| "Love is All Around" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Troggs | ||||
| B-side | "When Will the Rain Come" | |||
| Released | October 1967 | |||
| Format | 7", 45 rpm | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | Page One | |||
| Writer(s) | Reg Presley | |||
| The Troggs singles chronology | ||||
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"Love Is All Around" is a song composed by Reg Presley and performed by The Troggs. Purportedly inspired by a television transmission of the Joy Strings Salvation Army band, the song was first released as a single in the UK in October 1967, peaking at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart in late November 1967 and No. 7 on the Hot 100 chart in the US on 18 May 1968. This version features a string quartet and a 'tick tock' sound on percussion.
"Love is All Around" has been covered by numerous artists, including R.E.M., with whom the Troggs subsequently recorded their 1992 comeback album Athens Andover. R.E.M.'s cover was a B-side on their 1991 "Radio Song" single, and they also played it during their first appearance at MTV's Unplugged series that same year. Wet Wet Wet's cover, for the soundtrack to the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral, was an international hit and spent 15 weeks at number one in the UK Singles Chart.
Contents |
| Chart (1967/1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 5 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 7 |
| "Love Is All Around" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Wet Wet Wet | ||||
| from the album Four Weddings and a Funeral and Picture This | ||||
| Released | 9 May 1994 | |||
| Recorded | 1994 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | PolyGram / Records Service | |||
| Writer(s) | Reg Presley | |||
| Producer | Graeme Clark Graeme Duffin Wet Wet Wet |
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| Wet Wet Wet singles chronology | ||||
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Wet Wet Wet's version of "Love Is All Around" was released on 9 May 1994. It topped the UK Singles Chart after two weeks and, fuelled by its appearance in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral,[1] remained there for fifteen consecutive weeks. All told, the song spent 37 weeks on the Top 75 survey. As of November 2011, the song had sold 1,298,131 physical copies in the United Kingdom.[2] "We did everybody's head in the summer of 1994," commented the band's frontman, Marti Pellow, exactly a decade later. This led to some radio stations banning the song. The band themselves eventually took the decision to delete the record from sale.[3] Nevertheless, Pellow said, "I still think it's a brilliant record. Its strength is its sheer simplicity. Any band would give their eye teeth to have a hit record like that. I'm very proud of it."[4]
Reg Presley famously spent some of the proceeds, which he received for composing the song, on crop circle research.[5]
Pellow recorded his own version of the song for inclusion on his 2002 album Marti Pellow Sings the Hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile.
The employment of film projection onto blank cards in the song's video is reminiscent of R.E.M.'s "Radio Song" video, shot three years earlier. Regarding the Wets' recording of the song, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck said, "People say they got the idea to do it from seeing us play - and I hope so, because it made Reg a million pounds or something. It's a great song. I thought it was a fine version."[6]
"I heard their live version - they did it on TV once - and [Marti Pellow] sang it with the same little melody that I threw in there, which was kind of nice," added Mike Mills. "That thing like uh-uh-uh-urrr at the end. That doesn't exist on the original version."[6]"Oh, okay. I thought you meant bah-bah-bah-bah-bah-bah-bah-bah," concluded Michael Stipe.[6]
A Slovenian adaptation of Wet Wet Wet version was also recorded, with the lyrics in Slovenian language, by the Slovenian pop band Čuki, as Vsepovsod ljubezen (Slovenian literally for Love everywhere), soon after the original Wet Wet Wet version was released.
Čuki also released a video for their adaptation of the song, which, just like the Wet Wet Wet video, features the same technique of film projection onto blank cards.
A parody of the song appears as a central theme in the British Christmas/romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), which, like Four Weddings and a Funeral, was written by Richard Curtis. On the film's DVD commentary track, Curtis says that after the success of the Wet Wet Wet version, he "couldn't think of a funnier way to start the film than by actually making [the British public] listen to the same song again." In the movie, a burned-out rock star character, Billy Mack (played by Bill Nighy), changes the lyrics of the classic "Love Is All Around" to "Christmas Is All Around" and "come on and let it show" to "come on and let it snow" in what he freely admits is a cheap attempt to reach the Christmas number one spot, thus achieving a comeback "at any price". The Christmas version appears periodically throughout the movie, with frequent references made to its being "crap". The song is featured on the film's soundtrack album, which in 2004 reached Billboard's Top 40 and ranked #2 on the soundtrack album chart. It also achieved gold record status in Mexico and Australia.
The song was also covered by Lotta Engbergs orkester as "Du ger mig av din kärlek" with Swedish lyrics written by Peter Stedt in 1994.[7]
Peak positions
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Year-end charts
Certifications
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