"The Game of Love" is a 1964 song by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, first released as a single from the band's titular album in January 1965 in the United Kingdom, followed by the United States one month later as "Game of Love". The song reached Number 2 on the UK Singles chart and Number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that year.[4][5] The song also spawned multiple successful cover versions, including a version by Ian "Tex Pistol" Morris that was a Number 1 hit in New Zealand in 1987.[6] The song was also adapted into French by Frank Gérald as "Quand tu es là" ("When you are there") and was recorded by French pop singer Sylvie Vartan, first in July 1965 as the second single off of her 1966 studio album "Il y a deux filles en moi" ("There are two girls in me") that was a hit in French-speaking Belgium,[7][8] followed by a re-recording in 1990, released as a non-album single, that was a minor hit in France.[9][10]
The song was covered in 1987 by New Zealand musician Ian Morris, under the stage name Tex Pistol[21] and was released as the second and penultimate single off of his debut album, "Nobody Else", which was released the following year. The song reached Number 1 on the New Zealand music charts in late September 1987 and was the first of two hits for Morris.[22]
Morris was looking for a "more commercial" follow up to his Tex Pistol debut single "The Ballad of Buckskin Bob". He had begun work on a cover of The Underdog's "Sitting In The Rain" when advertising music collaborator Jim Hall suggested "The Game of Love" as a good song to cover. Morris "immediately knew how it would sound". He credits its success to "a combination of technology of the time and a good simple song".[23]
The song is notable for its unusual drum sound. Morris had been working on the audio for a card ad at the time. His curiosity piqued by a supplied video clip of a racecar going over a hill, Morris recorded the sound, sped it up, and mixed it with a clip of a snare drum.[24][25]
The song also features Callie Blood, Morris's later collaborator on advertising jingles, on backing vocals.
The song went to number 1 on the New Zealand music charts.[26] According to Morris's brother Rikki Morris, the song was a surprise hit and so the 500 pressed copies sold out, meaning that the single hit number one but could not remain there.[25]
The reworking of the song gave Morris a 1987 RIANZ award for best engineer and a nomination for best producer. The song was accompanied by a video by then-teenager Paul Middleditch that was also nominated for best video and is now considered one of the highlights of New Zealand 80s music-video making.[27]
In 1965, the song was adapted into French by Frank Gérald as Quand tu es là (meaning "When you are there") and performed by French pop singer Sylvie Vartan and was released as a single in July 1965 as the second single off of her 1966 studio album Il y a deux filles en moi ("There are two girls in me"). Vartan's original version peaked at Number 18 on the French Belgian charts in 1965.[28][29]
In late 1990, 25 years after the release of Vartan's original recording, Vartan re-recorded the French adaption and released it as a non-album single on Philips Records (the longtime and former label of her ex-husband Johnny Hallyday, of whom Vartan was married to at the time when she released her original recording), produced by Étienne Daho under the moniker "E.D.". Vartan's re-recording was a minor hit on the French charts in early 1991, charting from 9 February to 9 March 1991, peaking at Number 48.[31][32]
^Breihan, Tom (November 15, 2022). "The Beatles - "I Want To Hold Your Hand". The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York: Hachette Book Group. p. 45.
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