B-side "To a Flame" Format 7" single Length 3:03 | Released November 1970 Genre Folk rock Label Atlantic | |
"Love the One You're With" is a song by folk rocker Stephen Stills. It was released as the lead single from his debut self-titled studio album in November 1970. The song, inspired by a remark Stills heard from musician Billy Preston, became his biggest hit single, peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1971. David Crosby and Graham Nash, Stills' fellow members of Crosby, Stills & Nash, provide background vocals on the song. The song was also covered by a number of artists, including The Isley Brothers, Bucks Fizz, and Luther Vandross.
Contents
Background
Stills wrote the song after being inspired by the tag line — "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" which was a frequent remark by musician Billy Preston. Stills asked him for permission to use the line in a song and Preston agreed immediately.
A live version by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young appears on their album 4 Way Street. A solo version by Stills appears on the Crosby, Stills and Nash CD Demos.
Personnel
Isley Brothers version
Several acts have since covered the song. The most notable cover came in 1971 from The Isley Brothers, whose unique gospel-driven cover of the song sent it to the charts again reaching number three R&B and number eighteen pop, giving the group their fifth US top 40 pop single.
Personnel
Bucks Fizz version
UK pop group Bucks Fizz covered the song as their eighteenth single in 1986. The single, released in August, was the follow-up to the group's comeback top ten hit "New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)" and was seen as a make or break release. Ultimately the song peaked at a low No.47 in the UK Singles Chart during a three-week run. In a review, music magazine Number One said that the song lacked bass and sounded rather "tinny" but predicted that it would be a hit. Member Mike Nolan puts the song's failure down to the decision to showcase other male member Bobby G as the lead singer. Their previous single had featured all the group equally and was a hit, while earlier flops had featured G on lead and this was a return to that format. A promotional video for the song was filmed featuring the group performing the song in a blue-toned studio accompanied by backing musicians. The single was released on 7" and 12" on Polydor Records with an extended mix on the latter, the B-side was a Bobby G composition, "Too Hard". Also included on the 12" was an extended mix of earlier single "I Hear Talk". A second 12" single was released featuring a dance edit of "Love the One You're With", backed by another alternate mix of "I Hear Talk". "Love the One You're With" was included on the group's fifth studio album Writing on the Wall released at the end of the year. It has subsequently been included on re-issues of the album in alternate mixes.
Track listing
- "Love the One You're With" (Stephen Stills) 3.19
- "Too Hard" (Bobby G / Ian Bairnson) 3.56
- "Love the One You're With (Stills) 7.52
- "I Hear Talk" (Rmixed extended version) (Andy Hill / Peter Sinfield) 4.35
- "Too Hard" (G / Bairnson) 3.56
Luther Vandross version
Luther Vandross released a cover of the song on his 1994 album Songs. It peaked in the top 30 on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles, 33 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks; and earned Vandross a 1995 Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Other versions
In culture
In 2012, the song was featured in Ridley Scott's sci-fi movie Prometheus. Idris Elba sings a short phrase from the song after describing a possibly fictional account of how his squeezebox used to belong to Stills.
Australian alternative rock band TISM's 2004 album The White Albun featured a song titled "Diffident Strokes" which includes the lines "Love the one you're with, / and if you can't love the one you're with, go fuck yourself."