山高水深 (1966)

"River Deep – Mountain High" is a song by Ike & Tina Turner released on Philles Records as the title track to their 1966 studio album. Produced by Phil Spector and written by Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Rolling Stone ranked "River Deep – Mountain High" No. 33 on their 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. NME ranked it No. 37 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added it to the list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

The single did not perform well upon its original release in the US, but it was successful in Europe and especially in the UK. 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 a revival of the song from covers by Eric Burdon and the Animals and Deep Purple in 1968, the original version was reissued by A&M Records in 1969.

Background

Phil Spector had seen the Ike & Tina Turner Revue perform at a club on the Sunset Strip and invited them to appear on The Big T.N.T. Show. Spector was impressed by Tina Turner and wanted to use her voice with the Wrecking Crew, and his "Wall of Sound" production technique. He went to the Turners' house, and struck a deal with Ike Turner to produce Tina. Ike agreed, but wanted the recordings to be credited to Ike & Tina Turner. At the time, they were signed to Loma Records (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.). Spector negotiated a deal with Ike & Tina Turner's manager Bob Krasnow, who was also head of Loma. He offered $20,000 ($198,000 in 2025) to have them released from their contract. After Mike Maitland (then president at Warner Bros.) gave them their release, they signed with Spector's Philles Records.

Recording

"River Deep – Mountain High" was the first recording that Tina Turner did for Philles at Gold Star Studios. It was written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. The track cost a then unheard-of $22,000 ($218,000 in 2025), and required 21 session musicians.

After several rehearsals, and two sessions for the musicians to lay down a backing track, Spector got Tina Turner into the studio on March 7, but she was unable to provide what he wanted. The following week she returned to the studio with Ike Turner. Due to Spector's perfectionism and tendency to abuse workers in the studio, he made her sing the song over and over for several hours until he felt he had the perfect vocal take for the song. She recalled, "I must have sung that 500,000 times. I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing."

The Blossoms, rather than the Ikettes—Turner's usual backing vocalists—provided backing vocals for the song.

It was reported that the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson attended the session, where he sat "transfixed" and "did not say a word."

When Spector inducted Ike & Tina Turner into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, he revealed in his speech that he had invited Ike Turner to play guitar in the session for "River Deep – Mountain High," but Turner did not show up.

The recording of the song was later dramatized for Tina Turner's 1993 biographical film, What's Love Got to Do with It.

Personnel

Lead vocals: Tina Turner

Background vocals: Darlene Love, Fanita James, Jean King, Gracia Nitzsche, Clydie King, Leon Russell, Glen Campbell

• Composer lyricists: Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich
• Producer: Phil Spector
• Arranger: Jack Nitzsche

Musicians: Leon Russell (keyboards), Michel Rubini (piano, keyboards), Jim Horn (saxophone), Barney Kessel (guitar), Glen Campbell (guitar), Earl Palmer (drums), Carol Kaye (bass), Frank Capp (percussion)

Release and reception

Reviewing the single, Billboard wrote: "Exciting dance beat production backs a wailin' Tina vocal on a solid rock tune penned by Barry and Greenwich." Record World predicted that "this will be known as the classic Phil Spector record," stating that "everything goes on while Tina screams her love lyric." It entered the lower end of the Billboard Hot 100 and stopped at No. 88 on the pop chart. The disappointing chart performance resulted in the album being shelved in the US. 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 "if Phil had released the record and put anybody else's name on it, it would have been a huge hit. But because Tina Turner's name was on it, the white stations classified it an R&B record and wouldn't play it. The white stations say it was too black, and the black stations say it was too white, so that record didn't have a home."