Hebb made his stage debut on his third birthday, July 26, 1941, when tap dancer Hal Hebb introduced his little brother to show business at The Bijou Theater. This was an appearance on The Jerry Jackson Revue of 1942 even though it was 1941, "that was how Jerry, a big man in vaudeville in the '30s, '40s, and '50s, did things" noted the singer. Harold Hebb was nine years of age at the time and the young brothers worked quite a few nightclubs before Bobby Hebb entered first grade. Nashville establishments like The Hollywood Palm, Eva Thompson Jones Dance Studio, The Paradise Club, and the basement bar in Prentice Alley as well as the aforementioned Bijou Theater found Bobby and Hal dancing and singing tunes like "Lady B. Good," "Let's Do the Boogie Woogie," "Lay That Pistol Down Babe," and other titles that were popular at that time. Hebb's father, William Hebb, played trombone and guitar, his mother, Ovalla Hebb, played piano and guitar, while his grandfather was a chef/cook on the Dixie Flyer, an express train on the L&N -- Louisville & Nashville railroad. Brother Harold Hebb would eventually join Excello recording artists the Marigolds, documented in Jay Warner's biography of singer Johnny Bragg, the book -Just Walkin' in the Rain; while Bobby Hebb, with so much musical influence and inspiration, would go on to pen hundreds upon hundreds of tunes, among them, BMI's number 25 most played song on their website in 2000, the classic "Sunny."
Georgie Fame and Cher, charted with the title in England, but it was the Bobby Hebb original which reached the highest on charts in Europe and America. Covers by Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Frankie Valli, Nancy Wilson, the Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield, and so many others, insured the song would reach audiences outside of those who heard and continue to hear it on Top 40 and "oldies" stations. But the song reached out beyond Top 40, climbing the country and R&B charts as well. Kal Rudman calls this a rare industry "hat trick" in the liner notes on the 1966 Phillips' album, but what no one could predict is how the song would find versions by Boney M. and Yambu bringing it to dance clubs, while jazz musicians explored the nuances of this amazing composition in their world. Hebb himself, in 2001, has performed the title with the Kubato Power Jazz Unit and Michael Shea Trio, the latter band featuring Thomas Hebb, Bobby's nephew, on bass. Noted author James Isaacs, whose liner note essays appear in some of the Sinatra boxed sets, provided a list of jazz musicians who have covered Hebb's signature tune: guitarist Pat Martino, singers Ernestine Anderson, Bill Henderson, Anita O'Day, organist Joey DeFrancesco, drummer Don Houge, pianists Joe Bonner and Hampton Hawes, trumpeter/flugelhornist Marvin Stamm, alto saxophonist Sonny Criss, and guitarist Stanley Jordan, among others.
Bobby Hebb's influence goes far beyond "Sunny." When he joined Roy Acuff's Smokey Mountain Boys around 1952 in Nashville, he was one of the first African American artists to perform on The Grand Ole Opry before Charley Pride. Hebb moved to Chicago in 1954: "I wanted to play some music, and I wanted to advance my career, I didn't find the jazz I was looking for, but I ran into a lot of blues...I worked with Bo Diddley, maybe on an early Ellis McDaniels album." The song was "Diddly Diddly Diddly Daddy" with the Moonglows and Little Walter, recorded at Leonard Chess' studio in the back of his record shop on Cottage Grove Ave, "Leonard was the engineer," Hebb noted while telling this part of his rich history.
Hebb joined the navy in 1955, playing the trumpet: "I learned West Coast jazz in the navy." The navy band was the USS Pine Island Pirates and they played "the whole time we were on board," including Hong Kong, performing for Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Sooong Mel-llng) at an event. The band got to meet Chiang Kai-shek as well.
