"Touch Me in the Morning" was written by ballad lyricist Ron Miller and songwriter/producer Michael Masser. It was Diana Ross' first hit produced by Masser; he continued to produce more songs for her over the years, including "Last Time I Saw Him," "Theme From Mahogany," "I Thought It Took a Little Time" and "It's My Turn." This song was somewhat of a comeback for Ross in the music industry as it was released when she was receiving excellent reviews for her film debut Lady Sings the Blues.
Ross felt that this song was too difficult for her and recorded several takes on it. In a documentary about her, Masser said that she tried very hard to "get the vocals right for this particular song" and that it was a "draining experience." Luckily, it became her longest-charting Pop record and also became her first #1 Adult Contemporary hit.
Miller was impressed with Masser's pop composition, but was worried a pure pop record would alienate Ross' fans, especially since Gordy was demanding a hit in case her performance in Lady Sings The Blues went sour. For some added soul, Miller borrowed from one of Ross' earlier hits. "I didn't want Diana to lose her base so we ripped off a riff from Ashford and Simpson," Miller explained in J. Randy Taraborrelli's book Diana. "One part is straight out of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough.' And then we had her talking in parts, all of which we did to keep the identity she established with 'Mountain' and to add some soul to the record."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.