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"Groovy Kind of Love"
#1 weeks: 2
weeks: 1988-10-22, 1988-10-29
genre: classic rock, pop
artist: Phil Collins
album: A Groovy Kind of Love
writers: Carole Bayer Sager, Toni Wine
label:
formats: 7"
lengths: 1:57

"A Groovy Kind of Love" is a pop song written by Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager for the Screen Gems music publishing company. It is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5 by Muzio Clementi. The song was released first by Diane & Annita in 1965, and several covers have since appeared on worldwide music charts.

The song title was an early use of the then-new slang word "groovy". Wine, who was 17 years old when the song was written, says, "Carole came up with "Groovy kinda… groovy kinda… groovy…" and we're all just saying, "Kinda groovy, kinda groovy, kinda…" and I don't exactly know who came up with "Love," but it was "Groovy kind of love." And we did it. We wrote it in 20 minutes. It was amazing. Just flew out of our mouths, and at the piano, it was a real quick and easy song to write.

The Mindbenders released a 1965 cover which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart. The song was the only solo hit for Les Gray (lead vocalist with Mud); his version made it to #34 in the UK in 1977. Phil Collins released a 1988 version which hit #1 in both the U.S. and UK charts.

Other covers include:

In 1979 Italian artist Ivan Graziani recorded "Agnese", his own adaptation of Clementi's Rondo, which has the same song structure.

The song is played on violins in the Friendstelevision episode "The One with the Wedding Part 2".

Jack McGraw, who ran the London Screen Gems offices, thought the Wine/Bayer Sager song was a perfect match for the new group The Mindbenders, who recorded their cover of "A Groovy Kind of Love" in 1965. They liked the result so much that they named their first album A Groovy Kind of Loveand released the song to radio as their debut single. It soon reached number two in the UK, and did the same in the United States when it was released there a year later.

Phil Collins recorded a new version of "A Groovy Kind of Love" in 1988. He had originally suggested the song as a good one for collaborator Stephen Bishop to record, with Collins producing, but decided to record it himself when he took a starring role in the film Buster, which had a 1960s setting. The song was originally released on Buster: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and also appeared on his Serious Hits… Live! album, as well as several Phil Collins compilation albums.

This version went the Mindbenders release one better, hitting #1 in both the U.S. and UK charts, and it remains the only Collins single to top the charts in both countries. It also reached #1 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart. The song earned Collins a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1989; he lost to Bobby McFerrin's song "Don't Worry, Be Happy".