Retro top 10
THIS WEEK IN 1983
1 You Can’t Hurry Love Phil Collins
2 Down Under Men At Work
3 The Story of the Blues Wah!
4 Electric Avenue Eddy Grant
5 Orville’s Song Keith Harris and Orville
6 A Winter’s Tale David Essex
7 Heartache Avenue Maisonettes
8 Steppin’ Out Joe Jackson
9 European Female The Stranglers
10 Our House Madness
‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Motown team who also gave us such classic gems as ‘Baby Love’, ‘Stop! In The Name Of Love’ and ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’.
The song was originally a 1966 hit for The Supremes, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and number three in the UK.
Sixteen years after it was first released, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ finally reached the top of the UK (and Irish) charts courtesy of Phil Collins. His version, from his second solo album ‘Hello, I Must Be Going!’, was also a top ten hit in the US. It was the first of three UK solo number ones for the Genesis man (‘Easy Lover’ and ‘A Groovy Kind Of Love’ being the other two).
Collins, who had ‘Motown, we salute you’ included on the album sleeve, has stated that he chose to record ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ as ‘a tribute to Motown’.
It was the first cover version he had released as a single.
It was also the first track on the very first ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ compilation CD.
Speaking about his recording of the Motown classic, Collins told Mojo magazine: ‘We needed to get everything right on it, but we didn’t really succeed. There were no naff strings on the original to start with. Motown is where I lived musically when I was growing up. I was a regular at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street (London) in the sixties. I always went to see The Action and The Who, and they both did great Motown covers. The Motown tracks were always an inspiration.’
Five years after reaching number one with ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, Phil Collins would collaborate with Lamont Dozier (of Holland-Dozier-Holland fame) on ‘Two Hearts’, a No. 1 hit in the US which reached number 6 in the UK, and 3 in Ireland.
When asked in an interview what he thought of the Phil Collins’ version of ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, Dozier said: ‘I think he was being respectful because he loved the song and he loved Motown. He had his own interpretation and his own style. I thought it was well done.’