“You Can’t Hurry Love” by Phil Collins

“You Can’t Hurry Love” is a song released by British singer-songwriter Phil Collins in 1982 from his second solo studio album “Hello, I Must Be Going!” The song, which was originally released by The Supremes in 1966, is basically about a mother advising her young daughter to be patient and not rush into establishing a romantic relationship with anyone because at the right time she would meet the right person.

According to Collins, the idea behind his rendition of “You Can’t Hurry Love” was to try to see if he and his long-time collaborator Hugh Padgham could accomplish the herculean task of duplicating the song’s Sixties sound in the studio. And indeed, the task proved quite difficult for Collins and Padgham since the majority of the recording equipment in the Eighties were totally different from what were used back in the Sixties. According to Collins, he and Padgham found it very difficult trying to achieve the rough drum sounds of the original song since their main goal was to make a “remake” of the song and not an “interpretation”.

Facts about Phil Collins’ “You Can’t Hurry Love”

“You Can’t Hurry Love” was written by the renowned song-writing and production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, which consisted of Lamont Dozier and Eddie and Brian Holland.

Collins altered some of the lyrics of the original song in his version. For example, in his version he used the line “How much more must I take?” instead of the original song’s “How much more can I take?”

Collins’ version went on to become the most famous and successful cover of the song peaking at the number 1 position in a number of countries including Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Having peaked at number 1in the United Kingdom, “You Can’t Hurry Love” became Collins’ first solo song to reach the number-one spot on the UK Singles Chart.

The song was Collins’ first cover to be released as a single as well as one of his most successful cover songs.

Collin’s version was certified Platinum in the UK. Currently it has sold over a million units.

Popular Usage and Covers

• D.L. Byron had his rendition on the soundtrack of 1980 American drama movie “Times Square”.
• Dixie Chicks’ cover of the song was part of 1999 American rom-com movie “Runaway Bride” soundtrack.
• 2014 British historical comedy-drama movie “Pride” featured this song. The song accompanied the scene where Carl (Kyle Rees) asks Mark (Ben Schnetzer) to have a beer with him.
• In the third season of 2017 American drama series “Dynasty”, Sammy Jo (Rafael de La Fuente) and Fallon Carrington (Elizabeth Gillies) covered “You Can’t Hurry Love”.
• The song appears in the last episode of American sitcom “Superstore” season 4. The said episode was aired on 16^th May, 2019.

Chart Performance

In countries such as Belgium and Canada, the song topped the charts.

It also gave Collins a top-10 hit in the United States and at least 6 other countries.