"Move Me No Mountain" is a song written by

Jerry Ragovoy Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy (September 4, 1930 – July 13, 2011) was an American songwriter and record producer. His best-known composition " Time Is on My Side" (written under the pseudonym of Norman Meade) was made famous by the Rolling Stones, alt ...

and

Aaron Schroeder Aaron Harold Schroeder (September 7, 1926 – December 2, 2009) was an American songwriter and music publisher. Early years Born in Brooklyn, Schroeder graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art ...

. It was originally recorded in 1974 by

Love Unlimited Love Unlimited was a female vocal trio that provided backing vocals for American singer-songwriter Barry White on his albums and concert tours. They also found success with their own recordings. Career Formed in 1969, the group included Barry ...

, a group organized and produced by

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

. In 1975, Ragovoy arranged and produced a recording of the song by American singer

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

. Warwick's version used a slightly different melody in the song's chorus than the melody sung by Love Unlimited, and this variation has been used on subsequent recordings of the song. In 1980, American singer

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

recorded a version of the song with production by

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

Soul II Soul version

"Move Me No Mountain" was covered by British R&B band

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

and released in June 1992 as the second single from their third album, ''

Volume III Just Right ''Volume III Just Right'' is the third album by the English music collective Soul II Soul, released in 1992 through Ten and Virgin Records. Its first single was "Joy". The album peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 88 on the ''Billboard ...

'' (1992). It features British singer

Kofi Kofi is an Akan masculine given name among the Akan people (such as the Ashanti and Fante) in Ghana that is given to a boy born on Friday. Traditionally in Ghana, a child would receive their Akan day name during their Outdooring, eight days aft ...

(a.k.a. Carol Simms) and was a moderate hit in Europe. The song was a top 10 hit in Greece and Portugal, peaking at number seven and ten. In the UK, it reached number 31. Outside Europe, it peaked at number 29 on the ''

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 advertise ...

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart in the US and was a top 40 hit in New Zealand. The accompanying black-and-white

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

features Kofi performing the song behind or in front of a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

'' complimented the "silky tones" of new vocalist

, that empowers the song, "a hearty mix of the act's signature nouveau

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and state-of-the-charts

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

beats." John Martinucci from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The pu ...

'' declared it as a "laid back house-flavored track with Kofi's smooth vocals", adding that former

Snap! Snap! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by Record producer, producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has been through a number of line-up changes over the years, including American singers, songwriters and rappers Thea A ...

member

Penny Ford Penny Ford (also known as Pennye Ford, born June 11, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, she rose to fame in the 1980s after signing a recording contract with T ...

assists with the background vocals. A reviewer from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' opined that it's "all-too-slick" and the vocals delivered "sweetly but dispassionately". Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' named it Pick of the Week in the category of Dance, viewing it as a "standout" of the album. He also complimented the song as "an obvious choice" featuring "sweet soulful vocals". Dele Fadele from ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote, "...you can still rely on them for well-tailored grooves and universal sentiments. With new discovery Kofi's warm, earthy voice jousting against a string arrangement, "Move Me No Mountain" makes a case for long, languid summers and the resurrection of "Soul"." Orla Swift from ''

Record-Journal The ''Record-Journal'' is an American daily newspaper based in Meriden, Connecticut, that dates back to the years immediately following the American Civil War. It is owned by the Record-Journal Publishing Company, a family-owned business enti ...

'' described it as "

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

-inflected", naming it one of the album's "strongest cuts". Miranda Sawyer from '' Select'' felt that it "skips along very nicely — sweet lovers' rock vocals (from

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

star Kofi) soaring over Soul II Soul's effortlessly clubby beat." Another editor, David Lubich, remarked that it shows "a glimpse of vocal talent". Tom Doyle from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' was less enthustiastic, giving the song two out of five.

Track listing

* 12-inch single, UK (1992) #"Move Me No Mountain" (Club Mix) #"Move Me No Mountain" (Hackney E9 Mix) #"Move Me No Mountain" (Dub) #"Move Me No Mountain" (Removed Club Mix) #"Move Me No Mountain" (Dum Dum Dub) * CD single, UK (1992) #"Move Me No Mountain" (Album Edit) – 3:25 #"Move Me No Mountain" (Club Mix) – 4:22 #"Move Me No Mountain" (Radio Mix) – 2:56 #"Move Me No Mountain" (Hackney E9 Mix) – 4:06 #"Move Me No Mountain" (Dub) – 3:38 #"Move Me No Mountain" (Removed Club Mix) – 6:23 #"Move Me No Mountain" (Dum Dum Dub) – 5:18

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1974 songs 1992 singles Soul II Soul songs Virgin Records singles Dance-pop songs Black-and-white music videos Songs written by Aaron Schroeder Songs written by Jerry Ragovoy