“A Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Collins’ “A Girl Like You” jumps around a bit. In some cases the subject is the singer himself, while in others it’s the addressee, his romantic interest. And whereas it is indeed amorous in nature, at times it gets quite allegorical, including delving into the vocalist’s perception of the society he lives in and also briefly into his religious leanings. In other words, “A Girl Like You” is pretty complex for a love song. But a love song it is. And as such the main sentiment being relayed, despite the unique and at times roundabout metaphors used to relay them, is that Collins is indeed smitten by the addressee.
Edwyn Collins wrote this song as well as produced it. And in terms of the latter, he sampled a hit 1965 track called 1-2-3 by an American musician named Len Barry (1942-2020).
This track came out on 5 December 1994. Its label is Setanta Records. And it is featured on Edwyn’s third album, Gorgeous George.
Edwyn Collins, a musician from Scotland, has been in the game since the mid-1970s. And “A Girl Like You” has proven to be the signature song of his career, reaching number one in Iceland and Belgium. And in terms of its global showing, it appeared on the music charts of 20 different nations, most notably getting as high as number 4 in Britain.
It has been put forth that this song is actually meant to serve as a tribute to American rocker Iggy Pop. And it was further reported that Pop intended to record his own rendition of “A Girl Like You” but opted not to due to Collins’ own version blowing up.
This classic from Collins was used in an episode of the hit TV series Lucifer.
MySpace Confusion
There was a little mixup about the copyright of the song after the manager of the singer wanted the song to be free on the Myspace platform in 2009. However, the social media site indicated that they only accept claims from record labels and not individuals.