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Ain't that Loving You Baby

Rating:
4.3 / 5

Words & Music: Ivory Joe Hunter Clyde Otis

I could ride around the world in an old oxcart
And never let another girl thrill my heart

Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you so?

I could meet a hundred girls and have loads of fun
My huggin' and my kissin' belong to just one

Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you so?

If you gave me nine lives like a tommy cat
I'd give 'em all to you and never take one back

Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you so?

I'm putting on my Sunday suit and I’m goin' downtown
But I’ll be kissin' your lips before the sun goes down

Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you so?

Ain't that loving you baby?
Ain't that loving you so?

Recordingdate: 1958/06/10, first released on: single (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Ain't that Loving You Baby:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(bongos)

Availability

Find available albums with Ain't that Loving You Baby.

old shep wrote on April 22, 2008
I love both versions of this song, the 1964 single version and the faster version released later.Elvis 50s recordings at their best.
Tony D. wrote on May 10, 2008
The fast version is magnificent as was pieced together in 1985 from incomplete takes.
Steve V wrote on September 06, 2008
I like both versions. Good song. Why did RCA keep it under wraps for 6 years?
OtisBlue22 wrote on September 06, 2008
Great song, but apparently a recording unfit for a king.
My boy, my boy wrote on September 06, 2008
I guess RCA released it in 1964 to compete with the British invasion since Elvis was not recording rock songs anymore. They did the same thing with "Such a night" in 1964...but it was too late !
Natha wrote on September 06, 2008
Both versions are very enjoyable. As a young kid I (we) only had the slower version. It is a pity though that the fast version was not finalised and released sooner. It might have been a great release in those days competing more than imaginable with the trend of those days. Retrospectively we can only guess why it was not done, but it will be to no avail. It is a fact.
sitdown68 wrote on September 06, 2008
They should come out with the uptempo version in '59 or he should've re-recorded it in 1960. As it fitted well into the twist era...too bad they didn't.
GEORGE (GK) wrote on September 06, 2008
Ain't that Loving you baby" was probably held back and released years later, because RCA couldn't get the "rights" to the song. Song Publishers and companies can hold songs back, for years!! That happened with the song "Crying in the Chapel". Elvis recorded it in the late 50s and it was released in 1964. I enjoy both versions of "Ain't that Lovin' you baby". Many Years ago we would run "New Wave night" at a club, that I worked at, and the fast version of "Ain't that Lovin' you baby", fit in perfectly! (even though it wasn't new wave !!) It had a good fast "new wave" vibe.
OtisBlue22 wrote on September 07, 2008
"Ain't That Loving You Baby" and "Crying In The Chapel" were held back for years because Elvis was not happy with them. He was an artist of such magnitude (in '58 and '60) that he had the final say over his record releases. By the mid-sixties his status had diminished somewhat, so RCA released the songs anyway. Elvis had wanted to re-record "One Night" too but he never got around to it before joining the army, and because of the scarcity of material on the eve of his departure, RCA was forced to release the version we have now.
Wiebe wrote on September 17, 2008
Great song, prefer the swing shuffle version over the fast one. Elvis's drive and timing is fantastic. Always been a favourite of mine. Elvis must have been pleased with this recording.
JerryNodak wrote on September 17, 2008
Elvis' stature may well have diminished by the mid '60s as far as the general record buying public was concerned, but NOT I assure you at RCA. Rest assured that RCA ASKED before releasing "Ain't That Loving You Baby." Also, you can bet they asked before releasing "Your Cheatin' Heart" and other old tracks on "Elvis For Everyone."
JLpResLey wrote on February 02, 2009
It´s a great song and just as good as I need your love tonight and A big hunk o´love and other songs from the same sessions.
sitdown68 wrote on February 02, 2009
The slow swinging version is a real gem. Wish it had been involved into the 70's repertoire. It would have recieved much acclamtion if properly done. This would have been a great blues number making best use of Guercio's orchestra...Can you hear it?
