MILLIE JACKSON - IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG (THE CONFESSION)

“(IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG) I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT”

MILLIE JACKSON

SONGWRITERS: HOMER BANKS; CARL HAMPTON & RAYMOND JACKSON

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

ALBUM: “(IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG) I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT"

LABEL: KOKO

GENRE: SOUL

YEAR: 1972

Mildred Virginia Jackson(born July 15, 1944) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and former model. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies. Jackson vocal performances are often distinguished by long, humorous, and explicit spoken sections in her music, which she started doing on stage to get the attention of the audience. She recorded songs in a disco or dance music style and occasionally in a country style.

Occasionally, Jackson refers to herself as other have touted as the "mother of hip-hop," or of rapping itself. According to the cataloguing site WhoSampled.com, her songs have appeared in 189 samples, 51 covers, and six remixes revealing the appeal of her proto-typical rapping style of delivery.

Since she always enjoyed writing poems, in the early '70s Jackson began crafting such proto-rap R&B singles as the outspoken "A Child of God (It's Hard To Believe)."

"(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" is a song written by Stax Records songwriters Homer Banks, Carl Hampton, and Raymond Jackson. Originally written for The Emotions, it has been performed by many singers, most notably by Luther Ingram, whose original recording topped the R&B chart for four weeks and rose to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. Billboard ranked it as the No. 16 song for 1972.

In 1972–73, The Faces recorded the song as an outtake for Ooh La La(1973), their final studio album. In 1974, Millie Jackson released her version of the song which received two Grammy Award nominations. In 1978, Barbara Mandrell's version topped the U.S. country chart, reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 (number 27 Cashbox), and was nominated for Single of the Year at the 1979 CMA (Country Music Association) Awards. Rod Stewart recorded the song for Foot Loose & Fancy Free(1977), his eighth album; as a single it peaked at number 23 on the UK Singles Chart in 1980.

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right

If being right means being without you

I'd rather live a wrong-doing life

Your mama and daddy say it's a shame

It's a downright disgrace

But long as I got you by my side

I don't care what your people say

My friends tell me it's no future in loving a married man

If I can't see you when I want

I'll have to see you when I can

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right

If loving you is so wrong, baby

I don't want to be right

Am I wrong to fall, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, so deeply in love with you

Knowing you have a wife and two little children depending on you too

Am I wrong to hunger for the gentleness of your touch

Knowing you have someone else at home who needs you just as much

Am I wrong to give my love to a married man

And am I wrong for trying to hold on to the best thing I ever had

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right, baby

Oohaaow!

No, baby. Heh, eh, eh, eh. Uh, uh

Tell me, baby

Am I wrong to give my love to a married man

Am I wrong for trying to hold on to the best thing I ever had

If loving you is so wrong, I don't want to be right

If loving you is wrong, baby, I just can't be right

Ohaaow!

I don't wanna be right. No, baby

I don't wanna be right. Oh, baby, heh

Ohaaow! I've been loving you a little bit too long

I can't give up on your loving now

I love you, want you, need you, got to have you

Heeeeeeeeey! Good god almighty, baby

I love you. Mmmm, hmmm, hmmm, mmmm, mmmm

I need you. Let me have you. Mmmm.