Coz I Luv You

For the Slade album, see Coz I Luv You (album).
"Coz I Luv You"

UK/European cover of "Coz I Luv You".
Single by Slade
B-side "My Life Is Natural"
Released 8 October 1971
Recorded 1971
Genre Glam rock
Length 3:24
Label Polydor
Writer(s) Noddy Holder/Jim Lea
Producer(s) Chas Chandler
Slade singles chronology
"Get Down and Get With It"
(1971)		 "'Coz I Luv You"
(1971)		 "Look Wot You Dun"
(1972)
Audio sample
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Alternative Cover
Dutch cover of "Coz I Luv You".
Alternative Cover
French cover of "Coz I Luv You".

"Coz I Luv You" is a song by British band Slade, written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler. It was the band's second hit single in the UK and the first of six number ones. Released on 30 October 1971, it was last seen on the charts on 5 February 1972 at #44. According to Holder's autobiography the single sold half a million copies in only two weeks.

The song was typical of Slade's brash, stomping glam style and prominently featured Jim Lea's electric violin. It quickly reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, where it stayed for four weeks in November 1971. In the first week of its release, the single reached #26, followed by #8 the following week and #1 the week after. The single was #1 for four weeks and stayed at #3 for three weeks after that.[1]

Background

Chas Chandler had put Lea under pressure to write a new song for a single. Lea turned up at Holder's home unexpectedly with his guitar and violin with an idea for a song with a Django Reinhardt/Stephan Grapelli "Hot Club" sound. The track was written in half an hour. The song began the writing partnership of Holder and Lea which would continue throughout Slade's career. Originally the band felt the song to be too soft and so clapping was added. The misspelt titles also became a trademark for Slade, causing some consternation among the country's school teachers.[2]

The song had no promotional video but was performed on numerous TV shows, both in UK and in Europe.[3][4]

Ritchie Blackmore commented on the song in an 1971 Melody Maker interview "Is this the MM staff band? I think I recognise it now the guitarist is speeding up. The song isn't bad. I like the violin. It's very coarse, but the guitar needs speeding up a lot. It can't be East of Eden, and it's certainly not Family. Slade, yes? They are a good group because the don't care about the notes and there is a public wanting that. Another group might be too inhibited to do what they do."[5]

In a November 1980 Sounds magazine interview, Lea spoke about the song: "I didn't even like some of those old ones. We all hated 'Gudbye T' Jane' when we made it, it was knocked up in half an hour at the end of one of our studio sessions. The same for our second single, 'Coz I Luv You'. It was namby-pamby to us, a throwaway for an album. It shot to number one in two weeks and we thought, 'What a pile of shit!' It was so wet."[6][7]

In a December 1984 interview with Record Mirror, the magazine tested Lea's memory by asking him to recall the story behind certain hits. About "Coz I Luv You", Lea recalled:

That was the time when I wrote mainly with Don and Dave wrote with Nod. Nod and I were really into Stephan Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, the violin and stuff, so one afternoon I went over to Nod's on his council estate where he lived with his mum and dad and I said 'hey Nod, why don't we write a song?'. I took my violin with me and said why don't we do a Stephan Grappelli thing. 'Hot Love' was in the charts at the time - Marc Bolan, and I said something like that, dead simple and we wrote the song in half an hour. We got the structure of the tune and Nod just filled in the gaps. That's the only song we've ever written like that.

The song was voted #3 of the top three Slade songs that fans would most want to hear live in the Slade Fan Club Poll of 1979.[8][9]

The song was later used in the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine and in an advert for the Ford Transit van. More recently the song was used in the casting of BBC drama, Life on Mars. The song plays on series two, episode four as a group of swingers in middle-class suburbia dine at a wife swapping party.

The song also features in the film El Lobo, a political thriller revolving around the Spanish terrorist group ETA.

Promotion

The song had no promotional video created but the song was performed on numerous TV shows, both in the UK and throughout Europe. Another form of promotion was the band's live performances.

The song was performed on the UK show Top of the Pops, whilst the song was included as part of the band's Set of Six performance on UK's Granada Television in 1972 featured a similar set to the Slade Alive! album. The song was performed on the Belgian TV show Popshop in 1971, the German TV shows Disco and Beat Club, both in 1971, and the Dutch show Popgala in 1973.

