Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were both working as computer programmers in 1977, and combined a love of pop music (such as glam rock and Tamla Motown) with avant garde electronic music. They acquired a Roland System 100 synthesizer and began to create music in their own rehearsal facility. Initially they formed a group called The Dead Daughters, which then became The Future with Adi Newton on vocals. Newton was soon dismissed and left to form the outfit Clock DVA. Ware and Marsh searched for a vocalist, but their first choice, Glenn Gregory (who would be the lead singer of their later band, Heaven 17), was unavailable. Ware instead decided to invite Philip Oakey, an old school friend, and a hospital porter at the time to join the band, "apparently by leaving a note stuck to his door". Oakey accepted the invitation, despite never having been in a band before. Shortly after, they decided to call themselves The Human League. A collection of demos from this period was released on CD in 2002, titled The Golden Hour of The Future, compiled by Richard X.
The original lineup of The Human League debuted in 1978 with the single "Being Boiled", a dark synth track that would later become extremely influential on later industrial musicians (namely Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails). This single and it's follow-up "Empire State Human" were modest sucesses, however the group's albums - 1979's "Reproduction" and 1980's "Travelogue" - did not sell. This caused a rift in the band, and in 1980, Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware left the group.
Following the split of the original line-up, Phillip Adrian Wright (their live slide projectionist) fully joined the group and Oakey & himself released another flop single, "Boys and Girls". In order to fulfil their European tour commitments, they recruited bass player Ian Burden, and fronted the band with two singers, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, schoolgirls whom they had met in a Sheffield nightclub, and managed to complete the tour.
In 1981, Virgin Records paired them with former Stranglers producer Martin Rushent, and the first result was the single "The Sound of the Crowd", which saw them at last achieve success in the singles chart. Guitarist Jo Callis (formerly of The Rezillos) was now recruited to the band, and with Rushent at the helm, The Human League recorded their most successful album to date, "Dare!". It achieved huge success, fuelled by its further hit singles, "Open Your Heart", "Love Action" and most famously "Don't You Want Me", which reached number one in the UK charts during the Christmas of 1981 and was one of the biggest selling singles of that year, and it also charted at number one in the US during the summer of 1982. These three releases were accompanied by striking promo videos ("Love Action" based on the movie The Graduate). During their Dare! phase, the Human League were often associated with the New Romantic movement.
The band also had a number of other hits but their success faded towards the mid-1980s. Arguably, one problem was the length of time the band took to make a record. Dare! was followed by the six-song EP Fascination! (featuring hit singles "Mirror Man" and "Fascination") as a stopgap, and it took three years to release a full-length follow-up album, "Hysteria".
In 1985, outside of the Human League, Oakey scored a huge hit single in collaboration with one of his idols, synth pioneer Giorgio Moroder, with the single "Together in Electric Dreams", taken from the film soundtrack to Electric Dreams. The pair proceeded to record an entire album for Virgin, Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder, but this met with rather less success.
In 1986, the group found themselves in creative stagnation, struggling to record material to follow up on their previous success. Key songwriter Jo Callis departed, replaced by drummer Jim Russell, and Virgin paired the League up with cutting-edge American R&B producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The result was the "Crash" album. The album featured much material written by Jam and Lewis' team, and showcased their distinctive DX7-led sound, making it quite a departure from previous Human League material. It did provide an American number one single, "Human", but other singles made smaller chart impact.
The following tour saw keyboardist Neil Sutton join the line-up and also keyboardist/guitarist Russell Dennett. Since 1990, their resident engineer on and off stage has been David Beevers. Following Dennett's departure in 1996, Nic Burke has been his replacement for live work since 2001.
The Human League released a new album, Credo in March 2011.
You've Lost That Loving Feeling
The Human League Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Close the door
You've been here before
Your shape dim
I'm an old man now
The air's thin
The walls very damp now
I'll always be stuck here in this poor little room
With a view of the corner
I don't forget
The light growing weak now
Experience is useless
Unless you can learn
And I've never met anyone
Who used their knowledge
To avoid those mistakes made again and again
And if I don't go
I'll always be stuck here in this poor little room
With a view of the corner
You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips
You're trying hard not to show it (baby)
But baby, baby I know it
You've lost that loving feeling
Woah, that loving feeling
You've lost that loving feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone
Woah-woah
Now there's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you
And girl you're starting to criticize little things I do
It makes me just feel like crying (baby)
Cause, baby, something beautiful's dying
You've lost that loving feeling
Woah, that loving feeling
You've lost that loving feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone
Woah-woah
Baby, baby, I'd get down on my knees for you
If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah
We had a love, a love, a love you don't find every day
So don't, don't, don't, don't let it slip away
Bring back that loving feeling
Woah, that loving feeling
Bring back that loving feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone
And I can't go on
Baby (baby), baby (baby)
I want you please (woooo)
Please (woooo)
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
Now it bring it on back (bring it on back)
Bring it on back now (bring it on back now)
Now bring it on back
The song "Morale...You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by The Human League talks about the feeling of being trapped and powerless in a relationship, especially when one partner's love has dwindled. The opening lines set the mood, where the singer asks his partner to be silent and close the door, as the situation is familiar to him. The mention of the singer being an old man now, the walls being damp and the air being thin, seems to add to the feeling of being trapped and helpless.
