Lovin' You

For other uses, see Loving You (disambiguation).

"Lovin' You"
Single by Minnie Riperton
from the album Perfect Angel
B-side	"The Edge Of A Dream"
Released	January 13, 1975
Recorded	1974
Genre	Soul
Length	3:21 (single version)
Label	Epic 32561
Writer(s)	Minnie Riperton Richard Rudolph
Producer	Stevie Wonder
Minnie Riperton singles chronology
"Seeing You This Way" (1974) "Lovin' You" (1975) "Inside My Love" (1975)
Perfect Angel track listing "Every Time He Comes Around" (7) "Lovin' You" (8) "Our Lives" (9) Music video "Lovin' You" on YouTube

"Lovin' You" is a 1975 hit single by Minnie Riperton. The song became the 400th No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 5, 1975. Additionally, the song reached No. 2 in the UK, and No. 3 on the R&B charts in the US. The song is especially noteworthy due to the unusually high pitches that Riperton reaches during the song. It's also noteworthy for the sound of the chirping songbirds that are heard throughout the song, which Riperton phonates by use of the whistle register.

Setting

It was the fourth single from the album Perfect Angel (1974). The song is notable for Riperton's use of the whistle register. While it is believed that "Lovin' You" was the first song to reach number one without the help of a percussion instrument, Jim Croce did so with "Time In A Bottle" in 1973 and "Yesterday" by The Beatles accomplished this feat ten years earlier.

According to the liner notes from Riperton's compilation CD Petals, the melody for "Lovin' You" was created as a distraction for her daughter (Maya Rudolph) when she was a baby so that Minnie and her husband Richard could hang out. Maya was in the studio with her mother on the day the song was recorded and Riperton can be heard singing her daughter's name at the end of the song, but only in the unedited or album version of the song. The song fades out early in the single edit, because the disc jockeys felt that the repeated "MAYA" was being overdone and too misunderstood, thinking that it was a "Mayan Chant".

Charts

Chart (1975)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	3
U.K. Singles Chart	2

Preceded by "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle

Billboard Hot 100 number one single April 5, 1975

Succeeded by "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John

Shanice version

"Lovin' You"
Single by Shanice
from the album Inner Child
Released	August 11, 1992
Format	CD single, Cassette single
Genre	R&B
Length	3:57
Label	Motown 2175
Producer	Narada Michael Walden
Shanice singles chronology
"Silent Prayer" (1992) "Lovin' You" (1992) "Saving Forever for You" (1992)
Inner Child track listing "Peace in the World" (8) "Lovin' You" (9) "You Ain't All That" (10) Ultimate Collection track listing "The Way You Love Me" (8) "Lovin' You" (9) "I'm Cryin'" (10) Every Woman Dreams track listing "Chocolate" (11) "Loving You" (12) "Forever Like a Rose" (13)

Shanice's cover of the song was released in the summer of 1992 months after the success of her hit single "I Love Your Smile." It only achieved minor success on the R&B chart peaking at No. 59, and also peaked at No. 54 on the UK charts. The music video for the song is set on a beach. In 2005, she re-recorded the song again for her 2006 album Every Woman Dreams.

Track listing

1. Single Version
2. I Love Your Smile (Driza Bone Single Remix)
3. I Love Your Smile (Driza Bone Club Remix)
4. Instrumental

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	59
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay	67
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Single Sales	40
U.K. Singles Chart	54

Personnel

• Drums and programming by Narada Michael Walden
• Keyboards and programming by Louis Biancaniello
• Produced by Stevie Wonder under the pseudonym "El Toro Negro" ("the Black Bull").

Cover versions

• Leona Lewis also recorded a version with producer Marley J Wills, at the age of 15.
• Reggae and Ska pioneer Alton Ellis covered the song for his LP Mr Ska Bean'a.
• Reggae singer, Janet Kay also covered the song.
• In 1980 Polish singer Ewa Kuklińska released a cover version with Polish lyrics entitled "Wino z win (Wine from our faults)" which became a notable hit for her.
• In 1998 a trance and 5 others dance versions were released by UBM with the Brazilian singer Andrea Rincon.
• A live cover of "Lovin' You" was included in Japanese female singer Misia's second album Love Is the Message.
• Ken Hirai also covered this song on his Ken's Bar album.
• Rahsaan Roland Kirk recorded a Jazz-Version on the album "The Return Of The 5000 Lb. Man"!

The song has also appeared in several movies and TV-shows, such as The Game, South Park, Will & Grace, Disturbia, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, Generation Kill, American Idol, The Nutty Professor (performed by Eddie Murphy while trying to show off to an offensive comic played by Dave Chappelle), Vegas Vacation (Wayne Newton covers the song during a Wayne Newton show at the MGM Grand) and Megamind, as well as a commercial for Visa featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers, where the song is supposed to be Who Let the Dogs Out? by the Baha Men. Singer Chante Moore performs the song during William's and Yvonne's ill-fated wedding on an episode of Girlfriends.

The song is also used in a sketch featuring a man spanking a woman with a spacehopper, in the Chris Morris comedy show Blue Jam. On an episode of The Steve Harvey Show, Romeo's father serenades his mother with his version of "Lovin' You" to woo her back (she had left him and moved in with Romeo and Steve). Additionally, it was used in a Burger King commercial promoting Cini-Minis. The song was also sampled heavily by Dubstep artist Coki in a track entitled "Ruff Lovin'". This song is also featured on Justin Lo's debut Cantonese album Justin in 2005. In 2007 the Japanese rock band Electric Eel Shock covered the song on their album Transworld Ultra Rock. This song was also sung by Jane Zhang during her participation in Super Girls. It was also used in the movie Megamind, "Seven Pounds" and "Disturbia (film)".

The Orb's single "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld", also known as "Loving You", was based around a sample of the Riperton original.

A fast eurodance remix, titled "Complete Loving", was recorded by the DJ group Sound Assassins for the 1999 Dancemania compilation Speed 2. Jazz saxophonists Roland Kirk and Lou Donaldson also covered the song. Dianne Reeves covered the song in her album "When you know" (2008).

Samplings

• Mariah Carey arranged the introduction of the song for her 2001 song "Never Too Far".
• Shifty Shellshock used long excerpts from the song for sampling in his track "Ez Cuz You're Beautiful" from his 2004 solo album Happy Love Sick.