"Leavin" is a song by American R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!, released on April 12, 1994 by

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, Mercury and Polygram as the fourth single from their third album, '' Sons of Soul'' (1993). The optimistic, upbeat song features

turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

scratches and a sample of

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

's 1990 song "If the Papes Come".

Music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

found the song's style and group member Raphael Wiggins' singing reminiscent of Smokey Robinson. "Leavin'" charted at number 82 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and at number 41 on the Hot R&B Singles. It attained its highest charting in New Zealand, where it peaked at number 30. The song also appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 1994 film '' Beverly Hills Cop III''.

Music and lyrics

Tony! Toni! Toné! recorded the song for their third album '' Sons of Soul'', which was recorded and released in 1993. The song was produced by the group and written by group member Raphael Wiggins and guitarist John "Jubu" Smith. "Leavin'" has an upbeat mood, a light, affectionate tone, soulful vocals, and sweeping string

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

s. Musically, it exemplifies the group's incorporation of traditional

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

styles on ''Sons of Soul''. It also features snippets of

scratches. It contains a sample of "If the Papes Come" by

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

Critical reception

Larry Flick from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine wrote, "Sweet guitar play, soulful top-shelf vocals, and an overall summery feel should boost this cut from the group's '' Sons of Soul'' album as ' Pillow' descends charts. Snippets of turntable scratches, undeniably sweet strings, and a couple of hand claps build this edit to a spirited finish. A smile-inducer for pop and urban outlets." Gil Griffin from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' noted that the "sensual" song "evokes Temptations-style optimism" and that its strings and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitar riffs recall Smokey Robinson's 1967 song " I Second That Emotion". Laura Zucker of ''

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

'' compared Saadiq's

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

singing on "Leavin'" to that of Robinson.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Leavin" was released in April 1994. It featured elaborate graphics and showed the group in alternating settings, including a lush country meadow, a hillside vista, and an urban hub at night, the latter of which featured lurid peep show marquees and pimps watching their prostitutes. Michael Saunders of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' finds the video analogous to the group's musical fusion of classic and contemporary styles on ''Sons of Soul'', writing that it "attempts to capture that merger visually with high-tech graphics, with a slinky soundtrack powering the mood."

Track listings

Personnel

Credits adapted from

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

( PolyGram #855763-2). * The B Company – artwork * Gerry Brown – mixing * Ed Eckstine – executive producer * Nicky Kalliongis –

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

* Tony! Toni! Toné! – producer

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lay Your Head on My) Pillow 1994 singles Songs written by Raphael Saadiq Tony! Toni! Toné! songs Songs written by Q-Tip (musician) Songs written by Ali Shaheed Muhammad 1993 songs Wing Records singles