(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Minnie Riperton - "Lovin' You"
Hit Number 1: April 5, 1975
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Minnie Riperton is, admittedly, not a huge name in the music world, but she had the opportunity of a lifetime when she got to sing backup on some Stevie Wonder songs. That alone is pretty amazing, but Riperton's connections with Wonder eventually lead to her only hit, "Lovin' You." In the early '70s, Riperton lived a pretty low-key life with her husband, Richard Rudolph, in the Chicago area, despite Riperton's contributions to Stevie Wonder songs. But Riperton and Rudolph both shared a love of music, and the two would sometimes write songs together. One of those songs would be "Lovin' You," and the two thought it would be a cutesy idea to add in a part at the end of the song with Riperton singing to their newborn daughter, Maya. (That Maya would grow up to be the famous SNL actress, Maya Rudolph) The couple would put even more work into the song after they eventually moved to Florida, but their stay there wouldn't last, and "Lovin' You" probably would've never seen a release if they had stayed in Florida.
Even though Riperton hadn't done anything amazing to this point, she was still a name that people in the music business knew, largely because of her relationship with Stevie Wonder. Wonder was a mega music star, and he was a fan of Riperton's work, which is why he invited her to ever sing with him in the first place. It was likely that that lead to Epic Records in Los Angeles wanting to give Riperton a recording contract, which obviously she accepted. Riperton and Rudolph immediately began putting together a debut album, and they called it Perfect Angel. Epic would ask Riperton who she wanted to produce the album, and to no one's surprise, she wanted Stevie Wonder to do it. This normally would have been difficult, considering that Wonder was already signed to Motown, but again, he was a fan of Riperton, and he wanted to help her out. He came up with the genius idea to rename himself to El Toro Negro (The Black Bull) because his name could not appear on another label's work, and considering Wonder's zodiac sign is Taurus, this was what he came up with. Even stupid pseudonyms Wonder was a genius at creating.
The image on Perfect Angel is Riperton wearing overalls, with a child-like smile on her face and holding an ice cream cone with the ice cream melting on her hand. It's a strange album cover in my opinion, but it depicts Riperton as some sweet, innocent girl, and a sweet, innocent girl is exactly who's singing "Lovin' You." So I guess that works. "Lovin' You" is as generic as it gets, all the way to the song's title. It's about how loving someone is so easy because of how beautiful they are, and that loving this person is all the narrator ever wants to do. Well, I guess I should say the content of the song is generic, but not the production. There is zero percussion on the track, not even one "ding" of a triangle can be heard. There's also the sound of birds chirping, which Riperton and company said was an accident because the demo tape recording of the song accidentally recorded birds chirping, but they kept it for the final recording. They figured why the hell not, the song was already cutesy enough, why not make it even more cutesy?
Of course, you can't talk about "Lovin' You" without bringing up the random whistle register that Riperton does in the song. I guess it's impressive that anyone can do that, but it just sounds out of place in this song, and the first time I ever heard the song, which surprisingly was only a few years ago, it scared me half to death cause I wasn't expecting it. So yeah, I don't think that was necessary. But if you take that part out, "Lovin' You" is still an interesting song to think about. In 1975, it probably seemed like a nice, cutesy song, just like I've been saying throughout this review, but when I hear the song today in 2022, and I know what would happen to Riperton only a few years later, it makes "Lovin' You" sad. And honestly, it's hard to listen to. Not because it's bad, but because it's just depressing. Riperton would die from breast cancer in 1979 at the age of 31, just four years after "Lovin' You" hit #1, and that gives the lyrics of this song some form of power. But it's sad power. "Stay with me while we grow old and we will live each day in Spring time," is sad because Riperton wouldn't get to grow old. But the part that really gets to me is the "Maya" part. Maya was only around 7 when Riperton died, and hearing her mother sing to her in this song is enormously haunting.
"Lovin' You" is not my kind of song, but it has this staying power to it. Unfortunately, it's mainly because of Riperton's untimely death, and it's impossible for me to think of what my thoughts would be if she hadn't died at such a young age. At the end of the day, "Lovin' You," to me, is a sappy song but with certain things tied to it that makes it impossible for me to forget. That emotion is pure sadness, but any song, whether or not there is an untimely death tied to it, that can do something like that, has my respect. I'm glad Riperton got to celebrate having a #1 hit before she died. And I think I speak for everyone when I say Fuck cancer.
GRADE: 6/10
IN POP CULTURE:
"Lovin' You" still is a very easy song to make fun of, just with the whistle register and the chirping birds and all, so many people have created parodies and other comical versions of the song. But here's a cool reggae twist that English singer Janet Kay brought to the song in 1977, and this version even topped the U.K. reggae charts:
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