“I've Been Loving You Too Long” by Otis Redding

Otis Redding cut "I've Been Loving You Too Long" in 1965 with Jerry Butler as his co-writer, and when it came out as a single that April it turned into the second-biggest seller of his career; it later found a home on his third album, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. It's a slow burn of a ballad with Otis pleading for all he's worth, Steve Cropper picking out arpeggios on guitar and a horn section swelling behind him: Wayne Jackson and Gene "Bowlegs" Miller on trumpet, Andrew Love and Floyd Newman on saxophones. Booker T. Jones and Isaac Hayes share the keys, and Donald "Duck" Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr. hold down the floor.

It went to number 2 on Billboard's R&B chart and 21 on the Hot 100, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Ike & Tina Turner all took their shot at it, and it entered the National Recording Registry in 2003.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.