Withers, the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, on July 4, 1938. He was the son of Mattie (Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. He was born with a stutter and later said he had a hard time fitting in. His parents divorced when he was three, and he was raised by his mother's family in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. He was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17, and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs.
He left the Navy in 1965, relocating to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career. His debut release was "Three Nights and a Morning" in 1967. Arranged by Mort Garson, the song went unnoticed at the time but was later reworked by Withers as the track "Harlem".
Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, IBM and Ford, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he returned with the song "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. In early 1970, Withers's demonstration tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers' first album. Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for the album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a six-month break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands" as singles. The album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar. On the cover of the album, Withers is pictured at his job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California, holding his lunch box.
Withers was known for his "smooth" baritone vocals and "sumptuous" soul arrangements. He wrote some of the most covered songs of the 1970s, including "Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine". The former entered the Hot 100 chart through multiple versions, including Club Nouveau's 1987 cover, which made the composition one of nine songs to have led the chart via different acts. With "Lovely Day", he set the record for the longest sustained note on a chart hit on American charts, holding a high E for 18 seconds. Editors from The Guardian considered that Withers' songs are "some of the most beloved in the American songbook," citing, "'Ain't No Sunshine' is regarded as one of the all-time great breakup tracks, while 'Lean on Me', an ode to the supportive power of friendship ..." For the same newspaper, Alex Petridis noticed "[he] laid pain and paranoia under his deceptively gentle songs, and retired early having conquered gospel, funk, blues, disco and more." In Rolling Stone, writer Andy Greene noted that several of his songs "are embedded in the culture and have been covered countless times."
Writing for The New York Times, Giovanni Russonello considered Withers "[a] soulful singer with a gift for writing understated classics", adding, "the ultimate homespun hitmaker, he had an innate sense of what might make a song memorable, and little interest in excess attitude or accoutrements. Ultimately Withers reminded us that it’s the everyday that is the most meaningful: work, family, love, loss." A Billboard article considered that Withers "stands as one of R&B/soul music's most revered singer-songwriters." In the same magazine, writer Gail Mitchell acknowledged "Withers' legacy has flourished in the decades since, thanks to a cross-section of artists who have covered/sampled his songs or cited him as a major influence." Musician and music journalist Questlove referred to Withers' post-breakup 1974 album +'Justments as "a diary [...] [it] was a pre-reality-show look at his life. Keep in mind this was years before Marvin Gaye did it with Here, My Dear." The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson deemed him "a songwriter's songwriter". Musicians Sade, D'Angelo, Justin Timberlake, John Legend and Ed Sheeran have credited Withers as a music inspiration.
Withers died from heart complications in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020, at age 81; his family announced his death four days later. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).
In Want To Spend The Night
Bill Withers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With you
Forever
Every time we wind up spending the night
Together
Do you ever feel it?
With you
Forever
Ever time we wind sharing a night
Together
Do you ever feel it?
And when I stay away from you
I never get to sleep
I try to hug my pillow
And pretend that you're with me
But I can't feel it
Then when we are together
It's right there for me to see
I can't keep looking at loneliness
And trying to call it freedom
Do you ever feel it?
I want to spend the night
With you
Forever
Every time we wind up spending the night
Together
Do you ever feel it?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
The song "I Want to Spend the Night" by Bill Withers is a love song that expresses how the singer wants to spend his life and nights with his beloved partner. In the opening verse, the singer proclaims his desire to spend the night with his partner, followed by the word "Forever," which emphasizes his commitment and shows the depth of his love.
The following verse highlights the importance of spending the night together and how it makes the singer and his partner feel. They share a special bond that cannot be explained; it is just that they feel it. Even when they are not together, the singer struggles to sleep and has to pretend that his partner is with him.
The bridge of the song reveals that the Singer can't bear to be lonely and prefers spending time with his partner, as it brings him true joy and happiness. He wants his partner to feel the same way and questions her on her desire to spend the night together. He repeatedly asks, "Do you ever want to spend the night?" to emphasize the importance of their relationship and the need to be together.
Overall, "I Want to Spend the Night" expresses the Singer's strong desire to be with his partner, to share their lives and spend every night together, strengthening the bond between them.
Line by Line Meaning
I want to spend the night
Every time I am with you, all I want is to spend the night with you.
With you
I want to spend the night with only you.
Forever
I want this to last forever.
Every time we wind up spending the night
Whenever we end up spending the night together,
Together
When we are together, wrapped in each other's arms.
Do you ever feel it?
Do you also feel the same way I do? The strong connection and the love we share.
I want to share my life
I want to share everything with you, not just a night.
When I stay away from you
When I am not with you, I cannot even sleep.
I never get to sleep
It's difficult to sleep without you beside me.
I try to hug my pillow
I try to hug my pillow and imagine it's you.
And pretend that you're with me
I pretend that you are lying next to me.
But I can't feel it
It's not the same without you.
When we are together
But when we are together, I can feel your love.
It's right there for me to see
When I am with you, I see the love in your eyes.
I can't keep looking at loneliness
Being lonely without you is difficult.
And trying to call it freedom
But I cannot call being alone freedom because I am incomplete without you.
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you also crave spending the night with me?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you also long for the comfort of our embrace?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you also want to share the warmth of our love?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you also want to stay forever in each other's arms?
Do you ever want to spend the night?
Do you also want to be with me forever?
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Peermusic Publishing
Written by: BILL WITHERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind