Was it grueling recording with Spector? Home much time did you spend on that song?
I think we spent a couple of days on “Lovin’ Feelin’,” like a few hours each day. But the truth this, as much as we liked it or didn’t like it, it was always getting better. He really knew exactly what he wanted to hear, and he wasn’t going to stop until it was what he heard in his mind. So it was a drag, but he was right. Who was your favorite vocalist growing up? Little Richard. There was a lot of quartet stuff going on in those days, the great black groups like the Orioles and the Cadillacs, but, man, I heard Little Richard and it just stopped my clock. I was probably about fifteen or sixteen years old, and it just turned something on in me. I said, “Man, I would love to do that.” But as a fifteen-year-old white kid you’re not supposed to do that. Then when I was about eighteen I got into Ray Charles. “Drown in My Own Tears” is my favorite song, and when I heard that I think I subconsciously made the decision that I needed to do that. Those great black artists came into my room ever
