“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” by Otis Redding is easily one of the greatest soul songs ever recorded. Redding wrote the song in collaboration with soul singer-songwriter Jerry Butler and released the song as a single in April 1965. He later included “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” on his iconic third studio album ‘Otis Blue’. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind the iconic song.
The Story Behind the Song
The story behind “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” is a tale of pure coincidence. Jerry Butler and Otis Redding coincidentally ran into each other at the airport in Atlanta, and coincidentally discovered they were both performing at the Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo. After Butler and Redding arrived in Buffalo, the two shared a taxi to the Buffalo Sheraton.
After the performance, Redding invited Butler to hang out in his hotel room. As true musicians, it was only a matter of time before the two started exchanging songs. That’s when Butler played his unfinished song “I’ve Been Long You Too Long” for Redding. Butler had written the song a few years earlier, but never gotten further than the opening verse.
Otis Redding immediately recognized the potential of the song. He asked Butler if he could work on the song, to which Butler agreed. “About two weeks later, I was in Detroit and someone asked me if I had heard Otis Redding’s new song,” Butler wrote in his biography. “I said no. Later that evening, Otis called. ‘Man, it’s a smash,’ he said. ‘It can’t be a smash. You just learned it two weeks ago,’ I replied. ‘I went right home and recorded the song, and I’m telling you it’s a smash,” Redding proclaimed.
Read more: The Story Behind “These Arms of Mine” by Otis Redding
To prove his statement, Redding played the song over the phone. Redding’s interpretation of “I’ve Been Long You Too Long” astonished Butler, as Redding had taken the song to a level he had never imagined.
“Nobody else on the face of this earth would have gotten that song because it was intended for him,” Jerry Butler reflected. “I was just the conduit. I never would have approached it the way he approached it. He sang ‘I’ve been’ and then he just paused and let you think about it: I’ve been what? Okay, ‘lovin’ you.’ And then he stopped again. Then ‘too long.’ And he made ‘long’ a ten-syllable word! When he sang ‘You’ve grown tired,’ that was every wail and cry and moan that any man has ever sung. Like when Ray Charles says ‘Georgia.’ It was a statement. It was a paragraph. It was just beautiful.”
The Meaning of the Song
“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” is a man’s desperate plea to his lover to stay in the relationship, despite the growing emotional distance between the two. The man admits he has simply been loving his partner for too long to stop now.
As a master of mournful ballads, the song’s theme was right up Otis Redding’s alley, much to the astonishment of Jerry Butler. “Nothing in his career explains where the Big O, as he was affectionately known, learned to vocalize the pure ache of a man caught up in unrequited love, driven and distraught in his desire – a brother who would seemingly give up everything for someone to answer his plea for love, tenderness, and affection.”
The Legacy of I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
Otis Redding released “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” as a single on April 19, 1964. The song peaked at number 2 on the US R&B chart and reached number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” became Otis Redding’s second-best-selling single of his career.
“One music critic called “I’ve Been Loving You” one of the most soulful recordings ever made,” Jerry Butler recalled. “If you measure songs by royalty checks, I’m inclined to agree. I receive more royalties from Otis’s one recording of that song than I get from everything I ever recorded.”
Over the years, “I’ve Been Loving You” grew out to be a soul classic; Rolling Stone ranked the song number 111 on their 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and on our list of The 10 Best Otis Redding Songs of All Time, we ranked “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” number 1.
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