Love Is All Around
"Love Is All Around" is a song recorded by English rock band the Troggs, featuring a string quartet and a 'tick tock' sound on percussion, in D-major. It was written by lead singer Reg Presley and was purportedly inspired by a television transmission of the Joy Strings Salvation Army band's "Love That's All Around". The song was first released as a single in the UK in October 1967, peaking at number 5. On the Hot 100, the record entered at number 98 on 24 February 1968, peaked at number 7 on 18 May  1968, was on the chart a total of 16 weeks, and ranked number 40 for all of 1968. "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 consecutive weeks at number  one on the UK Singles Chart. Charts. On the UK Singles Chart top 50, the record debuted at number 50 on 18 October 1967 (using the Wednesday date system) (date derived from 21 October 1967 and 28 October 1967), peaked at number 5 on 22 November 1967 (using the Wednesday date system) (date derived from 25 November 1967), and appeared 15 straight times. Wet Wet Wet version. Richard Curtis approached Scottish band Wet Wet Wet about recording a cover song to soundtrack his film "Four Weddings and a Funeral". The band got to pick between three choices of songs, the  other two being "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor and "Can't Smile Without You" by Barry Manilow. Singer Marti Pellow related that the decision to pick "Love is All Around" was an easy choice "because we knew we could make it our own". The song, which has a different introduction from the Troggs' version, was released on 9 May 1994. Critical reception. Larry Flick from "Billboard" wrote, "Grinding rock ballad is etched with crunchy chords and vocals that conjure up memories of various old '60s pop favorites. Pledge-of-love lyrics will tug at the emotions of susceptible teen -age girls, as well as folks who want to relive fond moments from the notable Andie MacDowell film." Steve Baltin from "Cash Box" concluded that "the Scottish quartet have a charm about their music that makes it easy to see why they were chosen for the soundtrack of the surprise hit film. Supposedly they’re through conquering the rest of the world and now plan on concentrating on America. With this song, they're on their way." Music writer James Masterton commented in his weekly UK chart commentary, "Just when you thought all was lost, along comes a record to  restore your faith in pop music." Pan-European magazine "Music & Media" deemed it a "sugary ballad", adding, "let's see if Marti Pellow can shake his hips like Reg Presley!" Chart performance. On 15 May 1994, "Love Is All Around" entered the UK Singles Chart at number four. After climbing to number two the following week, it reached number one on 29 May. It then remained there for 15 weeks, the joint third-longest UK chart reign of all time (beaten only by Frankie Laine's "I Believe" which clocked up 18 weeks at the top during the 1950s and  Bryan Adams' song from "", "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", which was number one for 16 consecutive weeks in 1991) with Drake's "One Dance" which also stayed at the top for 15 weeks in 2016. "Love Is All Around" spent a further 20 weeks in the UK Top 75. Throughout its chart run, some radio stations banned the song, as many listeners were fed up of hearing it for so long. The band themselves eventually took the decision to delete the record from sale, but did not manage to tie with Adams as "Saturday Night" by Whigfield  entered straight at the top on 11 September 1994, with Wet Wet Wet dropping to number two. Reg Presley famously spent some of his songwriting royalties on crop circle research. Pellow also recorded his own version of the song for inclusion on his 2002 album "Marti Pellow Sings the Hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile". In 2004, Pellow told the "Daily Record", "We did everybody's head in the summer of 1994." 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." In 2013, the year that Reg Presley died, "Love Is All Around" was named as the number one song in VH1's "The Ultimate Movie Soundtrack: Top 100". As of February 2021, it has sold 1.91 million copies in the United Kingdom, making it the country's best-selling love ballad of all time (including download and physical sales only), in front of songs including Bryan Adams's chart topping (number 3 with 1.87 million copies sold) and "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston (number 5 with 1.66 million  sales). Music video. A music video was made to accompany the song, directed by German director Marcus Nispel. It was published on YouTube in August 2013. The video has amassed over 46 million views as of September 2021. Credits and personnel. Credits are lifted from the UK CD1 liner notes and the "Picture This" album booklet. Studio Personnel Other cover versions and film uses. Prior to achieving international success with their single "These Eyes", "Love Is All Around" was covered by The Guess Who around 1967/68, and is available on compilation album "This Time Long Ago". 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 while the Spanish rendering "El Amor Me Envuelve (Sabes Que Te Amo)" was recorded by Rocío Banquells for her 1999 album "Fuerza Del Amor". Other covers include an easy-listening version by The Johnny Mann Singers on the 1968 Liberty Records album "This Guy's in Love With You • The Look of Love". The song appeared in "Get Real" (1998) directed by Simon Shore, screenplay by Patrick Wilde. After its use in "Four Weddings and a Funeral", the song  appeared in several of Richard Curtis' other projects, including the 2003 film "Love Actually" (reinvented as the Christmas song "Christmas Is All Around" performed by actor Bill Nighy as fictional rock star Billy Mack), and an episode of hit sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley" where it is performed by a church choir. It also played in a season two episode of "Orphan Black" and included on the TV show's official soundtrack. R.E.M. also covered "Love Is All Around" for the soundtrack to the 1996 film "I Shot Andy Warhol". Australian band Human Nature covered the song on their 2018  album "Romance of the Jukebox".