The chorus, with the popular phrase "You've lost that loving feeling," is taken from the classic song of the same name by The Righteous Brothers. The lyrics continue to highlight the issues in the relationship where the partner doesn't close their eyes anymore when kissed, there's no tenderness, and there's criticism of little things done by the singer. The singer is aware of the changes, and it hurts him, and he pleads with the partner to bring back the love that was once there.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't talk
Please don't talk anymore
Close the door
Please close the door on your way out
You've been here before
I remember you from before
Your shape dim
I can barely see you
I'm an old man now
I'm getting old
The air's thin
The air is not good
The walls very damp now
The walls are wet and cold
And if I don't go
If I don't leave
I'll always be stuck here in this poor little room
I'll be trapped in this small room
With a view of the corner
Looking at the corner of the room
I don't forget
I remember
The light growing weak now
The light is fading
Experience is useless
Having experience doesn't matter
Unless you can learn
Unless you can learn from it
And I've never met anyone
I have never found anyone
Who used their knowledge
Who applied their experience
To avoid those mistakes made again and again
To prevent those repeated mistakes
You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
You don't close your eyes when we kiss
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips
You are not as tender as you used to be
You're trying hard not to show it (baby)
You're hiding your true feelings
But baby, baby I know it
But I know how you really feel
You've lost that loving feeling
You no longer love me
Woah, that loving feeling
That special feeling we used to have
Now it's gone, gone, gone
It's disappeared
Now there's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you
You don't look at me with love when I approach you
And girl you're starting to criticize little things I do
You're starting to judge me for small things I do
It makes me just feel like crying (baby)
It makes me sad
Cause, baby, something beautiful's dying
Because our beautiful love is ending
Baby, baby, I'd get down on my knees for you
I would beg for your love
If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah
If you could love me again
We had a love, a love, a love you don't find every day
Our love was rare
So don't, don't, don't, don't let it slip away
Please don't let our love fade away
Bring back that loving feeling
Please bring back our love
Now it's gone, gone, gone
Now our love is gone
And I can't go on
And I can't continue this way
I want you please (woooo)
I want your love please
Please (woooo)
Please love me again
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love
Now it bring it on back (bring it on back)
Bring our love back
Bring it on back now (bring it on back now)
Bring back our love now
Now bring it on back
Bring our love back
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Ian Marsh, Martyn Ware, Phil Oakey
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Andrew Hillis
Best version of You've Lost That Loving Feeling I have ever heard! It just works brilliantly!!!
Andy Williams
The best cover version of any song. Ever.
ralucagymnast
Oh God this gives me goosebumps and makes me want to cry; takes me back to when I was young and was obsessed with the HL: saw them in Liverpool in 1981 on the Dare tour and met them backstage; I almost fainted with the overwhelmingness of it all lol; they were so nice and down to earth:)
martin cotterill
My favourite 80's band. Sadly I never got to see them back then😢. I love this version more than the original. There songs have bought me to tears many times in the past. Awesome band ☺☺
Gary longden
I saw them perform this at the Rainbow in London supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees. it was epic, under a hail of beer cans they never wavered.
Clara Kop
Beaucoup de force, de caractère mais aussi d’émotion dans ce chant magnifique ! ❤️❤️❤️
Lars Hindenburg
Wonderful version. The epitomy of love lost / times gone by for me.
Lost in Musik
So sincere, so fractured - love it!
Stephen Le-surf
Actually the first time in my life I ever heard this song, imagine my shock when I found out it was an act of respect to the righteous brothers!
roscoestone1
The whole album is wonderful. I had it on vinyl until I left it on my bedroom floor and slid across it with a stone stuck in the tread of my shoe☹️ A very unfortunate event in my life