Songoftheday 11/10/17 - Here we are still together we are, so much time wasted playing games with love...
from the album Mama Said (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from Lenny Kravitz, a rock and soul guitarist, singer, and songwriter from New York City whose mother, Roxie Roker from The Jeffersons TV show, and father Sy Kravitz, who worked at NBC, had grown up in two of the artistically rich cities in the U.S. - New York and then Los Angeles, where his parents encouraged his musical development as a teenager. He recorded his debut album, Let Love Rule, on his own with Henry Hirsch, who he would collaborate with throughout his career. Signing on with Virgin Records, he released that record in the fall of 1989. The title track "Let Love Rule" became his first hit, rising to #5 on Billboard's Alternative/Modern Rock radio chart, #23 on their Mainstream Rock list, and #89 on the pop Hot 100 in America. The single, which sounded fresh and yet conceivably recorded in 1972, ended up hitting the top-40 in the Netherlands (#26), Australia (#36), and the UK (#39) by 1990. He also helped Madonna co-write and produce her sultry #1 hit "Justify My Love".
The following year, Kravitz released his second album, Mama Said, which like his debut focused on his relationship with then wife, actress Lisa Bonet, though this set documented the disintegration of it, rather than the jubilation of it. The first single, the funky guitar exposition "Always On The Run", featured former school-mate Slash from Guns N' Roses. It returned Lenny to the Modern Rock top ten at #8, and the Mainstream Rock list at #40, but it missed the pop Hot 100 altogether. (Internationally, it did a little better, getting to #8 in the Netherlands and #25 in Switzerland). The follow-up single would end up becoming his highest-charting hit. "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over", written and produced by Kravitz based on the well-known Yogi Berra baseball adage translated to the world of love, featured smooth string instruments throughout the song to be joined by Earth Wind and Fire's Phenix Horns at the end...
"It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" became Lenny's first and highest-charting pop hit, reaching the runner-up spot on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart in August of 1991. The single also climbed to #5 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, and #10 on their R&B tally (it missed the rock charts altogether). Internationally, the record made the top ten in Canada (#2), New Zealand (#5), and Australia (#10), and landed in the top-40 in the UK (#11), the Netherlands (#12), Ireland (#14), Belgium (#20), Sweden (#21), Austria (#25), and France (#29).
The third release from Mama Said, "Stand By My Woman", was a minor pop hit at #55, while another cut from the set, the jazzy "What Comes Around Goes Around", went to a respectable #38 on the R&B chart in Billboard. Two more tracks reached the top-40 in the Netherlands: "Fields Of Joy" (#33) and "What The Fuck Are We Saying" (#34).
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Here's Lenny appearing on British TV (probs singing live to track) in 1991 promoting the song...
...and truly all live on the Arsenio Hall show...
Here he is at Rockpalast in 1995...
Finally, at Rock in Rio...
Up tomorrow: Muscly journeyman guitarist is asking a romantic query.
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