Classic Songs: “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” by Lenny Kravitz.

With Marvin Gaye vibes and Motown sounds, Lenny Kravitz hit pay dirt in 1991 with his celebrated release It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over. But it almost didn’t happen because Kravitz had Smokey Robinson in mind to sing it. Fortunately, his label Virgin convinced him to record it and the rest they say is history. 

When I think of Lenny Kravitz (born 1964), I remember how he almost single-handedly redefined rock music in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Though it’s fair to say Jack White (The White Strips) who Kravitz admires greatly also had a lot to say about the matter. Anyway, his exciting blend of psychedelic rock, soul, funk and R&B with classic broad strokes of rock ’n’ roll, spoke to a whole new generation of rock fans. It’s not to say a classic rock enthusiast like myself had a hard time embracing rock’s newest guitar hero. Some thirty years on, I still can’t get out of my head the classic riff from 1993’s Are You Gonna Go My Way.

As extraordinary as Kravitz is, as a musician who writes, sings, plays multiple instruments and produces his own music, there is no denying the comparisons made between himself and Prince. Interestingly, Kravitz is the first to admit that the comparisons between the two are undeniable: ‘When I saw Prince, I saw myself,’ he said in his memoir Let Love Rule. Not only was Prince one of Kravitz’s biggest influences, the two were actually close friends. And when Prince died in 2016, Kravitz was devastated: ‘I really feel like a piece of me died.’ 

But while Prince remains one of his biggest influences, Kravitz has cited an array of artists who have helped him along the way. In an interview in 2012 with Akron Beacon Journal he was asked who were some of his biggest influences. In true Kravitz style he replied: “There are so many. Starting with Motown — you know, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Al Green. And Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Led Zeppelin, the Who, Pink Floyd. I mean, I go on and on and on. Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin.”

With Kravitz’s musical identity rapped up in a mix of genres, his cultural identity also played an equally important part in who he would become. His Russian Jewish father, Sy Kravitz, a military officer turned NBC TV producer and his Caribbean-born mother, TV star Roxie Roker introduced Kravitz to the world of the arts and music. When Kravitz was seven his father bought him his first guitar. And at nine, his mother continued to nurtured his love of music and sent him to the Harlem School of the Arts. 

Kravitz rise to prominence was far from a fairytale. Kravitz who left home after he graduated from high school in 1982, initially struggled to get the recognition he thought he deserved as a promising young musician. No one within the record industry apparently understood what he was trying to achieve creatively. With his steely determination Kravitz went ahead anyway and recorded his debut album – playing every single instrument – inspired by his struggle and New York bohemian lifestyle with his then-wife Lisa Bonet.    

Combining a funky soul vibe, open and earnest lyrics with a socially conscious message, Lenny Kravitz burst onto the music scene in 1989 with the genre-busting debut album Let Love Rule thanks to the record label Virgin. The label was the first to truly recognise what Kravitz wanted out of music and subsequently encouraged his development and evolution.  

In the years that followed he would continued to dismantle the stereotypes that divided both black and white music. Along the way he would win multiple Grammys, in fact four consecutive Grammys between 1999 and 2002 for male rock vocal performance for Fly Away, American Woman, Again and Dig In. (He was also nominate in 2004 for IF I Could Fall In Love but was beaten by Dave Matthews for Gravedigger.) While today and rightfully so, Kravitz finds himself on the shortlist for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s quite an accomplishment, but not the end of his story, and something we will come back to later.

There are an array of songs worthy of our consideration across twelve acclaimed studio albums in Kravitz’s career so far, but for now let’s get back to focussing on one of my favourite songs which came early in his career, It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over. 

What’s important to note about It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over is that it was Kravitz’s first top-10 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, landing at No. 2 on the charts. Taken from the album Mama Said (1991), it still today is best remembered as his breakout hit. But what was it about this song that made it so popular? It has everything to do with its incredible string section and maybe above all else Kravitz’s falsetto voice. Moreover, from a listeners point of view it is relatability, nostalgic, romantic and sorrowful. 

Kravitz wrote the song during a period in his life when he and his then-wife Lisa Bonet were on the brink of a divorce after marrying in 1987. (Kravitz and Bonet officially divorce in 1993.) He was in a terrible state and one night in a hotel room in LA in 1990, sitting in the dark with his Fender Rhodes he came up with what would become the song’s structure and its central message. While the song would act as a cathartic release for Kravitz, he was hoping against all hope that he would reconcile with Bonet. 

“So many tears I’ve cried/ So much pain inside/ But baby, it ain’t over till it’s over/ So many years we’ve tried/ To keep our love alive/ But baby, it ain’t over till it’s over.” 

Later when he recorded it, the talented multi-instrumentalist played all the instruments (guitar, bass, keys, drums and electric sitar) except the strings and horns. Interestingly, he almost gave it away to R&B and soul singer Smokey Robinson because he wasn’t sure if he should release it under his name. His label persuaded him otherwise because the song was a perfect fit. He understood everything there was to know about its period-perfect motown and philly soul sound and the power of its timeless charm. Lyrically, nothing quite compares to its ever-relatable subject matter of love in a time of crisis. It truly is a testament to Kravitz’s musical genius.

Photo credit: The header image of Lenny Kravitz by Gage Skidmore is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.