Released September 22, 1975 | Label T-Neck/Epic | |
Recorded Kendun Recorders, Burbank, California, 1975 Genre Smooth soul, quiet storm Length 5:38 (Album version)
4:44 (7" edit) Writer(s) The Isley Brothers
Chris Jasper | ||
"For the Love of You" (sometimes titled For the Love of You, Part 1 & 2) is a song recorded by The Isley Brothers, who released the song as the second single off their landmark 1975 album, The Heat Is On. The record was unique in that it showcased the two sides of the act, with the album's first single "Fight the Power" reflecting a fast-paced funk vibe while showcasing a ballad side on the latter. The song later became a crossover hit for the brothers and one of their most enduring records by their legion of fans.
Contents
Recording
By 1975, most of the songwriting within the Isley Brothers had changed. Prior to their arrivals in 1973, original members Ron, Kelly and Rudy had written a majority of their recordings after reviving their T-Neck Records label in 1969. After the release of 3 + 3, their 1973 release, most of the brothers' compositions were devised by multi-instrumentalists Ernie Isley and Chris Jasper with minimal composition help by bassist Marvin Isley.
According to engineers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, the way the brother band conducted business was workmanlike in comparison with the more laid back Stevie Wonder, with whom Cecil and Margouleff worked on several of Wonder's so-called "classic albums" during the 1970s period. Cecil described the band's eldest brother O'Kelly as a taskmaster and was always directing his younger brothers and Jasper. Younger brother and prominent lead vocalist Ron was described as shy while Ernie Isley was described as a genius.
Recording of the song took place at Burbank's Kendun Recorders studio. The song had been composed by Ernie Isley and Chris Jasper based off a poem written for Jasper's sister Elaine by her husband and Jasper's brother-in-law Rudy Isley. Jasper wrote the music while Ernie Isley composed the lyrics. Initially during the song's first take, Cecil and Margouleff had accidentally erased the vocals. Although upset by the initial failure of them erasing what he felt was a perfect take of the song, Ron Isley recorded his take again and by the song's finish had told the engineers that he was going home.
Release
"For the Love of You" was released in September 1975, after the success of its predecessor, "Fight the Power", had started to dwindle, leading to a drop of the charts. "For the Love" nearly repeated the success of its predecessor reaching #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the brothers the rarity of having two top 40 singles off one album as opposed to one every album, marking it as the first time that had happened since the 1972 album, Brother, Brother, Brother, where two top 40 singles emerged from that album ("Work to Do" and "Pop That Thang"). The song peaked at #10 on Billboard's R&B chart.
The song's success was contributed to the album's sequencing in which the harder, funk and rock-oriented first three tracks were placed on side one, while the more melodic, sensual soul ballads were placed on side two. As a result of the success of "For the Love of You", R&B radio began playing the album's other two ballads regularly – the O'Kelly Isley-led ballad "Sensuality" and the Ronald swan song, "Make Me Say It Again, Girl". Since then, all three of the songs from the album's second side continued to get play on quiet storm radio playlists.
In Popular Media
The song appeared in the movie Menace II Society (1993).
On December 12, 1993, Martin episode "Whoop, There It Ain't" The Song appeared In the series.
The song also appeared in a scene in 2004's "Alfie", starring Jude Law and Sienna Miller.