Around 1958 Bobby Hebb tracked "Night Train to Memphis," a song written by Owen Bradley for Roy Acuff's Smokey Mountain Boys. The tune was re-released in 1998 on a Warner Bros. box set, From Where I Stand, which also included "A Satisfied Mind" from the 1966 Sunny album. After that Hebb worked with Dr. John and left Nashville for New York. Disc jockey John "R" Richbourg, owner of Rich Records, which had released "Night Train to Memphis," got Hebb a gig at Sylvia Robinson's Blue Morocco Club. "I went for two weeks and stayed two years. The first two weeks I opened up with a Bobby Blue Bland song "Farther on Up the Road." The band playing behind me was Jimmy Castor, later on Bernard Purdie had just come to New York from Baltimore with Jewel Page." Hebb eventually replaced Mickey in Sylvia Robinson's group Mickey & Sylvia, who originally hit with "Love Is Strange." The duo became Bobby & Sylvia after Mickey left for Paris.
After Bobby & Sylvia, Hebb was represented by Buster Newman, the man who "got "Sunny" happening in a lot of different ways." All the publishers they went to turned the song down! Newman's partner was Lloyd Greenfield, who managed Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, adding to his roster Bobby Hebb. While other groups in 1966 like Remains and the Ronnie Spector-less Ronettes opened for the Beatles, Bobby Hebb was headlining the tour with the Beatles, a fact that seems to have gotten lost in the overwhelming history of the Fab Four. After this, Hebb met comedian/composer Sandy Baron and the two got busy writing a Broadway show that never made it to Broadway. However, two of the songs -- "A Natural Man" and a tune they were writing about Marvin Gaye, "His Song Shall Be Sung" -- were picked up by Lou Rawls and released on MGM. "A Natural Man" the pair had actually rejected from their Broadway play. The original title of the song was "Natural Resource," but they doctored it up and gave it a different groove after Sandy Baron got Rawls interested in what became a huge hit for him. In 2001, the song will be the title track of a best-of Universal released on Lou Rawls. Sadly, Baron passed away in 2001, the year that saw the release of Roof Music's 16-track compilation of artists covering "Sunny," and interest in Europe for the song and the man who wrote and sang the definitive version. On July 28, 2001, two days after Hebb's 63rd birthday, this writer phoned Bernard Purdie at The House of Blues in Cambridge, MA, where Pretty Purdie was performing that night with Masters of Groove and for the first time in over three decades, Bobby Hebb and Bernard Purdie spoke on the phone and got to see each other at the show that evening. Bobby Hebb performed in June of 2001 at the opening of the Martini & Rossi 100 Years photo exhibit in Boston, shortly after graduating mini-med school.
We are currently looking for Bobby's performances with Poppa John Gordy on 78 rpm and his publishing demo "The Bostonian." Also, we are seeking his video to "You Want To Change Me" taped in the Gloucester area a few years back for a British company, and any other video footage and audio tapes of this great singer/writer/performer/musician.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Bobby Hebb Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love is your arms around me makes my troubles lighter
When I hold your hands so tightly, I'm feelin' that I'm stronger
I feel so much about you, I jus't can't wait no longer
Of the wonderful touch of your lips, the wonderful world of desire
Love is a sweet tender night & your kisses setting my soul on fire
Love is a dream come true, Love is a girl like you
Love's no limits baby, It's sweet and yet that's heartache
Love is a sound of laugthers of boys & girls make
Sweet love is all around you so love's its own refrain
In love there's so much pleasure and yet there's so much pain
Of the wonderful touch of your lips, the wonderful world of desire
Love is a sweet tender night & your kisses setting my soul on fire
Love is a dream come true, Love is a girl like you
Love is a girl like you babe so warm and all so tender
Love is a power baby that's making me surrender
When I look into your soft eyes, I melt like candy jam
I do anything to please you, yes anything I can
Of the wonderful touch of your lips, the wonderful world of desire
Love is a sweet tender night & your kisses setting my soul on fire
Love is a dream come true, Love is a girl like you
Of the wonderful touch of your lips, the wonderful world of desire
Love is a sweet tender night & your kisses setting my soul on fire
Bobby Hebb's song "Love Love Love" is a beautiful love song that touches on the different aspects of love that the singer has experienced. The first verse speaks on the power of love and the impact that it can have on our daily lives. The singer makes a reference to how love can make our day brighter and make our troubles lighter. This suggests that the love that he shares with his partner is powerful enough to uplift him and help him through difficult times.
