Lookin' for Love

"Lookin' for Love" is a song written by Wanda Mallette, Bob Morrison and Patti Ryan, and recorded by American country music singer Johnny Lee. It was released in June 1980 as part of the soundtrack to the film Urban Cowboy, released that year. Marcy Levy was one of the female singers who provided backing vocals on the track.

Background

Lee whose biggest hit to date had been a 1977 cover of Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party" had previously been one of the main nightclub acts at Gilley's, a nightclub owned by country music superstar Mickey Gilley. Record executive Irving Azoff offered Lee the chance to record "Lookin' For Love", a song that 20-plus artists had rejected.^[1]

Critics were not kind to Lee nor the song. Country music historian Bill Malone once noted that "Lookin' for Love"—in his words, a "lilting little pop song" — became the featured song of Urban Cowboy and a huge commercial hit largely because "actor John Travolta (the movie's co-star) expressed a liking for it."^[2] Critic Kurt Wolff panned the song as an example of "watered-down cowboy music."^[3]

Public reaction was much better. "Lookin' for Love" rose to No. 1 (for a three-week stay) on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and was a No. 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit as well. On the US Cash Box Top 100, the song spent two weeks at No. 4.^[4]

"Lookin' for Love" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[5]

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
US Billboard Hot 100	5
US Cash Box Top 100 ^[4]	4
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	18
Canadian RPM Top Singles	54
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	20

Year-end charts

Chart (1980)	Rank
US Cash Box^[6]	37

Series

The song was performed by Johnny Lee in an episode of Chips. It could also be heard in two episodes of Dallas. The first one is episode 274 "To Have and to Hold", where it plays at the bar where Bobby Ewing and Kay Lloyd are enjoying each other's company. The second episode is episode 275 "Dead Reckoning", where Ray Krebbs listens to it on his car stereo after dropping off his wife Jenna and her daughter Charlie at the airport.

Cover versions, parodies and tributes

Country music group Sawyer Brown recorded a cover of the song on the 2000 album The Hits Live. This version peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The song is also featured in the classic Saturday Night Live sketch Buh-Weet Sings, in which Buckwheat from Our Gang (played by Eddie Murphy) sings the song as "Wookin Pa Nub".

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" is titled in tribute to this song ("par'Mach" is defined in the episode as "the Klingon word for love, but with more aggressive overtones").^[7]

Al Lowe's second Leisure Suit Larry game, Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places), is named after the song. The song was referenced in Operation Repo in season 11 episode 7.

Sources

References

↑ Mark Deming (1946-07-03). "Johnny Lee | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
↑ Malone, Bill, "Country Music U.S.A," 2nd rev. ed. (University of Texas Press, Austin, 2002), p.371.
↑ Wolff, Kurt, "Country Music: The Rough Guide," Rough Guides Ltd., London; Penguin Putnam, New York, distributor. p. 424 (ISBN 1-85828-534-8)
1 2
↑
↑
↑ Erdman, Terry J.; Block, Paula M. (2000). Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. New York: Pocket Books. p. 377. ISBN 0-671-50106-2.

Other sources

Allmusic — "Johnny Lee" entry by Tom Roland.
Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits," Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991. (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)
Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.

Preceded by "Cowboys and Clowns" by Ronnie Milsap	Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single September 6-September 20, 1980	Succeeded by "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You" by Dolly Parton

Johnny Lee

Notable singles	"Red Sails in the Sunset" "Country Party" "Lookin' for Love" "One in a Million" "Pickin' Up Strangers" "Prisoner of Hope" "Bet Your Heart on Me" "Be There for Me Baby" "When You Fall in Love" "Cherokee Fiddle" "Sounds Like Love" "Hey Bartender" "My Baby Don't Slow Dance" "The Yellow Rose" (with Lane Brody) "You Could've Heard a Heart Break" "Rollin' Lonely" "Save the Last Chance"

Related articles	Full Moon Records Asylum Records Warner Bros. Records

Sawyer Brown

Studio albums	Sawyer Brown Shakin' Out Goin' Cattin' Somewhere in the Night Wide Open The Boys Are Back Buick The Dirt Road Cafe on the Corner Outskirts of Town This Thing Called Wantin' and Havin' It All Six Days on the Road Hallelujah, He Is Born Drive Me Wild Can You Hear Me Now Mission Temple Fireworks Stand Travelin' Band

Compilation albums	Greatest Hits Greatest Hits 1990-1995 The Hits Live True Believer Best of Sawyer Brown

Notable singles	"Leona" "Step That Step" "Used to Blue" "Betty's Bein' Bad" "Heart Don't Fall Now" "Shakin'" "Out Goin' Cattin'" "Gypsies on Parade" "Somewhere in the Night" "This Missin' You Heart of Mine" "Old Photographs" "My Baby's Gone" "The Race Is On" "Did It for Love" "Puttin' the Dark Back into the Night" "When Love Comes Callin'" "The Walk" "The Dirt Road" "Some Girls Do" "Cafe on the Corner" "All These Years" "Trouble on the Line" "Thank God for You" "The Boys and Me" "Outskirts of Town" "Hard to Say" "This Time" "I Don't Believe in Goodbye" "(This Thing Called) Wantin' and Havin' It All" "'Round Here" "Treat Her Right" "Six Days on the Road" "This Night Won't Last Forever" "Drive Me Wild" "800 Pound Jesus" "Lookin' for Love" "They Don't Understand"

Related articles	Discography Capitol Nashville Curb Records Star Search

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