On Bended Knee

A huge hit on Boyz II Men's second album, this song was written and produced by the team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who were best known for their work on most of Janet Jackson's hits, but also had some ballad experience with the track "Tender Love," which they wrote and produced for the Force MD's in 1986. In a Songfacts interview with Jimmy Jam, he explained: "Boyz II Men, they're so incredibly talented. 'On Bended Knee' came up because we didn't work on their first album, we got to know them on their second album. And our thought was that they sing what we'd like to call 'begging' songs really, really well. And when they played us their album and said, 'We want you guys to add something to this,' we didn't sense that there were any begging songs on there. And so that's how we came up with 'On Bended Knee.'"

This song spent six weeks at #1 in the US, which shockingly is only the fourth greatest chart achievement for Boyz II Men. Their 1992 hit "End of the Road" was on top for 13 weeks, "I'll Make Love To You" held the top spot for 14 weeks in 1994, and "One Sweet Day," released in 1995 was at #1 for 16 weeks.

The video for this song, directed by Lionel C. Martin, has crazy where-are-they now appeal. Playing the love interests of the band members are: Kim Fields (Tootie from The Facts of Life) Lark Voorhies (Lisa from Saved by the Bell) Victoria Rowell (Drucilla on The Young and the Restless) Renee Jones (Lexie on Days of our Lives)