I've Been Loving You Too Long

Redding wrote it with Jerry Butler of the Impressions. The single, Volt V-126 with "I'm Depending on You" on the B-side, was released on April 19, 1965; the first version was recorded in mono that April with Booker T. Jones on piano, and it was re-recorded in stereo on July 9 and 10, 1965 for Otis Blue with Isaac Hayes on piano because the song had changed substantially. Steve Cropper produced, with Donald Dunn, Al Jackson Jr., Wayne Jackson, Gene Miller, Andrew Love and Floyd Newman. It reached 21 on the Hot 100 and 2 on R&B. Cash Box described a tender, slow-moving heartfelt lament about a fellow whose love for his gal is growing cold; we found no statement from Redding. Sources differ on where it was written, a hotel near the Atlanta airport per Wikipedia and a Buffalo hotel room per a search summary. The National Recording Registry added it in 2003, and the 1965 recording entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

The Rolling Stones recorded it on May 11 and 12, 1965 at RCA Studios in Hollywood with Keith Richards's fuzz guitar replacing horns, released on Got Live If You Want It! (1966) with overdubbed crowd noise; Ike and Tina Turner took it to 68 on the Hot 100 and 23 on R&B in 1969 and played it in the film Gimme Shelter; Aretha Franklin recorded it on Young, Gifted and Black (1972), Barbara Mandrell as a country single, Diesel in 1993 and Etta James. We found no samples, and do not know which cut our upload uses.