How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
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| "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Marvin Gaye | ||||
| from the album How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You | ||||
| Released | September 1964 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1964 | |||
| Genre | Soul; early pop rock | |||
| Length | 2:30 | |||
| Label | Tamla | |||
| Writer(s) | Holland–Dozier–Holland | |||
| Producer | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier | |||
| Marvin Gaye singles chronology | ||||
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"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" is a 1964 hit song written and produced by the Motown songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland. It was originally recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and became one of his most popular songs. Gaye peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart with the song in January 1965, and #3 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart [1] making it Gaye's most successful single to that point with record sales well over 900,000 copies. He recorded a German language version of the song "Wie Schön Das Ist" which can be found on the LP Motown Around The World: The Classic Singles.
It has been covered on many occasions, including by fellow Motown artist Jr. Walker & the All Stars, who took it to #3 on the R&B singles chart and number 18 on the Hot 100 in 1966.
The most successful cover of the song was by James Taylor, whose version in mid-1975 reached number one on the Easy Listening chart and number five on Billboard Hot 100.[2] On this version, Carly Simon performed harmony vocals and David Sanborn played saxophone.
Other notable versions include those by Jerry Garcia Band (who recorded and included the song in their rotation for twenty years), Cissy Houston (who cut a gospelized version on her Grammy winning album, Face to Face, in 1996), and Michael Bublé (who released the song on his album It's Time).
A cover of the song was featured on Karen Dalton's 1971 (re-released in 2006) cult folk album "In My Own Time", and has since became a favorite in the underground folk scene.
The song was also covered and gave title to an album by Joan Osborne, as well as by Kenny Rogers and also by Jimmy Needham in his album Nightlights. Former a1 member Paul Marazzi also did a cover version of this song for his new band Blue Eyed Soul. [3]
[edit] Personnel
- Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
- Background vocals by The Andantes
- Written and produced by Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
- Produced by Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland
[edit] References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 239.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTm4ZlClaOA&feature=related
| Preceded by "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian |
Billboard Easy Listening Singles number-one single (James Taylor version) August 23, 1975 |
Succeeded by "Fallin' in Love" by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds |
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