Lovin' You

1974

Minnie Ripperton

Minnie Ripperton, who was SNL Alum Maya Rudolph's Mom, came up with what would be the chorus of this little tune as a lullaby, to send her Future SNL legend daughter into dreamland so she and her hubby, Richard Rudolph, could spend quality time together. Somewhere along the way, Minnie got serious about the tune, and she and Richard wrote the actual music and doodled possible lyrics, ultimately turning out the Pop classic that all of us Seventies Kids know the instant we hear the birds chirping over the piano in the intro. Minnie actually made it into a love letter to her hubby while she was at it, which may or may not have occasionally...er...delayed the writing process.. They got the finished product ready in time to include it on her album 'Perfect Angel'.which, BTW, was produced by one of the true music greats of all time.

Minnie regularly sang back-up for the already legendary Stevie Wonder, who had loads of confidence and admiration for her vocal talents, inspiring him to offer to produce her album. One problem...due to contractual restrictions, his name couldn't appear in the credits. The name of his production company...which was created for just this purpose, I believe...however, could. So, if you ever get hold of a copy of the album, take a look at the credits and look for Black Bull Productions...that's the legitimately awesome Mr Wonder himself, whose Zodiac sign was Taurus...The Bull.

So they had a producer, a label (Epic Records) and the material, and now all they had to do was put it together...and when they got to the recording portion of the 'Put It All Together' process Minnie often brought Baby Maya to the studio with her, and this is how the little one got a shout-out in her mom's song. Maya was at the studio when 'Lovin' You' was recorded, and at the very end Minnie sings 'Mayamaya-mayyaaa-mayaaa'. Sadly though, you only hear this unique and touching little personal tidbit on the album version...This, as well as a very unique piano outro, was cut from the single.

The very first thing us Seventies Kids think of when we remember 'Lovin' You' is the chorus, specifically Minnie Ripperton sending one of the longest, highest notes in recorded Pop Music history straight into the stratosphere as she warbled that long, drawn-out, ecstatic 'Ahahahahaaa!!!' Truly, gang, there are very possibly auditory nuances in that warbled series of notes that are so high only dogs can hear them, but that wasn't the only thing the song was noted for...listen to it. Hear any drums? Hear any percussion instruments of any kind?? No...you don't. Because there are none. 'Lovin' You' was one of the first hits that was recorded without using any percussion instruments of any kind.

People either loved it, or hated it (It was particularly despised by most hard rock fans), but it became obvious pretty early on that a pretty huge number of people were solidly in the 'Love It' side of the fence..enough so that it actually saved the album. 'Perfect Angel's first three singles all tanked pretty spectacularly and Epic Records was just about ready to drop both it and Minnie, so Richard Rudolph had a long meeting with various suits at Epic, and finally persuaded them to give the album one more shot, and release Lovin' You (Which he was particularly fond of, for obvious reasons) as the forth single. His instincts were pretty much spot-on. Not only was Lovin' You the first One Hit Wonder to crack the Top Ten in '75...it was also the first one to make it to #1

'Lovin You' was released in late December, '74 and debuted on the Hot 100, at # 80, on January 18^th, '75. It took it 8 weeks to crack the top 20, at #22 on March 1^st , and just one more week to break into the Top 10, at #8. It continued a steady climb, grabbing that coveted #1 spot five weeks later, on April 5^th, to stay there there for a single week, and stayed in the Top 10 for a total of 8 weeks. It dropped out of the Top 10 on May 3^rd and off of the charts all together three weeks later for a total chart run of 18 weeks...not bad at all for a song that was originally hummed as a lullaby!

It was light and airy, and pretty much the definition of a love song, and that quality's what took it all the way to #1, and I have a feeling that it was the gals that took it there...I like the song, but I really can't see a guy running out top buy the single (Unless his name was Richard Rudolph, of course). It was kind of what I think of as a 'Reverse Love Song'...the ladies imagined themselves singing it to their guy, and not the other way around.

Visa even took advantage of the 'Not A Guy Song' effect for a Visa check card commercial back in 2000. In this commercial the guy in charge of music for the stadium where a Steelers game was to be played couldn't buy the rights to 'Who Let The Dogs Out', because he had no ID to present when he wrote a check and instead had to settle for the less expensive rights to 'Lovin' You'. Hilarity ensued. Burger King also used it in a commercial at about the same time, causing a resurgence of popularity for a bit..I can't help but think Maya Rudolph's face probably lit up with that crooked little smile whenever one of these two commercials showed up on the “tube'

You'll still manage to catch this one occasionally on Oldies stations and most of us Seventies kids can't help but get a little smile on our faces when we hear Minnie Ripperton take that note into orbit, if for no other reasons because of the memories from that era that the song calls forth.

So Enjoy! Minnie Ripperton's little love song to her Hubby, Lovin' You.

Three bonus vids with this one, gang...First bonus, the full length album version, with Minnie's musical shout-out to Baby Maya, and that unique piano outro

Sadly, Minnie Ripperton didn't live to see Maya grow up. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 1976...less than a year ofter Lovin' You became a #1 hit. She had a radical mastectomy, but the cancer had metastasized, and was inoperable. She was given 6 months to live, but continued to tour and record, an became an early spokeswoman for breast cancer survivors...sadly she lost her battle in July of 1979.

As a bonus, here's an interview with Maya from 'unsung...not sure when this aired, but;'s very touching and worth a listen (And yes...the uploader did indeed spell Minnie's last name wrong).

Maya, of course, grew up to become a talented and well loved comedienne, as well as mother of 4 kids of her own. I can't help but think she hummed the chorus to her mom's #1 hit to them as a lullaby.

And as a third bonus...The music of The Seventies just keeps on going, and todays kids keep discovering it...listen to this little lady perform 'Lovin' You' on Australia's version of The Voice-Kids...she pretty much knocks it outa da park! Listen for the little bits of Aussie inflection here and there as she sings. Also, that high note Minnie's so well known for hitting...just like Minnie, little Trinity puts it into orbit!