The second verse touches on the physical aspect of love. The singer talks about the pleasure that he gets from holding his partner so tightly and feeling stronger in their embrace. He goes on to describe the passion and desire that he experiences from their physical interactions, indicating that this love is more than just an emotional connection.
The chorus repeats the line "Love is a girl like you", reinforcing the idea that the love that the singer has experienced is unique to his partner. He equates her warmth, tenderness, and power to love itself. The final verse speaks on the vulnerability that the singer experiences when he is with his partner. He talks about how her soft eyes can melt him like candy and makes him willing to do anything to please her. The song ends with a repetition of the chorus and the powerful reminder that love can bring both pleasure and pain.
Overall, Bobby Hebb's "Love Love Love" is a powerful love ballad that touches on the various aspects of love. From the emotional and mental impact that it can have on our lives to the physical pleasure and vulnerability that it can create, this song encapsulates the beauty of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Love is a smile you give me that makes my day seem brighter
Love is the feeling that you give me, which brightens my entire day
Love is your arms around me makes my troubles lighter
Love is the comfort that you provide, which makes all my problems feel less heavy
When I hold your hands so tightly, I'm feelin' that I'm stronger
When I'm holding your hands tightly, I feel empowered and capable of anything
I feel so much about you, I jus't can't wait no longer
My feelings for you are so strong that I can't bear to wait any longer to be with you
Love is a sweet tender night & your kisses setting my soul on fire
Love is a passionate, romantic experience that sets my heart ablaze with desire
Love is a dream come true, Love is a girl like you
Love is an idealized fantasy that becomes a reality when I'm with someone like you
Love's no limits baby, It's sweet and yet that's heartache
Love knows no boundaries, but it can also bring pain and heartache
Love is a sound of laughters of boys & girls make
Love is the joyful sound of laughter that couples in love share
Sweet love is all around you so love's its own refrain
Love is so pervasive and present that it needs no introduction or explanation
In love there's so much pleasure and yet there's so much pain
Love is full of pleasure and happiness, but it also has the potential to cause pain and heartache
Love is a girl like you babe so warm and all so tender
Love is embodied in someone like you, who is both loving and gentle
Love is a power baby that's making me surrender
Love is so all-encompassing and powerful that it's causing me to let go of my defenses and surrender to it completely
When I look into your soft eyes, I melt like candy jam
When I gaze into your eyes, it's as if I'm being enveloped in something sweet and irresistible
I do anything to please you, yes anything I can
I'm willing to go to any length to make you happy and ensure that you're pleased with me
Contributed by Sydney O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@lindagoddard4371
Still is & has been my all time favourite Northern Soul track for oh so many years.Hard not to want to dance when this fantastic tune is being spun.
💖🎶🎵💿👞👞👏✊
@barryjayes
At the...very delicate age of 71 I still dance to this. It's so uplifting, amazing sound originally heard at my days at Clouds in Derby.
@alexelliott3711
Legend ❤
@paulselkirk2345
A brilliant northern soul song good to dance to I love this song ktf 🤩😊😎🤗
@NorthernsoulBoy63
A song that brings me lots of GREAT memories and pain in my Heart. Always have a tear in my eyes when dancing to this.
@anorthernsoul100
I just love this tune, a timeless classic
@matthewrichards9658
whoever played piano on this is an absolute GENIUS. every note perfect. fits like a glove.
@KTF275
This music is keeping me stuck in a time warp... Love it!!!!!
@sloppyjo4560
me 2
@JohnBrown-nf7br
as a DJ in the 70s this never failed , get those horns the next record always started late because i was on the dancefloor to this great record .