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).
Kissin' My Love
Bill Withers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can hear a thump thumping in my head
When I'm kissing my love
I close my eyes and see a pretty city with a million flower beds
I can hear the angels sing,
Songs that only angels sing
And I can feel my heart just a-thumping and a-skipping
When I'm kissing my love,
I feel the blood pump-pumping in my veins
When I'm kissing my love
She's such a tender send with a sweet young frame.
She's so good at what she does,
All she wants to do is kiss and hug,
She's got me in love
And I can feel my heart just a-thumping and a skipping
When I'm kissing my love
The lyrics of the song "Kissin' My Love" by Bill Withers exude a sense of euphoria which comes from being in love. When the singer is kissing his love, he can hear a thumping sound in his head which signifies his heart beating fast with passion. He also imagines a beautiful city with millions of flower beds, which may symbolize the beauty and vibrancy of his relationship. As he kisses his love, he believes that he can hear the songs sung by angels, and he can feel his heart skipping and pumping harder with the excitement of being in love.
The lyrics seem to paint a picture of a world outside the physical body, where the singer feels a connection to his lover not just through touch but through a deep spiritual bond. The passion and intensity of the love are conveyed through the singer's voice and choice of words, as he describes the feeling of blood pumping and the heart thumping in his veins. The lyrics also communicate a sense of joy and happiness, as the singer feels lucky to have found someone who is so good at what she does.
Overall, "Kissin' My Love" is a beautiful and romantic song that celebrates the power of love and the joy of being in a relationship. It speaks to the raw emotions that come with falling in love and the sense of fulfillment that comes from being with someone who understands and complements you.
Line by Line Meaning
When I'm kissing my love,
The feeling of kissing my love is overwhelming.
I can hear a thump thumping in my head
The sound of my own heartbeat is loud and clear.
When I'm kissing my love
The intensity of the moment is vividly alive.
I close my eyes and see a pretty city with a million flower beds
The peacefulness and beauty that comes with the experience seems surreal.
I can hear the angels sing,
The feeling is so divine that it's as if angels are singing.
Songs that only angels sing
The experience feels like something that's too beautiful for words.
And I can feel my heart just a-thumping and a-skipping
The excitement of the moment is causing my heart to beat uncontrollably.
When I'm kissing my love
The experience of being with my love is incomparable to any other feeling.
When I'm kissing my love,
Every kiss feels like the first time.
I feel the blood pump-pumping in my veins
The energy and passion I feel from kissing my love is overpowering.
When I'm kissing my love
The love shared between my partner and I is the only thing that matters in the moment.
She's such a tender send with a sweet young frame.
She's gentle and delicate, and everything about her is pure and innocent.
She's so good at what she does,
She's a skilled lover and knows how to make me feel good.
All she wants to do is kiss and hug,
Her love and affection for me is all-encompassing.
She's got me in love
I'm completely and totally infatuated with her.
And I can feel my heart just a-thumping and a skipping
My love for her is so strong that it's causing my heart to race and skip a beat.
When I'm kissing my love
The feeling of being with her is indescribable.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BILL WITHERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind