A Groovy Kind of Love
A Groovy Kind of Love is the title of a pop song written by Toni Wine (text) and Carole Bayer Sager (music) in 1965 , which in 1966 became a million seller in the version of the Mindbenders .
History of origin
The song came about on a whim when Carole Bayer Sager first heard about the new youth expression "groovy" (great, great). She composed the song with Toni Wine while studying at the New York High School of Music & Art . Both tried to fit the new buzzword into one composition and experimented with different variations. Carole had the idea of "Groovy Kinda ...", from which "Groovy Kind of Love" evolved. The entire song was completed in 20 minutes. The text is about a protagonist who praises the very happy ("groovy") relationship with his lover - with grief and mutual closeness. The music is based on the first 8 bars of Muzio Clementi's piano sonatina in G major, Op. 36 No. 5 from 1797, 3rd movement , Rondo (Allegro di molto). Clementi envisages a much faster tempo than the later pop ballad . Even if only Tony Wine and Carole Bayer, but not Muzio Clementi, are named as authors, it is not plagiarism in the legal sense, as the musical work is in the public domain . The first two bars of the sonatina are repeated after the eighth bar in the pop song to create the impression of a refrain .
The compositional structure of the song is based on a progression in which one chord is used per measure . The melody hits the bass line at the end of the bar on every tenth note, followed by a suspension, then lowering the pitch with every third and fourth measure . This chord progression is as follows:
“... when you're close to [IV] me,
I can feel your [IIIm] heart beat
I can hear you [IIm] breathing
near my [V] ear.
wouldn't you a [I] gree ... "
This tone sequence was not yet widely used at the time the song was written.
Initially, Lesley Gore was supposed to take over this first composition from Carole Bayer Sager, but Gore's music producer Shelby Singleton demanded the omission of the slang word “groovy”. The lyricist declined, so her friend Gore was not allowed to record the song. The original was recorded instead by the unknown girl duo Diane and Annita. Diane Hall and Annita Ray brought it out under the title "A Groovey Kind of Love" on the EP One by One , which was only released in France in October 1965 (Vogue Int. 18035). The title song One by One (Wand 1100), which was released as a single, was released in November 1965 in the USA.
Mindbenders
Lead singer Wayne Fontana had left the band Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders in October 1965 during a gig, so that she then appeared as Mindbenders. Received the Group A Groovy Kind of Love on the London branch of the music publishing company Screen Gems music publishing company , in which the original was managed. In November 1965 she also chose the form of the ballad. The inclusion of A Groovy Kind of Love took place without Wayne Fontana, guitarist Eric Stewart took over the vocals. Stewart's weak voice was doubled by overdubbing , which made it more expressive. The Mindbenders single A Groovy Kind of Love / Love is Good (Fontana TF 644) was released in December 1965 and sold 250,000 copies in Great Britain straight away, for a total of one million. The single reached in the United States # 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK number 2 in the UK Top 40 .
Simon & Garfunkel picked up the word "groovy" in their hit The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin 'Groovy), recorded on August 16, 1966 . A Groovy Kind of Love by the Mindbenders received a BMI Award in 1966 and is ranked 73rd of the 100 best songs of the century by BMI .
More cover versions
There are at least 44 cover versions . Patti LaBelle released a pop version (January 1966), followed by Duane Eddy's Instrumental (July 1966), Graham Bonney (LP Super Girl ; September 1966), Mrs. Miller (December 1966), Sonny & Cher (LP In Case You 're in Love ; March 1967), Gene Pitney (LP Golden Greats ; June 1967), Petula Clark (June 1967) or Les Gray (February 1977). Phil Collins (LP Buster ; August 1988) made it another world hit, because his version from the soundtrack to the movie Buster became a number one hit in the USA , Great Britain , Ireland , Switzerland , the Netherlands and Australia . Collins originally wanted to record another song for the film, but decided on A Groovy Kind of Love after hearing a demo recording of the piece. In his opinion, the 1960s tunes of the composition were better suited to the plot of the film, which is also set in the 1960s. When Collins picked up the song, the youth slang "groovy" had long gone out of fashion; his version also sold more than a million copies. The single was at number 3 in the German charts and number 6 in Austria . Neil Diamond released another version on his album Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building (September 1993).
The song was also part of the soundtrack of the film Wedding Planner - In love, engaged, planned and the television series Friends .
Awards for music sales
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Germany (BVMI)
|
 gold
|
250,000 |
 Sweden (IFPI)
|
gold
|
25,000 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
gold
|
25,000 |
 United States (RIAA)
|
gold
|
500,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
 silver
|
200,000 |
| All in all |
1 × silver 4 × gold |
1,000,000 |
Main article: Phil Collins / Music Sales Awards
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Serene Dominic: Burt Bacharach, Song by Song . Music Sales Group, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8256-7280-4 , pp. 256 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ Songfacts, Interview with Toni Wine from May 8, 2007
- ↑ Rob Finnis, You Heard it Here First , 2008, p. 19 (CD booklet)
- ↑ Clementi published a total of 6 piano sonatins in 1797, which were published as opus 36 by Longman & Broderip in London
- ↑ 6 Sonatinas op. 36 by Muzio Clementi : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- ^ A b Walter Everett: The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" . Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-531023-8 , pp. 234 .
- ↑ Serene Dominic, Burt Bacharach, Song by Song , 2003, p. 256
- ↑ a b Bob Leszczak, Who Did it First? Great Pop Cover Songs and Their Original Artists , 2014, p. 84 f.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 226
- ↑ BMI Top 100 Songs of the Century from December 13, 1999
- ↑ Soundtracks for The Wedding Planner. imdb.com, accessed April 23, 2010 .
- ↑ Soundtracks for "Friends" The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding: Part 2. imdb.com, accessed April 23, 2010 .