| Feelings | |
| Cover: | Feelings by Morris Albert French vinyl artwork.jpg |
| Caption: | One of artworks for French vinyl single |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Morris Albert |
| Album: | After We've Left Each Other |
| Released: | 1974 |
| Genre: | Soft rock |
| Length: | 3:46 |
| Label: |
|
| Producer: | Morris Albert |
| Prev Title: | The Man from Nazareth |
| Prev Year: | 1973 |
| Next Title: | Sweet Loving Man |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
"Feelings" is a song by the Brazilian singer Morris Albert, who also wrote the lyrics. Albert released "Feelings" in 1974 as a single and later included it as the title track of his 1975 debut album. The song's lyrics, recognizable by the "whoa whoa whoa" chorus, concern the singer's inability to "forget my feelings of love". Albert's original recording of the song was hugely successful, performing well internationally.
In late 1975, "Feelings" reached number 4 in Record World magazine, number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 10 in Cash Box. It also hit number 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the United States.[1] In 1986, French songwriter Louis Gasté successfully sued Albert for copyright infringement on the grounds that the tune was taken from Gasté's 1957 song "Pour Toi"; Gasté is now credited as the song's co-author.
| Chart (1975–1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[2] | 5 |
| South Africa (Springbok)[3] | 5 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[4] | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[5] | 6 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100[6] | 10 |
| Chart (1975) | Rank |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] | 88 |
| Canada [8] | 94 |
| UK [9] | 42 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[10] | 45 |
| U.S. Cash Box [11] | 23 |
| Chart (1976) | Rank |
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] | 86 |
At the time of "Feelings"s greatest commercial success, it was solely credited to Albert himself. In 1986,[13] the French songwriter Loulou Gasté sued Morris Albert for copyright infringement, claiming that "Feelings" plagiarized the melody of his 1956 song "Pour Toi". Gasté won the lawsuit, upheld on appeal in 1988; they now share the credits of the song.[14]
Recordings of the song have credited authorship variously to Albert alone, to Albert and Gasté (since the late 1980s), to Albert and Michel Jourdan (because of the French lyrics Dis-Lui), and to Albert and "Kaisermann". The last of these attributions is redundant, since the singer's real name is Mauricio Alberto Kaisermann.[15]
In the years after its release, "Feelings" has been performed by many other vocalists. A version by Chicago soul singer Walter Jackson reached number 93 on Billboards pop chart in January 1977.[16]
In 1975 Wess recorded the cover of the song for the album Wess & Dori released in Brazil (Young, 304.1052).
Bobby Vinton sang "Feelings" on his 1975 album Heart of Hearts.[17]
Lynn Anderson covered "Feelings" on her 1977 album Wrap Your Love All Around Your Man
In 1975, Mexican Grupero band Los Bukis released a Spanish language version (titled "Sentimientos") on their debut album Falso Amor.
Nina Simone covered the song for a set she performed at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival.[18] SOPHIE and Cecile Believe performed a truncated version inspired by Simone's cover at Elsewhere in February 2018 during a tour leading up to the release of SOPHIE's album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides.[19]
Japanese band Hi-Fi Set released a Japanese-language cover in 1977.
An instrumental version of the song was included on Ubaldo Continiello's soundtrack to the 1978 Italian film Last Feelings.
During a lecture at Chautauqua Institution, Julie Andrews stated that she considered this song too difficult to sing because it had no meaning behind it.[20]
The Gong Show had an episode in which every contestant sang this song.[21]
In "Switch", a 1990 Pepsi commercial, MC Hammer sings "Feelings" instead of "U Can't Touch This" when given a non-Pepsi drink.[22] (In fact Hammer lip-synched to a session singer.[23])
In the "Cousin Urkel" episode of "Family Matters", Steve Urkel serenades Laura Winslow with the song outside her window in a tree before falling down.
The Offspring recorded in their album Americana a parodic cover of "Feelings" concerning the narrator's hatred.[24]
Brazilian singer Gretchen covered a dance version of "Feelings" in her 1995 album Sexy, Charme e Dance.
