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Love Is All Around
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Wikipedia article
"'Love Is All Around'" is a song recorded by English rock band the Troggs, featuring a string quartet and a 'tick tock' sound on percussion, in D-major. It was written by lead singer Reg Presley and was purportedly inspired by a television transmission of the Joy Strings Salvation Army band's "Love That's All Around". The song was first released as a single in the UK in October 1967, peaking at number 5. On the Hot 100, the record entered at number 98 on 24 February 1968, peaked at number 7 on 18 May 1968, was on the chart a total of 16 weeks, and ranked number 40 for all of 1968.
"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 consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Charts
On the UK Singles Chart top 50, the record debuted at number 50 on 18 October 1967 (using the Wednesday date system) (date derived from 21 October 1967 and 28 October 1967), peaked at number 5 on 22 November 1967 (using the Wednesday date system) (date derived from 25 November 1967), and appeared 15 straight times.
Wet Wet Wet version
Richard Curtis approached Scottish band Wet Wet Wet about recording a cover song to soundtrack his film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. The band got to pick between three choices of songs, the other two being "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor and "Can't Smile Without You" by Barry Manilow. Singer Marti Pellow related that the decision to pick "Love is All Around" was an easy choice "because we knew we could make it our own". The song, which has a different introduction from the Troggs' version, was released on 9 May 1994.
Critical reception
Larry Flick from 'Billboard' wrote, "Grinding rock ballad is etched with crunchy chords and vocals that conjure up memories of various old '60s pop favorites. Pledge-of-love lyrics will tug at the emotions of susceptible teen-age girls, as well as folks who want to relive fond moments from the notable Andie MacDowell film." Steve Baltin from 'Cash Box' concluded that "the Scottish quartet have a charm about their music that makes it easy to see why they were chosen for the soundtrack of the surprise hit film. Supposedly theyre through conquering the rest of the world and now plan on concentrating on America. With this song, they're on their way." Music writer James Masterton commented in his weekly UK chart commentary, "Just when you thought all was lost, along comes a record to restore your faith in pop music." Pan-European magazine 'Music & Media' deemed it a "sugary ballad", adding, "let's see if Marti Pellow can shake his hips like Reg Presley!"Chart performance
On 15 May 1994, "Love Is All Around" entered the UK Singles Chart at number four. After climbing to number two the following week, it reached number one on 29 May. It then remained there for 15 weeks, the joint third-longest UK chart reign of all time (beaten only by Frankie Laine's "I Believe" which clocked up 18 weeks at the top during the 1950s and Bryan Adams' song from 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves', "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", which was number one for 16 consecutive weeks in 1991) with Drake's "One Dance" which also stayed at the top for 15 weeks in 2016. "Love Is All Around" spent a further 20 weeks in the UK Top 75. Throughout its chart run, some radio stations banned the song, as many listeners were fed up of hearing it for so long. The band themselves eventually took the decision to delete the record from sale, but did not manage to tie with Adams as "Saturday Night" by Whigfield entered straight at the top on 11 September 1994, with Wet Wet Wet dropping to number two.Reg Presley famously spent some of his songwriting royalties on crop circle research. Pellow also recorded his own version of the song for inclusion on his 2002 album 'Marti Pellow Sings the Hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile'.
In 2004, Pellow told the 'Daily Record', "We did everybody's head in the summer of 1994." 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." In 2013, the year that Reg Presley died, "Love Is All Around" was named as the number one song in VH1's 'The Ultimate Movie Soundtrack: Top 100'.
As of February 2021, it has sold 1.91 million copies in the United Kingdom, making it the country's best-selling love ballad of all time (including download and physical sales only), in front of songs including Bryan Adams's chart topping film theme (number 3 with 1.87 million copies sold) and "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston (number 5 with 1.66 million sales).
