilet.

Cilla was number three in the charts.

Brian Epstein bumped into Tony Hall at a party.

"You don't stand a hope in hell," said Epstein.

"Don't be so sure," said Tony Hall.

Andrew Loog Oldham, The Stones' manager,

then took out a full-page advert in the Melody Maker.

"This", it said, "is Spector's greatest production,"

"the last word in tomorrow's sound today,

"exposing the overall mediocrity of the music industry."

In America, you don't read the trade papers,

as a buyer or as the record public.

They don't read the trade. Here, they do.

Here you have a limited number of stations.

Of course, you can reach a very vast audience quickly.

England was very kind to me, really, they were.

You know, it's a big part of, kind of, how Phil Spector became

hip was that he was really embraced here by the cool bands

and the cool sort of string-pullers and behind-the-scenes managers.

The week after we went to number one and, again from memory, I think Cilla

just did a dive and disappeared without a trace, bless her heart.

# Bring back that lovin' feelin'

# Whoa, that lovin' feelin'... #

For Mann and Weil, of course, the Cilla chart battle simply meant

they were on double royalties.

And You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' went on to become the most performed

song of the 20th century.

Overall, we reckon that this song has made nearly 20.5m in royalties.

- Look at this house!

- You could call this house the house

that Lovin' Feelin' built. Cos I think there's been 250 versions.

The house that bum-ba-bum-ba-bum built.

And whoa, whoa, whoa.

- And whoa, whoa, whoa.

- We should get a doorbell that goes...

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah.

# Bring back that lovin' feelin'... #

This little studio is a piece of rock and roll history.

Some extraordinary records have been made in this room.

Buggles, Video Killed The Radio Star, recorded here.

The Clash, London Calling, recorded here.

Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, recorded here.

Now, there may be lots of you expecting Queen

and Bohemian Rhapsody to make the top ten.

Indeed, there might be a lot of you who thought it would be

number one. So what are the amazing songs that failed to make our list?

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