"Just the Two of Us" was written by Bill Withers, Ralph MacDonald and William Salter.[4] Originally an instrumental track written by MacDonald and Salter, MacDonald contacted Withers and he wrote the lyrics.
Composition
Harmony
"Just the Two of Us" is in the key of
F minor. The
chord progression D♭maj7 – C7♭9 – Fm7 – E♭m7A♭7 of its
intro and
verse can be thought of as a
double-time modified reordering of the first four
bars of the
"Sunny" chord progression.[5] "Just the Two of Us" restarts this progression but settles on the minor tonic: D♭maj7 – C7♭9 – Fm7 – %. Its
chorus inserts an additional Em7 chord to chromatically descend from the first Fm7 to E♭m7 chord.
"Just the Two of Us" was covered by Japanese singer
Toshinobu Kubota as a duet with
Caron Wheeler in 1991, for his album Kubojah: Parallel World I. The song was listed as "Just the 2 of Us", featuring a reggae-style beat. In 1995, Kubota re-recorded the song with a more R&B-style beat for his album Sunshine, Moonlight. In 1996, he released the song as the second single from the album. The song charted at number 30 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and remained on the charts for five weeks.[30] It was included in the setlist during the Oyeees! Tour. During the tour,
Joi Cardwell, who sang backing vocals during the tour, performed the song as a duet with Kubota. In 2007,
Double performed the song on the MTV Japan Icons Special; during the performance, Kubota walked onto the stage to complete the song with her.[citation needed] In 2012, Kubota performed the song with Japanese singer Yuri, who was also a background vocalist during his "Party Ain't A Party Tour". The performance was included on his concert DVD "Party Ain't A Party", which was released in May 2012.[citation needed]
Music video
In 1996, Toshi Kubota and Caron Wheeler shot a music video for the song. The video is set at night, at a party in Kubota's apartment. Wheeler watches the party from the fire escape of the next apartment building. The single version was used for the audio format of the video. There are also shots of other musicians playing their instruments during the party, a group of elderly men playing cards outside the apartment on the sidewalk, and a couple dancing in another room of the apartment.
"Just the Two of Us" (Street mix) (featuring Fat Man Scoop and E. Bros.)
Other cover versions
Bill Cosby did a parody version, "Just the Slew of Us", as the theme music for his movie Bill Cosby: Himself. Ralph MacDonald was the writer/producer.
In 1992, the New York City R&B vocal trio Around the Way sampled the song in "Really Into You". They reached No. 89 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of that year.[33]
Between 1995 and 1996, the rapper
Don't Try To Xerox (DTTX) sampled "Just the Two of Us" for their song "Tha 2 Of Us", featuring
Christopher Williams singing its chorus. The song was part of 1996
Bulletproof film's
soundtrack and it is played on ending (casting list) of the film.[34]
In 1995,
Smif-N-Wessun sampled “Just the Two of Us” on the remix to their song “Wreckonize” from their album
Dah Shinin'.
Tiro de Gracia sampled "Just the Two of Us" for their song "El Juego Verdadero", off their 1997 Ser humano!! album.
Will Smith released
a single in 1997 which samples and incorporates lyrics from the original. Instead of love between a couple, Smith's version focuses on the relationship between a father and son. Smith originally wrote a children's book with the same title and lyrics. For his album, he performed it in rap form.
Anal Cunt jokingly performed the song as a duet between singer
Seth Putnam and Hillary Logee on their 1997 album I Like It When You Die. It features dissonant out of key keyboard noodling and mocking vocals from Putnam. The writers of the song are credited as "Some Fucking Retard" in the CD booklet.[35][36]
The title was popularized in France to be the main music for advertising campaigns for Caprice des Dieux cheese since 2009.[42]
TikTok
In late 2020, "Just the Two of Us" started trending on
TikTok,[43][44] which prompted Salters' granddaughter, Jada Salter, to upload a video to the platform commemorating his work.[45]
^Molanphy, Chris (July 31, 2021).
"What a Fool Believes Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast).
Slate. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
^"Top 100 Singles". Cash Box. republished online at tropicalglen.com. May 9, 1981. Archived from
the original on June 3, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2019.