Steve Morse wrote on February 02, 2009
The only complete issue of the 'fast' version (to my knowledge) was released on Reconsider Baby in 1984. This is believed to have been made from takes 8,9,10 and 11, with the ending from take 1 but 5% speeded up. In all, there are sixteen elements, spliced together into a total playing time of 2.32 - that's an average of around 10 seconds per splice. It was a fantastic feat of analysis and then electronic splicing, and a major mistake not to have included it on the FTD 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong. I like both versions but the fast version was a revelation, coming some 20 years after the standard version was released.
theoldscudder wrote on February 02, 2009
Good song. Always liked it.
dgirl wrote on February 02, 2009
I like all versions but it was too late for a single by 1964.
Ruthie wrote on February 02, 2009
I guess I don't understand the comment that Elvis wasn't recording rock songs in the 60's. The true statement is he didn't record that many rock songs but he did, in fact, record a couple rock songs in the 60's. Either that or my Elvis CD's & Elvis Encylopedia of Musis is wrong.
Deano1 wrote on April 17, 2011
A good rock and roll number, but not quite in the same class as "A Big Hunk O' Love". I had always heard that this song with a flipside of "Tell Me Why" was supposed to be the Autumn single in 1959, but Colonel Parker wanted to build anticipation for Elvis' return from the Army. After ABHOL left the charts in the Summer of '59, RCA did not release another Elvis single until "Stuck On You" in the Spring of '60. It's hard to say if that was the right choice. On one hand, Elvis' first post Army single had a million orders before they even knew what the songs would be. That said, it probably would have been a huge seller even if ATLYB and TMW had been released and with Elvis' popularity and it would have meant at least another top 5 hit and a top 20 flipside hit.
Marty_TCE wrote on August 04, 2011
Fabulous!
Pedro Nuno wrote on August 04, 2011
I love the fast and up-tempo version. Too bad Elvis didn´t made a complete take of it. It is just as explosive and dynamite as the whole 1958 session where the King invented the pre punk rock beat, and was in his best rock beat ever. There is a remix of the various takes blending it in a 3 minutes and a half outstanding rockabilly song with a huge and ferocious beat, having 6 (six!) guitar solos from the Great Hank Garland that are paradise to every Rock/Rockabilly or punk rock fans ears. It’s one of my favorites tunes from the rock era.This is my KING!
dazglad wrote on August 04, 2011
i think verse 3 should be "alley cat", what is a tommy cat? He swings his guitar like an alley gun!
TCB1974 wrote on August 04, 2011
This is fantastic music! Love both the fast version and the slower version and listening to other alternate takes of this song. It should have been a major hit but apparently three singles in '59 was considered too much. Four stars from me, just below the true five star recordings of the 50s (All shook up, A big hunk of love, etc).
Steve V wrote on August 04, 2011
Conspiracy theories aside, this was not going to be hit in 1964 for 2 reasons. 1) The radio played Ask Me more than this side (RCA pushed Ask Me as the A side) and 2) even tho it was a rocker and a good one, it had too much of an old sound for 1964 radio say compared to Pretty Woman or Memphis. No politics were involved. I was there and I lived it. As for Billboard, it was given a full page ad on page 1!
sugartummy wrote on February 22, 2013
Great drumintro (several Elvis songs start with drums). Sometimes this song gets mixed up with Jimmy Reeds song with the same title. The fast version rocks like crazy and ends with Elvis laughing, like he did in Mystery train. Perhaps he thought this was another fluke up.
Gorse wrote on September 09, 2013
I slightly prefer the fast version but both efforts are top notch from the magnificent June 1958 recording sessions. I would like to have seen this released with Tell Me Why on the flip, which would seem to have made more sense than splitting them up in the mid sixties.
shawnrw wrote on September 20, 2014
Yet more proof that Elvis was among the best blues singers in history.
Cruiser621 wrote on August 16, 2016
Completely out of the loop with it being released in the mid 1960's. A perfect album cut, but really didn't ring my chimes when initially released as a 45RPM single and one could tell by the sound of his voice in the 1960's this was a definite throwback to somewhere in the 1950's.
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