| "Coz I Luv You" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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UK/European cover of "Coz I Luv You". |
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| Single by Slade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "My Life Is Natural" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released | 08 October, 1971 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1971 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Glam rock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Polydor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Noddy Holder/Jim Lea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Chas Chandler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Slade singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Coz I Luv You" is a song by Slade, written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler. It was the band's second hit single in the UK and the first of six number one singles. It was released on 30/10/1971 and was last seen on the charts on 05/02/1972 at #44. According to Noddy Holder's autobiography the single sold half a million copies in only two weeks.
Typical of Slade's brash, stomping glam style, it prominently featured Jim Lea's electric violin and quickly reached number one on the UK singles chart, where it stayed for four weeks in November 1971. Originally, the first week of being released, the single hit #26, followed by #8 the next week and #1 the following after. The single was #1 for 4 weeks and stayed at #3 for 3 weeks after.[1]
The single peaked at #82 for 1971 on rateyourmusic and #4062 for overall singles.
Contents |
Chas Chandler had put Lea under pressure to write a new track for a single. Lea turned up at Holder's home unexpectedly with his guitar and violin with an idea for a song with a Django Reinhardt/Stephan Grapelli hot club sound. The track was written in half an hour. This began the writing partnership of Holder and Lea which would carry on throughout Slade's career. Originally the band felt the song to be too soft and so clapping was added to the recording. The misspelt titles also became a trademark for Slade, causing a great furore among teachers up and down the country.[2]
The song had no promotional video for the single but was performed on numerous TV shows, both English and European.[3][4]
Ritchie Blackmore spoke of the song in an interview "Is this the MM staff band? I think I recognise it now the guitarist is speeding up. The song isn't bad. I like the violin. It's very course, but the guitar needs speeding up a lot. It can't be East of Eden, and it's certainly not Family. Slade, yes? They are a good group because the don't care about the notes and there is a public wanting that. Another group might be too inhibited to do what they do."[5]
In a November 1980 Sounds magazine interview, Lea spoke of the song. "I didn't even like some of those old ones. We all hated 'Gudbye T' Jane' when we made it, it was knocked up in half an hour at the end of one of our studio sessions. The same for our second single, 'Coz I Luv You'. It was namby-pamby to us, a throwaway for an album. It shot to number one in two weeks and we thought, 'What a pile of shit!' It was so wet."[6][7]
The song was voted #3 of the top three Slade songs that fans would most want to hear live in the Slade Fan Club Poll of 1979.[8][9]
The song was later used in the film Velvet Goldmine and in an advert for the Ford Transit van.
More recently the song was used in the casting of BBC drama, Life on Mars. The song plays on series two, episode four as a group of swingers in middle-class suburbia dine at a wife swapping party.
The song also features in the film El Lobo, a political thriller revolving around the Spanish terrorist group ETA.
Record Mirror magazine reviewed the single upon release, "Written by Slade men Holder and Lea, this is a natural born successor to "Get Down and Get With It". As they've been riot-raising round the British Isles of late, I've no doubt that this staccato building production will make it. And make it big. Touches of violin, yet, a sturdy foot-pounding sort of build up. Less frantic than of yore, but a really persistent ear-bender."[10]
NME magazine released a review of the single upon release which incorrectly defined the release as a double a-side single. "A good follow-up to the recent hit by Slade, and one which could give the outfit its second successive chart entry. The only drawback is that this is a double a-side disc, and I feel that artists are foolish to try and grab the best of both worlds. In the process, sales are often split down the middle, with the result that neither side is a hit! In this case, I would have thought that "Coz I Luv You" is the obvious plug side because it should satisfy both the mainstream pop and the heavy brigade. It's a rousing hard-hitting number, generating bags of electricity and urgency, but nevertheless blessed with a strong melody line and a chorus with which it's easy to join in. The flip is more progressive and is something of a rave-up with, I imagine, more limited appeal. All the same, a meaty set from Slade and a tight production."[11]
In 2011, The Guardian published a small article based on the single. "It was all about the stomp: Coz I Luv You's bootboy rhythm anchored its swirling, menacing violin line and the two combined to give this single – Slade's first Number 1 – its frightening, primitive edge. The band went on to become the most successful UK singles act of the 70s, but their music – setting aside their Christmas pension plan – never totally lost this hint of muscle and threat. As for the look, there's still something more startling about the band's brickies-in-platform-heels image than any amount of crafted androgyny."[12]
| Chart (1971) | Peak position |
Total weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart[13] | 9 | 14 |
| Belgian Singles Chart[14] | 6 | 11 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[15] | 2 | 11 |
| French Singles Chart[16] | 21 | 22 |
| German Singles Chart[17] | 9 | 16 |
| Irish Singles Chart[18] | 1 | 9 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 24 | |
| UK Singles Chart[19] | 1 | 15 |
| Preceded by "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart |
UK number one single November 13, 1971 for four weeks |
Succeeded by "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" by Benny Hill |
