This week Jim Adams, our host of Song Lyric Sunday, has handed the prompt reins to fellow blogger Angie from the blog King Ben’s Grandma, She has given us “Sweet, Honey, Sugar, Candy and Chocolate”, Plenty of songs out there to fit today’s theme. I have picked Sweet Love by Anita Baker. A personal favorite from the 80s.
The Song
“Sweet Love” is a song by American R&B singer and songwriter Anita Baker from her second studio album, Rapture (1986). It was written by Anita Baker, Louis A. Johnson, and Gary Bias, and produced by Michael J. Powell. It was released in July 1986, as the album’s first single.
The song was Baker’s first big hit single, peaking at number two on the US Billboard R&B chart, number three on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1986. In the UK, it reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 21 on Canada’s Top Singles chart.
“Sweet Love” won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards (1987).
Daryl Easlea of the BBC said that Baker’s voice “rings like a bell”, and that “Sweet Love” is one of the three most memorable tracks on Rapture. He felt that the lyrics might have sounded trite if sung by a different artist, but that Baker imbued them with “so much passion and wonderment” that they sound like “old love sonnets” brought back to life.
Baker won two Grammys at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards (1987). “Sweet Love” was selected as Best R&B Song, earning her (along with Gary Bias and Louis Johnson) a songwriting award. Also, the album containing this song, Rapture, won in the category Best Female R&B Vocal performance.
To those out there with an Apple watch or similar, how many of you are a slave to the fitness app? I have a habit of checking the rings just before I go to bed at night and have sometimes been horrified that I haven’t ‘moved’ or ‘exercised’ as much as it suggests. I have literally run up and down the stairs a few times just to see if I could cross the finish line! No kidding. I think I need therapy, or at least change my settings.
