Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" is a 1974 R&B song written by Michael Price and Dan Walsh and first recorded by Bobby "Blue" Bland for the ABC Dunhill album Dreamer. While Bland scored a minor hit with the song, landing in the top ten of the R&B charts, it is perhaps best known through cover versions and samples. While it is ostensibly a love song, some critics have also heard it as a lament on urban poverty and hopelessness; the reggae singer Al Brown's cover version even changes most of the lyrics to magnify this emphasis.
Covers and samples
A well-known cover of the song is by the hard rock band Whitesnake, who included it on their 1978 debut EP, Snakebite, and again as a live recording on Live: In the Shadow of the Blues. The cover was the new band's first hit, and it became a staple of their live set.
For his 2001 album The Blueprint, the rapper Jay-Z recorded the song "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)," a Kanye West-produced track built around a sample of Bobby Bland's chartmaking rendition. The Jay-Z song was used in the trailer for the 2007 film American Gangster.
Other notable cover versions have been recorded by:
- Al Brown (reggae, mid-1970s)
- Bobby "Blue" Bland (blues, 1974)
- Barrett Strong (R&B, 1976)
- Cafe Jacques - on the album 'Round The Back' (rock, 1977)
- Grady Tate (jazz, 1977)
- Long John Baldry (blues, 1977)
- Whitesnake (rock, 1978)
- Kate Taylor (rock, 1979)
- Crystal Gayle (country, 1980)
- Chris Farlowe (R&B, 1985)
- Ruthless Blues (blues, 1989)
- Mick Abrahams (rock, 1996)
- Willie Clayton (R&B, 1998, as "Heart of the City")
- Paul Weller (rock, 1998)
- DJ Andrew Unknown & DJ Mekalek (hip hop/rap (intro), 2002)
- Mary Coughlan (jazz, 2002)
- Maggie Bell (rock, 2004, live recording)
- Vaya Con Dios (rock, 2004)
- Jay-Z (Rap, 2001)
- Paul Carrack (pop/rock, 2008)
See also
