Love Is All Around (The Troggs song)

"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
"Hi Hi Hazel" (1967) "Love Is All Around" (1967) "Little Girl" (1968)

"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.

Charts

Chart (1967/1968)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	5
US Billboard Hot 100	7

Wet Wet Wet version

"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
Wet Wet Wet singles chronology
"Cold Cold Heart" (1993) "Love Is All Around" (1994) "Julia Says" (1995)

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, fueled 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] He also bought a new home^{[citation needed]}.

Pellow recorded his own version of the song for inclusion on his 2002 album Marti Pellow Sings the Hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile.

Track listings

CD 1

1. "Love Is All Around"
2. "I Can Give You Everything" (7" Arthur Baker soul remix)
3. "Ain't No Stoppin'/Le Freak"

CD 2 Limited Edition Digi Pack

1. "Love Is All Around
2. "Is This Love?" (live)
3. "Love Is All Around" (TV mix)
4. "I Can Give You Everything" (12" house mix)

MC

1. "Love Is All Around"
2. "I Can Give You Everything" (7" Arthur Baker soul remix)

7"

1. "Love Is All Around"
2. "I Can Give You Everything" (7" Arthur Baker remix)

R.E.M. connection

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," concluded Michael Stipe.^[6]

Slovenian-language adaptation

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.

Christmas song

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.

Other cover versions

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]

Charts

Peak positions Chart (1994) Peak position Australian ARIA Singles Chart[8] 1 Austrian Singles Chart[8] 1 Canadian Singles Chart 17 Dutch Top 40[9] 1 Eurochart Hot 100 1 French SNEP Singles Chart[8] 2 German Singles Chart[10] 2 Irish Singles Chart[11] 2 New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[8] 1 Norwegian Singles Chart[8] 1 Swedish Singles Chart[8] 1 Swiss Singles Chart[8] 2 UK Singles Chart[12] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[13] 41 US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[13] 8

Year-end charts Chart (1994) Position Australian Singles Chart[14] 1 Austrian Singles Chart[15] 2 Dutch Top 40[9] 5 French Singles Chart[16] 14 Swiss Singles Chart[17] 5 Certifications Country Certification Date Sales certified Austria[18] Platinum 22 November 1994 30,000 Germany[19] Platinum 1995 500,000 Netherlands[20] Gold 1994 40,000 Sweden[21] Platinum 25 October 1994 20,000 UK[22] 2× Platinum 1 August 1994 1,200,000

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 hits in Norway
• List of number-one hits (Sweden)
• List of number-one singles from the 1990s (UK)

References

1. ^ King, Alex P. (2004) (in French). Hit-parade — 20 ans de tubes. Paris: Pascal. p. 343. ISBN 2-35019-009-9. 
2. ^ Jones, Alan (7 November 2011). "UK Singles Chart analysis: Professor Green's Read All About it sales dip 44%". Music Week. http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1047360&c=1. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
3. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (2002). The Great Rock Discography (6 ed.). Canongate. ISBN 1841953121. 
4. ^ Sloan, Billy (27 June 2004). "Wets Get Together Again". Daily Record. http://www.webma.nl/martipellow8m/news/wets.html. 
5. ^ "Reg Presley's 'Wild Things They Don't Tell Us'". BBC Wiltshire. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/features/regpresley.shtml. Retrieved 20 March 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Harris, John (June 2001). "unknown". Q magazine. 
7. ^ Information at Svensk mediedatabas
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Love Is All Around", in Swiss, Austrian, French, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Australian and New Zealander Singles Chart Lescharts.com (Retrieved 22 January 2008)
9. ^ ^{a b} "Single top 100 over 1994" (in Dutch) (pdf). Top40. http://www.top40.nl/pdf/Top%20100/top%20100%20-%201994.pdf. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
10. ^ "Wet Wet Wet singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Wet+Wet+Wet/single. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
11. ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
12. ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
13. ^ ^{a b} Wet Wet Wet singles, Billboard charts Allmusic.com (Retrieved 25 August 2008)
14. ^ 1994 Australian Singles Chart aria.com (Retrieved 25 August 2008)
15. ^ 1994 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 25 August 2008)
16. ^ 1994 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved 30 January 2009)
17. ^ 1994 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved 25 August 2008)
18. ^ Austrian certifications. ifpi.at. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
19. ^ "German certifications – Love+Is+All+Around" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/?action=suche&strTitel=Love%2BIs%2BAll%2BAround&strInterpret=&strTtArt=alle&strAwards=checked. Retrieved 25 August 2008. 
20. ^ Dutch certifications. nvpi.nl. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
21. ^ Swedish certifications. Ifpi.se. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
22. ^ UK certifications. Bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2008