With a distinctive guitar riff and an unforgettable opening line, "Your Love" became one of the most memorable hits of the '80s. When lead singer Tony Lewis declares, "Josie's on a vacation far away, come around and talk it over," we know he's up to something. Our hero spends the rest of the song in seduction mode, trying to convince this girl (probably and ex-girlfriend) to have a one-night-stand. He pulls every trick from the player's handbook:
Nobody Will Ever Know ("Stay the night but keep it undercover")
I Really Need Comfort ("Another shoulder to cry upon")
I Don't Know Where Else To Turn ("I ain't got many friends left to talk to")
It Won't Mean Anything ("I just wanna use your love tonight")
Does he capture his prey? We never find out, but it's clear that Josie deserves better.
Formed in Manchester, England and signed to Columbia Records as "The Baseball Boys," the group changed their name to The Outfield and released their debut album Play Deep in 1985. Like all of their original songs, "Your Love" was written by the band's guitarist, John Spinks, who died of liver cancer in 2014 at age 60.
The song became an '80s classic and the showcase song for the band, which scored four more Top 40 hits: "All the Love in the World" (#19, 1985), "Since You've Been Gone" (#31, 1987), "Voices of Babylon" (#25, 1989) and "For You" (#21, 1990).
In 2013, Saturday Night Live did a skit based on this song where host Josh Hutcherson speaks in the song's lyrics, trying to convince Josie's friend to have an affair. In the skit, Hutcherson is Josie's younger brother. It's a great visualization of the dynamic, as the girl rebuffs him at first, but is drawn in when he gets to the blue talk ("I can't hide the way I'm feelin'...").
