Coz I Luv You

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.

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

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."

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."

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.

The song was later used in the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine and in the launch advert for the Ford Transit. 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.

Formats

1. "Coz I Luv You" - 3:24
2. "My Life is Natural" - 3:12

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."

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.

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."

Cover versions

Personnel