"Love Comes Quickly" is a song by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

, released as the second single from their debut studio album, '' Please'' (1986). It peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1986.

Composition and recording

"Love Comes Quickly" was written by

Chris Lowe Christopher Sean Lowe (born 4 October 1959) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Neil Tennant in 1981. Biography Christopher Sean Lowe was born and raised in Bla ...

and

Neil Tennant Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for '' Smash Hits'', and assist ...

in early 1985, near the end of their time at Ray Roberts' Camden studio where they'd done much of their work. The duo considered it one of their most mature compositions at that point. During the recording sessions for ''Please'', producer

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine, in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

used a Roland MSQ-700 sequencer, which accidentally shifted the

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...

off the

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

, and he incorporated that into the track. Hague suggested adding a

middle eight The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Th ...

and received a co-

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

credit for its first two

chords Chord or chords may refer to: Art and music * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...

. "Love Comes Quickly" features

handclaps A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

, inspired by

Sharon Redd Sharon Redd (October 19, 1945 – May 1, 1992) was an American singer from New York City. She was the half sister of Snap! singer Penny Ford. Life and career Redd was born on October 19, 1945, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Gene and Katherine Redd. Ge ...

's "Never Give You Up" (1982), and the first appearance of a high string line, which became a trademark of their songs.

Andy Mackay Andrew Mackay (born 23 July 1946) is an English musician, best known as a founding member (playing oboe and saxophone) of the art rock group Roxy Music. In addition, he has taught music and provided scores for television, while his work as a se ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

plays the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

parts towards the end.

Release

"Love Comes Quickly" was released on 24 February 1986 as the follow-up to the number one hit "

West End Girls "West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London wh ...

". The single only reached number 19 on the UK chart and fell out of the top 100 six weeks later, prompting concerns that they might be a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

. A special 10-inch edition that came in a bag with a poster was released in an effort to boost sales. As with " Opportunities", the 12-version of the single contains

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es by 1980s producer

Shep Pettibone Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. Career Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...

. The remixes of "Love Comes Quickly" and "That's My Impression" reached the top ten on the US ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in October 1986. Later, in 2003, new remixes by

Blank & Jones Blank & Jones are a German electronic music group, consisting of Jan Pieter Blank (born June 15, 1971), known as Piet Blank; René Runge (born June 27, 1968), better known as DJ Jaspa Jones; and the producer Andy Kaufhold (N*D*K) (born December ...

were produced for the promotion of the singles collection '' PopArt''. Pet Shop Boys sampled "Love Comes Quickly" for their song "Somebody Else's Business", which appeared on the '' Disco 3'' album in 2003.

Artwork

The cover, featuring Chris Lowe in a baseball cap emblazoned with "BOY" in block letters, has become an iconic Pet Shop Boys image. Neil Tennant later recollected that he had expected the image of the cap to be the group's

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

moment, calling it "incredibly gay".

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s "Dance Trax" column, Brian Chin wrote that "Pet Shop Boys' "Love Comes Quickly" ( Parlophone U.K.) is even more a tribute to drifting

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

disco-pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describes ...

than the team's current hit. Once "

" has concluded what will undoubtedly be a hugely successful run, this will follow nicely. The flip, "That's My Impression," deserves double A-rank, with its jittery

hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by its fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the four-on-the-flo ...

beat and petulant lyric." In a 2023 interview with Greatest Hits Radio,

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...

stated that "Love Comes Quickly" is the song he wished he'd written.

Music video

Directed by

Andy Morahan Andrew Douglas Morahan (born 11 August 1958) is a British commercial, film and music video director. He is the son of director Christopher Morahan and the half-brother of actress Hattie Morahan. Married to Joanna Lewis, he has two children. ...

and Eric Watson, the

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

to the song is very simple, utilising facial shots of Tennant singing, interposed with blurry montages of the faces of various other people; at points, shots of Lowe, lying on top of a construction of a square grid, are superimposed over these shots. Watson would later call it a "complete disaster".

Live performances

Pet Shop Boys performed "Love Comes Quickly", along with "West End Girls", at the

1986 MTV Video Music Awards The 1986 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 5, 1986, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1985, to May 1, 1986. The show was hosted by MTV VJs Downtown Julie Brown, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn, and Dweezil Zappa, an ...

, accompanied by singer

Ava Cherry Ava Cherry is an American singer and model. She collaborated with English musician David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardus ...

. The song was on the setlist of their first tour in 1989. More recently, "Love Comes Quickly" has been performed on the

Super Tour The Super Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys in support of their thirteenth studio album ''Super'' (2016). It began with a four-night residency entitled ''Inner Sanctum'' at the Royal Opera House in London i ...

in 2016–2017 with Tennant on keyboards and on the Dreamworld tour in 2022–2024.

Track listings

7": Parlophone / R 6116 (UK)

* A. "Love Comes Quickly" – 4:18 * B. "That's My Impression" – 4:45

12": Parlophone / 12 R 6116 (UK)

* A. "Love Comes Quickly" (Dance Mix) – 6:50 * B. "That's My Impression" (Disco Mix) – 5:18 **also released on 10" (10 R 6116)

12": EMI America / V-19218 (US)

* A1. "Love Comes Quickly" (Shep Pettibone Mastermix) – 7:34 * A2. "Love Comes Quickly" (Dub Mix) – 6:55 * B1. "Love Comes Quickly" (Dance Mix) – 6:50 * B2. "That's My Impression" (Disco Mix) – 5:18

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes for ''Please: Further Listening 1984–1986'' and "Love Comes Quickly". Pet Shop Boys *

Additional musicians *

– saxophone Technical *

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* David Jacob –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Artwork *

Mark Farrow Mark Farrow (born May 1960) is a British graphic designer known for his work with English music label Factory Records and Manchester nightclub The Haçienda. He has also done work for bands such as Pet Shop Boys and Spiritualized. In 2009 he wa ...

– design * Chris Lowe – design * Eric Watson – photography

Charts

Cover versions

As early as 1986, a Japanese-language cover version of the song was recorded by pop singer Hidemi Ishikawa. UK hardcore rave group

Ultrabeat Ultrabeat are a British electronic dance music group from Liverpool, England, formed in 2002. Originally consisting of vocalist and producer Mike "Re-Con" Di Scala and producers Ian Redman and Chris Henry, Ultrabeat emerged with their cover o ...

covered the song in 2005 with additional production and writing from fellow hardcore producer Hixxy.https://www.discogs.com/release/1157236-Hixxy-Recon-Love-Comes-Get-Hard?srsltid=AfmBOoqbu-VnHTigz9-V8ummxEP67ojJMHs5DGWo61hg98p-NcAaUS6o

External links

Lyrics: Love Comes Quickly

References

{{authority control 1986 songs 1986 singles Music videos directed by Andy Morahan Music videos directed by Eric Watson (photographer) Parlophone singles Pet Shop Boys songs Song recordings produced by Stephen Hague Songs written by Chris Lowe Songs written by Neil Tennant Songs written by Stephen Hague Synth-pop ballads