BILL MESNIK OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENTS: THE SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET - SONGS TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD - EPISODE #66: LOVIN’ YOU by Minnie Riperton (Epic, 1975)

DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

This is the story of a love song that sings from beyond the grave.

Lovin’ You started life as a lullaby for baby Maya Rudolph, the child of singer Minnie Riperton and songwriter Richard Rudolph. Stevie Wonder, who co-produced the record, plays the gorgeous electronic keyboard accompaniment. It was a late-entry addition to MInnie’s solo album Perfect Angel, and the baby oriented lyrics had to be adapted to make it more about romantic love. But the gentle feeling of bliss it conveys is a perfect rendering of maternal devotion, and to insure the communication of its original intent Minnie chants: “Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya” at the end - (a secret message to the future), before the record fades out.

Four years later Minnie Riperton was dead from breast cancer, and young Maya was deprived of her mother’s earthly presence. But her song of maternal love plays on.

At the time of its release, Lovin’ You went to the top of the charts, buoyed by Minnie’s extraordinary range, showcasing an unearthly cascade of descending notes. Listening to the song 50 years on, the composition, with its edenic landscape of ethereal chords and birdsong, and the voice of a perfect angel at the center - is the personification of a Sunny Song.