"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[1], 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.[1] The song is featured on the soundtracks to the 2009 film Fighting, the 2011 crime drama The Lincoln Lawyer [2], and the 2012 Chrysler 300 commercial.
| "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Whitesnake | ||||
| from the album Live...in the Heart of the City | ||||
| B-side | "Take Me With You" (Live) | |||
| Released | 1980 | |||
| Format | Vinyl LP | |||
| Recorded | November 23, 1978 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues-rock | |||
| Length | 8:18 | |||
| Label | Liberty Sunburst |
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| Writer(s) | Michael Price Dan Walsh |
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| Producer | Martin Birch | |||
| Whitesnake singles chronology | ||||
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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 Heart of the City. The cover was the new band's first hit, and it became a staple of their live set.
For his 2001 album The Blueprint, 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. Jay-Z's song was used in the trailer for the 2007 film American Gangster and in a 2011 Chrysler commerical.
The song is featured in the 2009 video game Leave it to Beaver, in "mashed-up" form.
Other notable cover versions have been recorded by: