| It's Only Love Doing Its Thing | |
| Cover: | Barry White - It's Only Love Doing Its Thing.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Barry White |
| Album: | The Man |
| A-Side: | Your Sweetness Is My Weakness |
| Released: | September 1978[1] |
| Recorded: | 1978 |
| Genre: | Soul, funk |
| Length: | 4:04 |
| Label: | 20th Century |
| Producer: | Barry White |
| Prev Title: | Just the Way You Are |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Any Fool Can See (You Were Meant for Me) |
| Next Year: | 1979 |
"It's Only Love Doing Its Thing" is a song by soul singer Barry White, from his 1978 album The Man. It was released as the B-side to the album's lead single, "Your Sweetness Is My Weakness". The English soul band Simply Red covered the song in 1989, under the shortened title "It's Only Love".
Elements from the song were sampled in "21 Questions" by 50 Cent. In 2008, the song was featured on Grand Theft Auto IVs fictional soul/R&B radio station The Vibe 98.8.
| Type: | single |
| It's Only Love | |
| Cover: | Simply Red-It's Only Love.jpg |
| Artist: | Simply Red |
| Album: | A New Flame |
| Released: | January 16, 1989 |
| Recorded: | 1988 - 1989 |
| Genre: | Blue-eyed soul |
| Label: | Elektra, WEA |
| Producer: | Stewart Levine |
| Length: | 4:58 |
| Prev Title: | I Won't Feel Bad |
| Prev Year: | 1988 |
| Next Title: | If You Don't Know Me by Now |
| Next Year: | 1989 |
In 1989, the English soul and pop band Simply Red released a cover as "It's Only Love" as the lead single of their third studio album, A New Flame (1989). This version had its greatest success by charting at number-seven in Ireland. The song was later featured in Simply Red's several greatest-hits albums and a ballad collection of the same name.
Robin Smith from Record Mirror wrote, "Hell, sure has been a long time since we last heard Mick Hucknall crooning blissfully, but all good things are worth waiting for. 'It's Only Love' is a magnificent slow-burning track to cherish and savour, as Hucknall side-steps his vocals around some powerful instrumentation. It's nice to hear that Simply Red aren't merely regurgitating old ideas, and I can hardly wait for the album."[2] William Shaw from Smash Hits said, "It's a low key re-entry into the giddy world of pop, none of Mick's over-the-top wailing, just a simple, catchy piece of their old fashioned "soul" that swings along in a most acceptable manner."[3]
| Australia (ARIA)[4] | 31 |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[5] | 11 |
| Canada (RPM) | 30 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[6] | 7 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[7] | 31 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[8] | 31 |
| Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade)[9] | 12 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[10] | 13 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 57 |
| West Germany (Gfk Entertainment charts)[11] | 21 |