Love is All Around
Artists: Wet Wet Wet
Original artists: The Troggs
I guess it’s something of a moot point: Which helped the other more? Did the release of
Love is All Around assist the success of the film Four Weddings and a Funeral more
than Four Weddings aided the song?
Either way, both were outstanding successes in 1994.
The film was the first of several major movie successes written by Richard Curtis. He
would go on to be involved in other rom-coms including Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s
Diary, Love Actually (which included a reworking of Christmas is All Around sung by actor
Bill Nighy), and Yesterday, the film that portrays a world where no one remembers the
Beatles.
Curtis is also known for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr Bean and The
Vicar of Dibley. Earlier still, he produced material for the BBC’s Not the Nine O’Clock
News and ITV’s Spitting Image.
The song recorded by The Toggs was a top-ten hit in both the UK and the US in 1967.
Its lead singer, Reg Presley, claims to have written it in about 10 minutes. He says it
was inspired by the Salvation Army Joystrings band who sang Love That’s All Around.
The Troggs’ version peaked at No 5 in the UK and No 7 in the US.
Love is All Around was one of three songs suggested by Curtis to Wet Wet Wet. The
other two were Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and Barry Manilow’s Can’t Smile
Without You
Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow says picking Love is All Around was an easy choice
“because we knew we could make it our own”. And they did!
Love is All Around by Wet Wet Wet hit No 1 in the UK in May 1994 and stayed there for
15 weeks which, at the time was joint third longest run at the top. One of those to beat it
was another movie-related hit (Everything I Do) I Do it For You from Robin Hood: Prince of
thieves recorded by Bryan Adams (16 weeks).
However, Wet Wet Wet had the last laugh. Latest available figures (February 2021), say
Love is All Around has sold 1.91 million copies in the UK, making it the country’s best-
selling love ballad of all time (including download and physical sales), in front of songs
including Everything I Do (1.87 million copies) and I Will Always Love You by Whitney
Houston (1.66 million sales).
Which version do you prefer? Wet Wet Wet or The Troggs
