Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever

1966 song by the Four Tops

"Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever"

Single by Four Tops

from the album On Top

B-side

"I Like Everything About You"

Released

April 5, 1966

Recorded

1966

Venue

Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A)

Genre

Soul, pop

Label

Motown

Songwriter(s)

Ivy Jo Hunter, Stevie Wonder

Producer(s)

Ivy Jo Hunter

Four Tops singles chronology

"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)"
(1966)

"Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever"
(1966)

"Reach Out I'll Be There"
(1966)

"Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" is a 1966 song written by Ivy Jo Hunter and Stevie Wonder. It was performed by the Four Tops via the Motown label.^[1] In addition to co-writing the song, Wonder also instrumentally contributed drums to the track.

Cash Box described the song as a "hard-pounding, rhythmic, pop-R&B romancer all about a lucky guy who has finally found the gal that he’s always dreamed about."^[2] Record World described it as a "teen beat love ode."^[3]

Credits

Lead vocals by Levi Stubbs
Background vocals by Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson & Lawrence Payton
Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
Drums by Stevie Wonder

Chart performance

The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart and number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4]

Cover versions

Nick Kamen released a version in 1987, where it went to number 16 in the UK Singles Chart.^[5] Lola Borg of Smash Hits panned the song she described as an "outrage" to the original version and a "shocking business", adding it was "murdered" by Kamen who "reduce[d] it to utter mush".^[6]
The Band covered the song on the bonus disc of their 1972 concert album Rock of Ages.^{[citation needed]}
Kiki Dee and Elton John did a duet cover on Dee's 1981 album Perfect Timing.^[7]
Susan Tedeschi covered it on her 2005 album Hope and Desire.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "Four Tops – Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever / I Like Everything About You". Discogs. discogs.com. 9 May 1966. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 28, 1966. p. 14. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
^ "Singles Reviews" (PDF). Record World. May 28, 1966. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 212.
^ Brown, Tony.; Warwick, Neil (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts. Omnibus Press. p. 426. ISBN 1-84449-058-0.
^ Borg, Lola (11–24 February 1987). "Singles reviewed by Lola Borg" (PDF). Smash Hits. Vol. 9, no. 3. p. 62. ISSN 0260-3004. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via World Radio History.
^ "Perfect Timing". Record Collector Magazine. 31 May 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2023.

External links

List of "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" recordings

Four Tops

Abdul "Duke" Fakir
Ronnie McNeir
Roquel Payton
Harold Bonhart

Studio albums

Four Tops
Four Tops Second Album
On Top
On Broadway
Reach Out
Yesterday's Dreams
Four Tops Now!
Soul Spin
Still Waters Run Deep
Changing Times
Keeper of the Castle
Main Street People
Meeting of the Minds
Night Lights Harmony
Catfish
The Show Must Go On
Tonight!
One More Mountain
Back Where I Belong
Magic
Indestructible
Christmas Here with You

Albums with
The Supremes

The Magnificent 7
The Return of the Magnificent Seven
Dynamite

Compilations
and live albums

Singles

"Baby I Need Your Loving"
"Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)"
"Ask the Lonely"
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)"
"It's the Same Old Song"
"Something About You"
"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)"
"Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever"
"Reach Out I'll Be There"
"Standing in the Shadows of Love"
"Bernadette"
"7 Rooms of Gloom"
"Walk Away Renée"
"If I Were a Carpenter"
"Yesterday's Dreams"
"I'm in a Different World"
"It's All in the Game"
"Still Water (Love)"
"A Simple Game"
"Keeper of the Castle"
"Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)"
"When She Was My Girl"
"Loco in Acapulco"

Related topics

v t e Four Tops singles discography
1960s	1964 "Baby I Need Your Loving" "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)" 1965 "Ask the Lonely" "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" "It's the Same Old Song" "Something About You" 1966 "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" "Reach Out I'll Be There" "Standing in the Shadows of Love" 1967 "Bernadette" "7-Rooms of Gloom" / "I'll Turn to Stone" "You Keep Running Away" 1968 "Walk Away Renée" "If I Were a Carpenter" "Yesterday's Dreams" "I'm in a Different World" 1969 "What Is a Man" "Do What You Gotta Do" "Don't Let Him Take Your Love from Me"
1970s	1970 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" (re-issue) "It's All in the Game" "Still Water (Love)" "River Deep – Mountain High" (with The Supremes) 1971 "Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)" "You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart" (with The Supremes) "In These Changing Times" "MacArthur Park (Part II)" 1972 "A Simple Game" "Bernadette" (re-issue) "Walk with Me, Talk with Me, Darling" "(It's the Way) Nature Planned It" "Keeper of the Castle" 1973 "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" "Are You Man Enough" "Sweet Understanding Love" 1974 "I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind" "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" "Midnight Flower" 1975 "Seven Lonely Nights" "We All Gotta Stick Together" 1976 "Catfish" "I'm Glad You Walked into My Life"
1980s	1981 "When She Was My Girl" "Don't Walk Away" 1982 "Let Me Set You Free" "Back to School Again" "Sad Hearts" "Tonight I'm Gonna Love You All Over" 1983 "I Believe in You and Me" "I Just Can't Walk Away" 1985 "Sexy Ways" 1988 "Reach Out I'll Be There" (re-issue) "If Ever a Love There Was" (with Aretha Franklin) "Indestructible" "Loco in Acapulco" 1989 "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine"