I Couldn't Live Without Your Love

"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love"
"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love"
Single by Petula Clark
from the album ; I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
B-side	"Your Way of Life" (non-LP track)
Released	24 June 1966
Recorded	June 1966
Genre	Pop
Length	2:54
Label	Pye 7N 17133 (UK) ; Warner Bros. 5835 (US) ; Vogue STU 42245 (DEN) ; Vogue DVS 14552 (GER)
Songwriter(s)	Tony Hatch, Jackie Trent
Producer(s)	Tony Hatch
Petula Clark singles chronology
Music video
	Petula Clark & Jools Holland - 'I Couldn't Live Without Your Love' 2012 on YouTube

"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" is a 1966 single written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark. It was inspired by the affair the songwriters were having at the time. Clark has cited "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" along with "Don't Sleep in the Subway" as her favourite of her hits.^[1] “I still love that one; I do it onstage with great joy,” Clark told the "Montreal Gazette" in 2017.

Background

The song was recorded at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch in a session which featured guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, along with vocal group the Breakaways, and was introduced by Clark on her BBC variety series, This Is Petula Clark.

The single peaked at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" was the first single by Clark to reach #1 on the US Easy Listening chart.^[2]

A hit in Australia (#11), New Zealand (#18) and Rhodesia (#7), "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" gave Clark a hit in Germany twice, first in the original English at #13 and then again via a translation entitled "So wunderbar verliebt zu sein" (So wonderful to be in love) (#28).

Charts - Petula Clark version

Chart (1966)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	11
German Singles Chart	13
German Singles Chart German version ("So wunderbar, verliebt zu sein")	28
New Zealand Singles Chart	18
UK Singles Chart ^[3]	6
US Billboard Hot 100^[4]	9
US Billboard Easy Listening	1

Other versions

"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" has also been recorded by Patti Brooks, John Davidson, Freda Payne, and Mari Wilson.^[5] The 1967 album release Pet Project by the Bob Florence Big Band features an instrumental version of "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", the album being devoted to songs associated with Petula Clark. The Four King Cousins, a subgroup of the King Family Singers, featuring actress Tina Cole of "My Three Sons," performed the song on their 1969 ABC variety show. They still perform the tune decades later.

In 1966 Donatella Moretti (it) had a single release: "Se un ragazzo pensa a te" which is an Italian rendering of "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" while Swedish and Finnish renderings were single releases for respectively Siw Malmkvist ("Jag kunde aldrig glömma dej") and Monica Aspelund ("En Ilman Häntä Olla"); another Finnish rendering: "En Voi Elää Ilman Sua", was a 1992 single release for Mari Vesala (fi). The French rendering ""J'aimerais vieillir avec toi" was recorded by Dave for his 2004 album Doux Tam-Tam. The song was also recorded in 1976 by Jugular Vein, a UK jug band, on their album 'Waterloo Road' released on the Plastic Fantastic label, PFLR 3001.

In media

The song was used in adverts for Cesar dog food in the late 2000s.
In 2017, the song was used in an advert for Heathrow Airport, following the tale of 2 bears who met on a flight and how their relationship blossomed over the years.^[6]

References

^ Dubois, Bob (11 November 2010). "Going Downtown with Petula Clark". Le Magazine de L'îsle-de-Soeurs. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 56. ISBN 978-0898201499.
^ "Petula Clark". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Top Pop Singles 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 171. ISBN 978-0898202052.
^ I Couldn't Live Without Your Love on YouTube
^ Bloodworth, Adam (20 November 2017). "Heathrow reveals their Christmas advert featuring the 50-year love story of Doris and Edward Bair". Metro. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

Bibliography

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996, Billboard Books, ISBN 978-0823076321

[1] Dubois, Bob (11 November 2010). "Going Downtown with Petula Clark". Le Magazine de L'îsle-de-Soeurs. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.

[2] Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 56. ISBN 978-0898201499.

[UKchart-3] "Petula Clark". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

[4] Whitburn, Joel (2013). Top Pop Singles 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 171. ISBN 978-0898202052.

[5] I Couldn't Live Without Your Love on YouTube

[6] Bloodworth, Adam (20 November 2017). "Heathrow reveals their Christmas advert featuring the 50-year love story of Doris and Edward Bair". Metro. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

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v t e Petula Clark
Discography
Albums	Downtown I Know a Place The World's Greatest International Hits My Love I Couldn't Live Without Your Love Petula Clark's Hit Parade Colour My World These Are My Songs The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener Petula Then & Now: The Very Best of Petula Clark
Singles	"The Little Shoemaker" "Suddenly There's a Valley" "With All My Heart"/"Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" "Alone (Why Must I Be Alone)" "Sailor" "Romeo" "Dance On" "Downtown" "Anyone Who Had a Heart" "I Know a Place" "Round Every Corner" "You're the One" "My Love" "A Sign of the Times" "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" "Who Am I" "Colour My World" "This Is My Song" "The Last Waltz" "Don't Sleep in the Subway" "The Cat in the Window (The Bird in the Sky)" "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" "Kiss Me Goodbye" "Happy Heart" "I Don't Know How to Love Him" "My Guy" "Wedding Song (There Is Love)" "The Old Fashioned Way" "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"