1980 · Behind the Songs
The 1964 Spector classic, sung by two of its most devoted fans.
Long before they cut it in the studio, Hall & Oates were singing “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” on stage — a tribute to the Righteous Brothers’ 1964 masterpiece, produced by Phil Spector and written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, and Spector himself. For their 1980 album Voices, they finally committed it to tape, staying faithful to the original’s aching build rather than reinventing it.
The single reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1980 — a respectable showing for a cover of a sixteen-year-old record. It doubled as a window into the duo’s record collection: beneath the blue-eyed soul and the eighties gloss were two fans who had grown up on the same songs their audience had.