Interesting to hear Edwyn Collins, in this month’s Uncut, say he he didn’t think that much of his biggest hit A Girl Like You before it became a phenomenon. I remember at the time – as a veteran Edwyn watcher who had evangelized for years about the most thrillingly romantic debut album ever (“Will you tape x for me?” “Sure. And I’m putting You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever on the other side – no argument”.), about how, during the darkest depths of Winter, the sax break on I Can’t Help Myself was just the ticket to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder, the alternative universe masterpiece that is the emphatically-titled The Orange Juice, the missed-by-everyone classic that is Hellbent On Compromise and the startling fact that obscure non-hit My Beloved Girl was right in there mixing it with Aretha and Ronnie Spector on the shortlist for the song to salute my exit from planet Earth – being somewhat perplexed that this was the tune to capture everyone’s imagination.
Back when parent album Gorgeous George was new, us Edwyn watchers saw it as a tidy collection of songs elevated by that trademark EC oddness. Its talking points were who was Gorgeous George and who was the principal target of the caustically quotable opening manifesto The Campaign For Real Rock. Frankly, no-one was too enthused about AGLY, although from an album of mostly downtempo tunes it wasn’t surprising that it was chosen as a single.
After more than 30 years of this sh*t I thought I knew something: The Look Of Love by ABC is machine-tooled to be a number 1 record (yes, I know it wasn’t – I just don’t accept the fact); The Fall’s Theme From Sparta F.C. may (or may not) be a better record but immutable forces of chart gravity will keep it well away from the top. Simple. Then …this.
Of course, no-one was going to begrudge the most likeable man in pop™ his windfall.
But reminiscing about that time, I find myself wondering, dear Afterword chums, whether there are more examples where you were equally nonplussed when it was that song/album/performance etc that grabbed the imagination of those out there in the real world. Maybe you could post them below…?
You’re Raving About What Now? The Curious Case Of A Girl Like You
by 23 Comments
Totally agree about AGLY from the Gorgeous George album Sewer…I always thought Make Me Feel Again was a better song and would have been an obvious single. Although I liked it a lot as a song, surely there were too many odd noises in AGLY for it to be much of a hit? Shows what I know!
Will think of my own example now…
Greatest freak hits of yesteryear:
1) Macarthur Park
.
2) O Superman
.
Both of them were far too long to normally be considered for radio play.
Velvet Underground – I’m Sticking With You
Recorded in 1969 and never released at the time. Appeared on the VU album in 1985.
Became a radio hit 10 years later (I think Johnnie Walker played it everyday for a month) and was used on a TV advert. A Best Of was quickly released featuring said song.
The casual listener must’ve been somewhat disorientated when confronted with Venus In Furs and Heroin (if it was up to me. I’d have put Sister Ray on the compilation as well)
A Girl Like You is simply awesome. It is only the fact it was played a billion times that means one looks back on it with less fondness.
A guy on a Neil Young message board a few years ago used to post about HOGTTs (Heart of Gold Toe Tappers), people who went to a Neil Young show expecting to hear that one and a few others of the same ilk.
Was interesting to see fans like these at a Crazy Horse show, being completely baffled and horrified as they launched into F*ckin Up or something similar, ending with 10 minutes of feedback. They soon found their way to the exit …
A woman standing behind me at a NY/CH concert was complaining about Love And Only Love was ‘too long and too loud’. Not sure what she expected.
“I’m only here for the Osmonds”
I had to double check the timeframe to check I wasn’t misremembering this, but a big part of the success of A Girl Like You was that it tapped into a post-Pulp Fiction zeitgeist for surf-pop/lounge music. Pulp Fiction came out October 1994, so when A Girl Like You was released in December, people still had Misirlou and Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon ringing in their ears. I certainly did. It’s a great song but it felt like an opportunistic cash-in to be honest, like Neil Diamond meets the Surfaris.
Japan – Ghosts.
Still amazes me that it became a top five hit single as it’s not radio friendly and pretty experimental.
A Girl Like You sounds great on the radio. It leaps from the speaker and dances the listener round the room. I used to credit Paul Cook’s drumming but it’s more likely his vibraphone playing.
Isn’t it an Oblique Tribute to Iggy Pop?
The drumming is sampled from a Northern Soul stomper. Can’t remember what it is if course. PC’s drumming in that band was typically excellent, though.
Always enjoyed the fuzz guitar, puts me in mind of the interventions on Forever Changes. An oblique trubute to Arthur Lee?
I’m pretty sure Gorgeous George was publicised with a vintage image of George Galloway, who had yet to gain very much attention outside of Scotland.
Len Barry 1-2-3
Thank you.
I remember it getting wunnerful Radio 1 airplay and thinking that it was great but probably appear briefly in the lower parts of the charts. I was really pleased that it caught on and was a huge hit worldwide. I had no inkling on first listen that this was the big one.
Once it had been out for a few weeks, it came on loudly in a large and busy pub and it sparked joy for a quietly-spoken civilian friend of a friend who was normally be pretty neautral/disinterested in pop music. At that moment, he got it – that fizzing feeling that music can give to you. It really did sound excellent in that place at that time.
I should also imagine that strip clubs the world over play it on rotation.
I’ll be the Grinch. I can’t stand AGLY. Tedious melody, tedious fuzz guitar, Collins’ irritating and affected vocal mannerisms. Snooze.
Back to the OP original question – so Stereolab are back, and this was their biggest tune and they’ll no doubt be expected to play it on their comeback tour. It’s alright but they’ve got tons of much better songs than this and I never quite understood why this one got singled out as ‘the hit’ . Here they are on The Word – note the bussed in London clubland types and wannabe ‘Zoo Wankers’ ((C) Neil Kulkarni) trying to ‘Vogue’ to Stereolab, poor sods.
Have always liked A girl like you whilst not necessarily thinking its Edwyn’s best song. However I witnessed an incendiary version of it at the Birmingham Glee club a few years back. It was nearing the end of the set and A girl like you was the finale. Halfway through the song guitarist James Walbourne broke a string just as he was about to go into a solo. It seemed to enrage him and he launched into a snarling transcendental solo that had the audience gasping . To this day it remains on of the best solos I have heard and I just wish I had a recording of it. Fantastic.
I think it’s because those of us of a certain age used to listen to Mark & Lard and Lamacq & Wiley on Radio 1, and this was one of the records they absolutely caned (along with AGLY).
Although I’ve not heard much of their back catalogue to compare them against, French Disko and Ping Pong by Stereolab have weathered very well as surely among the two best singles of the 90s.
It’s now a song from the days of yore.
Bam bam bam bam, bum BAH BAAM!
I think Edwyn’s oft-overlooked masterpiece is the acoustic version of If You Could Love Me, which is the B-side of A Girl Like You. It’s made better by the fact that I’ve never met anyone else who’s ever heard it.
A Girl Like You was, and still is, a great record in my opinion.
I’d nominate ‘Galway Girl’ by Steve Earle. It was played to death over here and was covered by Mundy, whose version became ubiquitous – to the extent that the song became ‘Mundy’s Galway Girl’. I will never need to hear it again. Last time I went to see Steve live, the ‘Townes’ tour, he dutifully played it for those who had come for that specific song, but they had to sit through his tales of drug addiction, prison and multiple divorces before he got to it. I’m not sure that’s what they expected…
You know what? When I first heard Creep by Radiohead I thought it was … alright, and that they had a chance of getting about as big as Adorable or Kinky Machine.