I’m having a bit of an identity crisis. The older I get, the more I like *some* sappy ’70s love ballads like this one. There are aspects of this recording I would surely change, given my ‘druthers (though it’s slightly less silly than the studio version), but fuck it, it’s a well-composed song. Having been born in ’82, I heard this on the radio recently and had to look up the artist. I wasn’t surprised a bit to learn that Davis was a Country songwriter from Mississippi. And I love that he had the good sense to remain reserved about performing something so shamelessly earnest and personal. He’s nobody’s Wilson Pickett. I betcha this scenario actually happened to him. Isn’t that what great love songs are supposed to make me think? Anyway, I guess I’m dashing what hopes I ever had of becoming a legitimate snarky rock critic, because I’m giving this one an A+. (Also, it might be worth noting that this song once held the record for longest chart run on the Billboard Hot 100).
