The Game of Love (Wayne Fontana song)

"The Game of Love" is a 1965 song by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, released in the States as "Game of Love". It was covered by New Zealand musician Tex Pistol and released in 1987.

Original version

Track listing

Chart

The song reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1965.

Tex Pistol version

"The Game of Love"
Single by Tex Pistol
from the album Nobody Else
B-side	"Boot Heel Drag" (12" only) "W.11 to Whangaroa Bay"
Released	1987
Format	7", 12"
Genre	Pop, rock
Label	Pagan Records
Writer(s)	Clint Ballard, Jr.
Producer(s)	Ian Morris
Tex Pistol singles chronology
"The Game of Love" (1987) "Nobody Else" (1988)
Music video "Game of Love" at NZ on Screen

The song was covered in 1987 by New Zealand musician Ian Morris, under the stage name Tex Pistol^[1] and released as "The Game of Love".

Background

Morris was looking for a "more commercial" follow up to his Tex Pistol debut single "The Ballad of Buckskin Bob". He had begun work on a cover of The Underdog's "Sitting In The Rain" when advertising music collaborator Jim Hall suggested "The Game of Love" as a good song to cover. Morris "immediately knew how it would sound". He credits its success to "a combination of technology of the time and a good simple song".^[2]

The song is notable for its unusual drum sound. Morris had been working on the audio for a card ad at the time. His curiosity piqued by a supplied video clip of a racecar going over a hill, Morris recorded the sound, sped it up, and mixed it with a clip of a snare drum.^[3][4]

The song also features Callie Blood, Morris's later collaborator on advertising jingles, on backing vocals.

Track listing

Charting and awards

The song went to number 1 on the New Zealand music charts.^[5] According to Morris's brother Rikki Morris, the song was a surprise hit and so the 500 pressed copies sold out, meaning that the single hit number one but could not remain there.^[4]

The reworking of the song gave Morris a 1987 RIANZ award for best engineer and a nomination for best producer. The song was accompanied by a video by then-teenager Paul Middleditch that was also nominated for best video and is now considered one of the highlights of New Zealand 80s music-video making.^[6]

Other versions

A 1965 cover version by French singer Sylvie Vartan entitled Quand tu es là was featured in the 2012 American film Ruby Sparks. The song is also sampled in American rapper Eminem's song "Love Game", from his 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2 and hip hop group De La Soul's song "My Brother's a Basehead" from the 1991 album De La Soul Is Dead. In the 80s a French cover was used for the main theme of the radio morning zoo in Quebec city: "J'écoute le Zoo".

References