River Deep Mountain High: Ike & Tina Turner

“River Deep - Mountain High” is a 1966 single by Ike & Tina Turner. Considered by producer Phil Spector to be his best work, the single was successful in Europe, peaking at #3 in the United Kingdom, though it flopped on its original release in the United States. Spector claimed to be pleased with the response from the critics and his peers, but he then withdrew from the music industry for two years, beginning his personal decline.

After Eric Burdon covered the song in 1968, it was re-released a year later, and has since become one of Tina Turner’s signature songs.

Written by Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, “River Deep - Mountain High” was among the first recordings that Ike & Tina Turner did for Phil Spector’s Philles Records. Spector was well aware of Ike Turner’s controlling attitude in the studio, and resultantly drew up an unusual contract: the River Deep – Mountain High album and single would be credited to “Ike & Tina Turner”, but Ike was paid $20,000 to stay away from the studio, and only Tina Turner’s vocals would be used on record.

The track was recorded using Spector’s “Wall of Sound” production technique, and cost a then-unheard of $22,000, and required 21 session musicians and 21 background vocalists.

The single entered the lower end of the Billboard 100 and stopped at #88 on the pop charts. Even though it had better fortune in the United Kingdom, peaking at #3 in the singles charts on first release, Spector was so disillusioned that he ceased involvement in the recording industry totally for two years, and only intermittently returned to the studio after that; he effectively became a recluse and began to
self-destruct. Ike Turner remarked that he felt the record didn’t do well in America because the sound was “pop or white”, while Tina Turner’s voice was R&B, so that “America mixes race in it” - though the writer Michael Billig observed that earlier records which had mixed black singers with a white pop sound had sold well, so it was likely to be that in 1966 the black political movement was encouraging African
Americans to take a pride in their own culture, and “River Deep - Mountain High” was out of step with that movement.

Rolling Stone put it at #33 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

George Harrison praised the record, declaring it “a perfect record from start to finish.” “River Deep - Mountain High” compared a woman’s love and loyalty, respectively, to that which that a child feels for a doll, and a puppy has for his master.

Key Personnel

Lead vocals by Tina Turner
Written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich
Produced by Phil Spector
Arranged by Jack Nitzsche
Instrumentation by Leon Russell - keyboards, Jim Horn - Saxophone, Barney Kessel - guitar, Glen Campbell - guitar, Hal Blaine - drums, Earl Palmer - drums, Carol Kaye - bass

Lyrics

River Deep Mountain High
When I was a little girl I had a rag doll
Only doll I’ve ever owned
Now I love you just the way I loved that rag doll
But only now my love has grown

And it gets stronger in every way
And it gets deeper let me say
And it gets higher day by day

And do I love you my oh my
Yeah river deep mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby baby baby baby

When you were a young boy
Did you have a puppy
That always followed you around
Well I’m gonna be as faithful as that puppy
No, I’ll never let you down

‘Cause it grows stronger like a river þows
And it gets bigger baby and heaven knows
And it gets sweeter baby as it grows

And do I love you, my oh my
Yeah river deep, mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby baby baby baby

I love you baby like a þower loves the spring
And I love you baby just like robin loves to sing
And I love you baby like a school boy loves his pet
And I love you baby river deep mountain high
Do I love you my oh my oh baby
River deep mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby baby baby baby