♫ What’s Love Got To Do With It ♫

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Tina Turner has, in my book anyway, a voice that … man, it just doesn’t stop!  She is one of the bestselling recording artists of all time, and has often been referred to as The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

This was Tina Turner’s comeback song. She first hit the pop charts with her husband Ike in 1960, and their biggest hit came in 1971 with a cover of Proud Mary. After enduring years of spousal abuse, Tina split from Ike in the mid-’70s and her career was in limbo until this song thrust her back in the spotlight 13 years after Proud Mary.

This is really an anti-love song, and Turner hated it. She balked at recording it, but had the good sense to defer to her manager, Roger Davies, who was engineering her comeback and was sure the song would be a hit. Davis got the song from his friends, the songwriters Terry Britten and Graham Lyle (who was in the duo Gallagher and Lyle), and it was Britten who produced the track.

This song won Grammys in 1985 for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Vocal Performance. Turner gave one of the awards to Davies, whom she credited with reviving her career. Davies, an Australian who was new to the business, met Turner in 1979.

What’s Love Got to Do with It
Tina Turner

You must understand though the touch of your hand
Makes my pulse react
That it’s only the thrill of boy meeting girl
Opposites attract
It’s physical
Only logical
You must try to ignore that it means more than that ooo

What’s love got to do, got to do with it
What’s love but a second hand emotion
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken

It may seem to you that I’m acting confused
When you’re close to me
If I tend to look dazed I’ve read it someplace
I’ve got cause to be
There’s a name for it
There’s a phrase that fits
But whatever the reason you do it for me ooo

What’s love got to do, got to do with it
What’s love but a second hand emotion
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken

I’ve been taking on a new direction
But I have to say
I’ve been thinking about my own protection
It scares me to feel this way oh oh oh

What’s love got to do, got to do with it
What’s love but a second hand emotion
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken

What’s love got to do, got to do with it
What’s love but a sweet old fashioned notion
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken

ooh got to do with it
(What’s love but a second hand emotion)
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken
(What’s love got to do with it) got to do with it
(What’s love)

Songwriters: Graham Hamilton Lyle / Terry Britten
What’s Love Got to Do with It lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights Management

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17 thoughts on “♫ What’s Love Got To Do With It ♫”

  3. Tina is one of the world’s wonder women. I saw her live – not long after she did the Bond theme – blown away. This song, I completely get. It was an anthem for a period in my life – not long after it was a hit.

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  5. Jill, Tina Turner put on one of the best concert I have ever seen. She sang this song near the end, maybe as her encore. I remember her requesting audience participation by gender. When she got to the men, she said “you’ve been saying this all of your lives, so sing with me.” Keith

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  6. Tina changed for the better as a singer when she and Ike broke up.She did what she wanted and not what she was told. She just went from strength to strength and has earned the Queen of Pop title..No-one could ever believe there’s a little old lady of 80 belting out those songs under that wig.
    Cwtch

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    • I definitely agree with that! While I liked some of the songs done by Ike & Tina, she was better once she struck out on her own. I just watched a clip of her celebrating her 80th on CNN and … WOW! She looks better at 80 than I looked at 50! Incredible that she’s survived a stroke, intestinal cancer, and a kidney transplant, but she’s still going strong and still has that ‘can do’ attitude!
      Cwtch

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  7. I love Tina and I love this song. I was disappointed when I first learned some years back that she hated it, she certainly did a fantastic job. I love the message because so often physical reaction is mistaken for love during an early point in relationships.

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