"The Things I Love in You"
Single by Cold Chisel
from the album The Last Wave of Summer
A-side"The Things I Love in You"
B-side"Smalltown Motel Blues", "Yakuza Girls"
Released16 August 1998
RecordedFestival Studios
GenreRock
Length3:22
LabelMushroom Records
Songwriter(s)Don Walker
Cold Chisel singles chronology
"Yesterdays"
(1995) 		"The Things I Love in You"
(1998) 		"Water into Wine"
(1998)

"The Things I Love in You" is a song by Australian rock band Cold Chisel. It was released in August 1998 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, The Last Wave of Summer (1998). The song peaked at number 10 in Australia and 43 in New Zealand.

Details

Barnes claimed the song was about, "a guy standing on a street corner, drinking a beer, while his girlfriend is upstairs doing to someone else what he'd love her to do to him, and he thinks about killing them both." He said that the released version was his first take, and afterwards, "I lay on the floor covered in sweat and exhausted. I just had no more left to offer."[1]

Author Don Walker said, "One stage I was mucking around with some songs with Spencer Jones and I showed him the idea because I thought he might be able to finish it off. I didn't think it was anything special, but the other people in the band jumped on it immediately, in particular Jim. Jim said, 'That to me is a Cold Chisel song.'"[2] Musically, Walker described the song as, "five white guys trying to copy the Motown sound of the Four Tops."[3]

The song was rehearsed in a number of different arrangements for at least a year before recording. The recorded version featured shortened verses (recommended to Walker by Charles Fisher) and a key-change after the chorus.[4]

Track listing

CD single (MUSH01808.2)
  1. "The Things I Love in You" - 3:22
  2. "Smalltown Motel Blues" - 4:56
  3. "Yakuza Girls" - 2:31
  4. "The Things I Love in You" (Joe Bishara Remix) - 3:57

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[5] 10
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[6] 43

Year-end charts

Chart (1998) Position
Australian Singles Chart[7] 78

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[8] Gold 35,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Malcolm Dome. "Six of the Best, Jimmy Barnes picks a half dozen career changing songs". Team Rock.
  2. ^ Michael Lawrence (2012). Cold Chisel: Wild Colonial Boys. Melbourne, Victoria: Melbourne Books. p. 331. ISBN 9781877096174.
  3. ^ O'Grady, Anthony (2001). Cold Chisel: The Pure Stuff. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. p. 191. ISBN 1-86508-196-5.
  4. ^ Anthony O'Grady (2001). Cold Chisel: The Pure Stuff. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. p. 131. ISBN 1-86508-196-5.
  5. ^ "Cold Chisel – The Things I Love in You". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Cold Chisel – The Things I Love in You". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  7. ^ "1998 ARIA SINGLES CHART". ARIA Charts. Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  8. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1998 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
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