In 1977, the band performed the song on East Germany television where the group also mimed several other previous hits, together with interviews of each band member.[10]

Formats

7" Single
  1. "Coz I Luv You" - 3:24
  2. "My Life is Natural" - 3:12
7" Single (Polydor "Golden Greats" series reissue)
  1. "Coz I Luv You" - 3:24
  2. "Mama Weer All Crazee Now " - 3:43

Critical reception

Record Mirror magazine reviewed the single upon release, "Written by Slade men Holder and Lea, this is a natural born successor to "Get Down and Get With It". As they've been riot-raising round the British Isles of late, I've no doubt that this staccato building production will make it. And make it big. Touches of violin, yet, a sturdy foot-pounding sort of build up. Less frantic than of yore, but a really persistent ear-bender."[11]

NME released a review of the single upon release which incorrectly defined the release as a double A-side single. It said:

A good follow-up to the recent hit by Slade, and one which could give the outfit its second successive chart entry. The only drawback is that this is a double a-side disc, and I feel that artists are foolish to try and grab the best of both worlds. In the process, sales are often split down the middle, with the result that neither side is a hit! In this case, I would have thought that "Coz I Luv You" is the obvious plug side because it should satisfy both the mainstream pop and the heavy brigade. It's a rousing hard-hitting number, generating bags of electricity and urgency, but nevertheless blessed with a strong melody line and a chorus with which it's easy to join in. The flip is more progressive and is something of a rave-up with, I imagine, more limited appeal. All the same, a meaty set from Slade and a tight production.[12]

In 2011, The Guardian published a small article based on the single. "It was all about the stomp: Coz I Luv You's bootboy rhythm anchored its swirling, menacing violin line and the two combined to give this single – Slade's first Number 1 – its frightening, primitive edge. The band went on to become the most successful UK singles act of the 70s, but their music – setting aside their Christmas pension plan – never totally lost this hint of muscle and threat. As for the look, there's still something more startling about the band's brickies-in-platform-heels image than any amount of crafted androgyny."[13]

Chart performance

Chart (1971) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[14] 9 14
Belgian Singles Chart (Vl)[15] 7 10
Dutch Singles Chart[16] 2 11
French Singles Chart[17] 21 22
German Singles Chart[18] 9 16
Irish Singles Chart[19] 1 9
New Zealand Singles Chart 24
UK Singles Chart[20] 1 15

Cover versions

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "Coz I Luv You". Chart Stats. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  2. ↑ Slade's Greatest Hits compilation booklet
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Slade International Fan Club newsletter June - July - August 1986
  5. ↑ "BLIND DATE WITH RITCHIE BLACKMOREMELODY MAKER OCTOBER 1971". Thehighwaystar.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "Related Links". Timesup.dsl.pipex.com. 29 October 2005. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  7. ↑ Sounds Magazine - 15 November 1980 - Back From The Dead - Steve Keaton meets Noddy Holder and Jim Lea of Slade
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Slade Fan Club Magazine January–February 1980
  10. ↑ "SLADE @ www.slayed.co.uk". Crazeeworld.plus.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  11. ↑ Record Mirror magazine 16 October 1971
  12. ↑ NME, 9 October 1971
  13. ↑ Tom Ewing (11 June 2011). "Slade take glam to No 1 | Music". London: The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  14. ↑ "Go-Set Australian charts ~ 1971". Poparchives.com.au. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  15. ↑ "Slade - Coz I Luv You". ultratop.be. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  16. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Slade - Coz I Luv You". dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  17. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tout les Titres par Artiste". Infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  18. ↑ musicline.de / PhonoNet GmbH. "Die ganze Musik im Internet". musicline.de. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  19. ↑ Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Group - http://www.fireballmedia.ie. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  20. ↑ "Slade - Coz I Luv You". Chart Stats. 30 October 1971. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  21. ↑ "Alan Caddy Orchestra And Singers - Six Top Hits - Avenue - UK - NUE 160". 45cat. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  22. ↑ "Medium: Million Copy Hit Songs Made Famous by Slade, T. Rex, Sweet - Vandyke Brown, Unicorn Express and Indigo Blue (1973)". Second Hand Songs. 21 February 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  23. ↑ "Go Crazy - Coz I Luv You / We Don't Want To Go Home - Toys In The Attic Records - UK - TOY 1". 45cat. 16 January 2011. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  24. ↑ "Medium: Ruby Trax - The NME's Roaring Forty - (1992)". Second Hand Songs. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  25. ↑ "Jimbo featuring Bull Coz I Luv You UK 5" CD SINGLE (213171)". Eil.com. 23 April 2002. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  26. ↑ http://www.musik-sammler.de/media/544
  27. ↑ "Slade Music Sampled by Others". WhoSampled. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  28. ↑ "Run Run Rudolph". Last Rockers Records.
Preceded by
"Maggie May" by Rod Stewart		 UK number one single
13 November 1971 for four weeks 		Succeeded by
"Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" by Benny Hill
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