If I Can't Have You
| "If I Can't Have You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Yvonne Elliman | ||||
| from the album Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track | ||||
| B-side | "Good Sign" | |||
| Released | January 1978 | |||
| Format | 7" 45 | |||
| Recorded | 1977 | |||
| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 2:57 4:00 (extended version) |
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| Label | RSO, Polydor | |||
| Writer(s) | Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb | |||
| Producer | Freddie Perren | |||
| Yvonne Elliman singles chronology | ||||
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"If I Can't Have You" is a song written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. It was most famously recorded by Yvonne Elliman for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
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[edit] Background
Although Yvonne Elliman had cut her 1976 album Love Me with producer Freddie Perren who was a major force in the disco movement—Perren had produced the Sylvers' 1976 #1 "Boogie Fever" and would soon collaborate with Gloria Gaynor on the disco anthem "I Will Survive"—Love Me had showcased Elliman not as a disco artist but rather as a pop ballad singer, notably on the title cut, a Barry Gibb composition which had provided Elliman with an international hit. It was originally intended that Elliman's contribution to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack would be another ballad written by the Gibb brothers: "How Deep Is Your Love".
Meanwhile, the Bee Gees produced their own version of "If I Can't Have You" for the film. However, RSO Records chairman and Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood, who was executive-producing the Saturday Night Fever album, dictated that the Bee Gees themselves record "How Deep Is Your Love" with Elliman being given a shot at the disco-style "If I Can't Have You".
The decision proved a success, as the soundtrack's first single, the Bee Gees' version of the ballad "How Deep Is Your Love", shot to number one, followed to the top spot by the soundtrack's second and third singles, also by the brothers Gibb, "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever". Elliman's "If I Can't Have You", produced by Perren, was released as the fourth single off the Saturday Night Fever album in February 1978. The first single off the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack not performed by the Bee Gees, "If I Can't Have You" would become the fourth #1 hit from the film, reaching the top spot on the Hot 100 in Billboard dated May 13, 1978, ending an eight-week #1 tenure by "Night Fever". "If I Can't Have You" was the fourth consecutive US #1 to be co-written by Barry Gibb, and the sixth consecutive to be released on the RSO record label. The B-side of the single was a track from the Love Me album, "Good Sign", a composition by Melissa Manchester/Carole Bayer Sager which had previously served as the B-side of Elliman's hit "Hello Stranger".
Far from the success going to Elliman's head or giving her ideas of following up the sudden disco success with a deeper foray into the genre, a contemporary interview by journalist Peter J. Boyer found Elliman dismissive of her #1 hit, "referring to it in conversation only casually as 'that current thing from Saturday Night Fever'. In spite of the coattail success she's had with 'If I Can't Have You' it's a disco song and Elliman knows her broad, husky vocals are best suited elsewhere. But she's not quite sure where."[1] "If I Can't Have You" was featured on Elliman's February 1978 album release Night Flight, which apart from that track was produced by Robert Appère and was not disco-oriented: no track from Night Flight was issued as a followup single to "If I Can't Have You", Elliman's next single being a rock ballad entitled "Savannah" which failed to consolidate Elliman's potential mainstream stardom. Elliman did return to disco music in 1979 with "Love Pains" which returned her to the Top 40 one more time before she dropped out of the music scene in the 1980s.
The Bee Gees' version of "If I Can't Have You" was released as the B-side to the single "Stayin' Alive" in December 1977 and also appeared in the 2001 compilation Bee Gees Their Greatest Hits: The Record. A remixed version of The Bee Gees recording was released on the remastered version of Bee Gees Greatest in 2007 and marked the return of the Bee Gees to the US Hot Dance Tracks charts after 28 years.
"If I Can't Have You" was also featured in the 1999 film Big Daddy, as well as the film's soundtrack.
[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| UK | 4 |
| France | 5 |
| Belgium | 22 |
| Netherlands | 28 |
| Preceded by "Night Fever" by Bee Gees |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Yvonne Elliman version) 13 May 1978 |
Succeeded by "With a Little Luck" by Wings |
[edit] Kim Wilde version
| "If I Can't Have You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Kim Wilde | ||||
| from the album The Singles Collection 1981–1993 | ||||
| B-side | "Never Felt So Alive" | |||
| Released | 28 June 1993 | |||
| Format | 7", 12", Cassette single, CD-single | |||
| Recorded | 1993 | |||
| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 3:27 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb | |||
| Producer | Ricki Wilde | |||
| Kim Wilde singles chronology | ||||
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The song was covered in 1993 by British singer Kim Wilde and recorded as one of two new tracks on her compilation album The Singles Collection 1981–1993. The single reached #12 in the UK. It became Wilde's biggest hit of the 1990s and one of the biggest hits of her career in Australia, where it reached #3.
It was released in several extended remixes on the 12" and CD-single formats. The B-side was an exclusive non-album track called "Never Felt So Alive".
[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK | 12 |
| Australia | 3 |
| Ireland | 9 |
| Netherlands | 18 |
| Switzerland | 18 |
| Sweden | 24 |
| Austria | 29 |
| Germany | 51 |
[edit] Other cover versions
- German eurodance group Chyp-Notic's 1990 single "If I Can't Have U" contains an interpolation of "If I Can't Have You".
- Eve's Plum, a pop rock band that existed from 1991 to 1998, recorded a cover in 1995 which found its way onto a compilation CD.
- An abbreviated version of "If I Can't Have You" was included in the "70's Moment Medley" featured on the 1998 Gloria Estefan single release "Don't Let This Moment End".
- LFO reworked "If I Can't Have You" as "Can't Have You" for their 1999 self-titled album only replicating the choruses, the verses being changed to rapping.
- Wilber Pan recorded a Mandarin language version for his 2003 album Pass Me The Mic.[3]
- Australian group Young Divas covered the song in 2007 for their second album New Attitude.
- DJ Khaled sampled part of this song in his 2007 single "Brown Paper Bag".
- Adam Lambert performed the song as his selection during disco week during season 8 of American Idol. Instead of performing the original way it was written, Lambert made it into a ballad, which has been highly praised by the judges.
- Sharleen Spiteri covered the song for her 2010 album The Movie Songbook.
[edit] References
- ^ Pittsburgh Post Gazette April 6 1978 p. 4
- ^ Tsort - Chart positions around the world
- ^ Wilber Pan/Pass Me The Mic album liner notes.
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