River Deep - Mountain High

This song expresses an overwhelming devotion, with a love that is deeper than any river and higher than any mountain. It's a sentiment that later showed up in the Motown classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," first recorded in 1967 by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell: Ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough Ain't no river wild enough To keep me from you

This was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector. Greenwich and Barry were married from 1962-1965 but kept working together after their divorce. They were one of the most successful songwriting teams of the '60s, with a string of hits that included "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Leader of the Pack." Spector was a legendary producer famous for his "Wall Of Sound" recording technique, which he had used with great success on other songs he worked on with Greenwich and Barry, including hits by The Ronettes and The Crystals. Greenwich, Barry and Spector each had separate ideas for songs which they combined to form "River Deep - Mountain High." The melody is a composite of three different unfinished songs.

It had been over a year since Phil Spector produced a hit record, and he went all out on this one. When it flopped in America, he was shocked and very upset. He announced his retirement, went into seclusion and stopped working until 1970, when he returned to the studio to work on The Beatles Let It Be album and produce solo works by George Harrison and John Lennon.