"It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" is a song written, produced, and performed by American musician Lenny Kravitz for his second studio album, '' Mama Said'' (1991). Released as the album's second single in June 1991, the song is a mid-

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

musically inspired by Motown, Philly soul, and

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million r ...

(particularly "

That's the Way of the World ''That's the Way of the World'' is the sixth studio album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released on March 15, 1975 by Columbia Records. It was also the soundtrack for a 1975 motion picture of the same name. The album rose to No. 1 on both ...

"). The horn line at the end is performed by the

Phenix Horns , originally known as the EWF Horns, were the main horn section for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. The horn section were composed of Don Myrick on saxophone, Louis "Lui Lui" Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Michael Davis on trumpet, and Michael ...

from Earth, Wind & Fire. "That song just came out one day, and I knew it had a classic vibe. And I still love that song very much today," Kravitz said in an interview for VivaMusic.com in 2000. The line is based on a

Yogiism Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but th ...

, or quotation from

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but th ...

: "It ain't over 'til it's over." "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" was Kravitz's first top-10 hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching 2 to become his highest peak on the chart. Worldwide, the single also reached No. 2 in Canada and peaked within the top 10 on the charts of Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom, it reached No. 11 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. British singer

Mutya Buena Rosa Isabel Mutya Buena (born 21 May 1985) is an English singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a member of girl group the Sugababes. With the Sugababes, Buena had four UK number one singles, an additional six top-ten hits and three multi-pl ...

's 2007 song " Real Girl" contains a sample from "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over"; this recording peaked at No. 2 on the UK chart.

Background

The song was written by Kravitz while dealing with a struggling marriage to his then wife,

Lisa Bonet Lilakoi Moon (born Lisa Michelle Bonet; November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet (), is an American actress. She is known for playing Denise Huxtable on the sitcom '' The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread ...

, and was an attempt to rekindle the relationship. Kravitz has described his thinking at that time as "not just a depression, but a fog. I didn’t know which way was up". Initially Kravitz, realizing the hit potential of the song, did not want to release the song himself, wishing to remain an underground artist, thinking instead of giving the song to

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chi ...

. His label however eventually persuaded him to include it on the album.

Chart performance

"It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" is Kravitz's most successful single on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart to date, peaking at No. 2. It also reached No. 2 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

'' Top Singles chart. It was also popular in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 11 on the

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

noted the song's "swirling Philly soul", describing it as "instantly addictive".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' complimented it as a "delicious slice of Philly soul/pop, flavored with lush strings, understated funk bass and guitar riffs, and Kravitz's engaging

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentou ...

vocal. Could be a sleeper smash." Alex Henderson from '' Cashbox'' named the song one of the "goodies" from the album, describing it as "uptown soul"-flavoured. Adam Sweeting from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' declared it as "nimble soul with chart potential". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' felt the singer "sings in smooth tones, reminiscent of

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

and

the Style Council The Style Council were a British band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight R ...

. Soultime on EHR." Parry Gettelman from ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' complimented "a nice guitar solo that sounds a bit like

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

circa " She's Gone"." ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to t ...

s reviewer also noted the echoes of

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/ mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

and Mayfield in the song.

Retrospective response

In an 2016 retrospective review, Christopher A. Daniel from Albumism remarked that the song "marries his Curtis Mayfield-inspired falsetto with chunky

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

guitars and a lush

MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom B ...

-flavored (possibly Love Unlimited Orchestra) string arrangement." In 2020, Carla Hay of AXS ranked it number four in her list of "The Top 10 Best Lenny Kravitz Songs". She wrote, "Kravitz has said he wrote this song about the breakdown of his marriage to actress

(they eventually divorced), and the heartbreak is oozing all over this song." She added, "With a

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

-ish 1960s vibe, this

(from 1991’s '' Mama Said'' album) is one of Kravitz’s best ballads. It remains his highest-charting hit of his career in the U.S., where it peaked at No. 2 on the ''

'' Hot 100 chart."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

for "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over", directed by

Jesse Dylan Jesse Byron Dylan (born January 6, 1966) is an American film director and production executive. He is the founder of the media production company Wondros and Lybba, a non-profit organization. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relati ...

, features Kravitz and his band performing the song. Different kinds of background lighting colors were featured in the video.

Track listings and formats

* US cassette single :A. "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" :B. "I'll Be Around" * 7-inch single and UK cassette single # "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" – 3:55 # "The Difference Is Why" – 4:48 * 12-inch and CD single # "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" – 3:55 # "I'll Be Around" # "The Difference Is Why" – 4:48 * UK 12-inch picture disc :A. "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" – 3:55 :B. Lenny Kravitz talking to

Robert Sandall Robert Paul Sandall (9 June 1952 – 20 July 2010)
- accessed December 2010 was a British musician,

Q'' magazine – 15:20 * Japanese CD single # "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" – 4:01 # " Let Love Rule" – 5:43 # "I'll Be Around" – 2:55 # " Always on the Run" (instrumental) – 3:56

Personnel

* Lenny Kravitz –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional ...

* The Phenix Horns –

horn section A horn section is a group of musicians playing horns. In an orchestra or concert band, it refers to the musicians who play the "French" horn, and in a British-style brass band it is the tenor horn players. In many popular music genres, the ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{authority control 1990s ballads 1991 singles Lenny Kravitz songs Soul ballads Song recordings produced by Lenny Kravitz Songs written by Lenny Kravitz 1991 songs Virgin Records singles