(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 refer down below)
The Righteous Brothers - "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration"
Hit Number 1: April 9, 1966
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
Phil Spector had to have been a difficult man to work with. Don't get me wrong, the guy was great at what he did, and his "Wall of Sound" technique proved to be a valuable method for recording songs. The Righteous Brothers were one of the groups that worked with Spector, and they benefited a lot from the "Wall of Sound" technique. But they apparently had enough of his "me first" ways, and instead moved on from Spector, and even started imitating his own sound to produce hits. The first of these hits was "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration", which sounds a lot like the duo's first #1 hit "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'".
Also just like "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "Soul and Inspiration" was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, a husband and wife songwriting team out of New York City. They began writing the song after the success of "Lovin' Feelin'", but they thought it sounded too much like "Lovin' Feelin'", so Spector chose to record "Just Once In My Life" for the duo's next single instead. ("Just Once In My Life" made it to #9, it's an 8) It wasn't long after that, that the group left Spector. Bill Medley, one half of the Righteous Brothers, asked Mann about the then-incomplete "Soul and Inspiration", and asked them if they could complete it for him, and they did just that. It's an obvious knock off from Spector's "Wall of Sound", with a female backing choir, fluttering strings, and even the exact same format as "Lovin' Feelin'". The songs are even about the same thing: A failing love that the narrator desperately wants to revive.
Even with those similarities, there's a difference. "Soul and Inspiration" is a lovely ode to a lover, and is the kind of song that I would imagine can win someone over in a heartbeat. It puts the woman in the song high up on a pedestal while the narrator puts himself as low as possible. With lyrics like "I've never had much going but at least I had you", this song becomes more than just a love song. It's a song about the truest of loves, and if that person were to ever leave you, it might just kill you. Oh yeah, and that's a lyric in the song as well.
I was pretty surprised that Spector had no hand in the production of this song, cause it sounds just like something he would produce. But I guess Medley knew his "Wall of Sound" technique like the back of his hand, cause it has everything you would expect. Besides that, Medley and Bobby Hatfield sing so pure and genuine, and do a tremendous job selling their emptiness inside and their longing for this woman to stay in their lives. And the chorus just EXPLODES at you. Hatfield's spoken dialogue is also a dramatic feature in the song, and I'm usually not a fan of when people start talking in the middle of their songs, but it works here. They sure had your number on this one, Phil Spector.
GRADE: 9/10
JUST MISSED:
The Lovin' Spoonful's drunken sing-a-long "Daydream" peaked at #2 behind "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration". It's a 7. (The Lovin' Spoonful will appear in this blog a little later on in 1966)
Cher's haunting, yet somehow still kind of forgettable "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" also peaked at #2 behind "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration". It's a 5. (It's also a pretty strange music video)
SONGS REFERENCED:
The Righteous Brothers - "Just Once In My Life"
The Righteous Brothers - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
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