Music video
A music video was made to accompany the song, directed by German director Marcus Nispel. It was published on YouTube in August 2013. The video has amassed over 46 million views as of September 2021.Track listings
* 'UK CD1'
# "Love Is All Around"
# "I Can Give You Everything" (7-inch Arthur Baker soul remix)
# "Ain't No Stoppin'/Le Freak"
* 'UK CD2'
# "Love Is All Around"
# "Is This Love" (live)
# "Love Is All Around" (TV mix)
# "I Can Give You Everything" (12-inch house mix)
* 'UK 7-inch and cassette single'
# "Love Is All Around"
# "I Can Give You Everything" (7-inch Arthur Baker soul remix)
* 'US CD single'
# "Love Is All Around" 3:59
# "Cold Cold Heart" 4:13
* 'US 7-inch single'
:A. "Love Is All Around" 3:59
:B. "Goodnight Girl" 3:38
Credits and personnel
Credits are lifted from the UK CD1 liner notes and the 'Picture This' album booklet.'Studio'
* Recorded at The Brill Building (Glasgow, Scotland)
'Personnel'
* Wet Wet Wet production, arrangement
** Graeme Clark fretless bass, assorted basses, production
** Tommy Cunningham drums, percussion
** Neil Mitchell keyboards, piano
** Marti Pellow vocals
* Reg Presley writing
* Graeme Duffin all guitars, co-production
* Bob Clearmountain mixing
* Ian Morrow programming
* Simon Vinestock engineering
* Andrew Boland string engineering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|+1994 year-end chart performance for Wet Wet Wet cover
!Chart (1994)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Austria (3 Austria Top 40)
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Canada Adult Contemporary ('RPM')
| style="text-align:center;"|73
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|France (SNEP)
| style="text-align:center;"|14
|-
!scope="row"|Germany (Official German Charts)
|align="center"|7
|-
!scope="row"|Iceland (slenski Listinn Topp 40)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
!scope="row"|Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles (OCC)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|US Adult Contemporary ('Billboard')
| style="text-align:center;"|26
|}
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Other cover versions and film uses
Prior to achieving international success with their single "These Eyes", "Love Is All Around" was covered by The Guess Who around 1967/68, and is available on compilation album 'This Time Long Ago'. The song was also covered by Lotta Engbergs orkester as "Du ger mig av din krlek" with Swedish lyrics written by Peter Stedt in 1994 while the Spanish rendering "El Amor Me Envuelve (Sabes Que Te Amo)" was recorded by Roco Banquells for her 1999 album 'Fuerza Del Amor'. Other covers include an easy-listening version by The Johnny Mann Singers on the 1968 Liberty Records album 'This Guy's in Love With You The Look of Love'.
The song appeared in 'Get Real' (1998) directed by Simon Shore, screenplay by Patrick Wilde. After its use in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', the song appeared in several of Richard Curtis' other projects, including the 2003 film 'Love Actually' (reinvented as the Christmas song "Christmas Is All Around" performed by actor Bill Nighy as fictional rock star Billy Mack), and an episode of hit sitcom 'The Vicar of Dibley' where it is performed by a church choir. It also played in a season two episode of 'Orphan Black' and included on the TV show's official soundtrack. R.E.M. also covered "Love Is All Around" for the soundtrack to the 1996 film 'I Shot Andy Warhol'. Australian band Human Nature covered the song on their 2018 album 'Romance of the Jukebox'.
See also
*List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s
*List of number-one hits of 1994 (Austria)
*List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1994
*List of European number-one hits of 1994
*List of number-one singles in 1994 (New Zealand)
*List of number-one songs in Norway
*List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden
*List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1990s
*List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom
References
Category:1960s ballads
Category:1967 singles
Category:1967 songs
Category:1994 singles
Category:The Troggs songs
Category:Wet Wet Wet songs
Category:Number-one singles in Australia
Category:Number-one singles in Austria
Category:Number-one singles in Denmark
Category:European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles
Category:Number-one singles in Finland
Category:Number-one singles in Iceland
Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand
Category:Number-one singles in Norway
Category:Number-one singles in Scotland
Category:Number-one singles in South Africa
Category:Number-one singles in Sweden
Category:Number-one singles in Switzerland
Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles
Category:Songs written by Reg Presley
Category:Rock ballads
Category:Fontana Records singles
Category:Mercury Records singles
Category:London Records singles
Category:Music videos directed by Marcus Nispel
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