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Certain Songs #245: The Concretes – “You Can’t Hurry Love”

July 9, 2015 by Jim Connelly

You_Can't_Hurry_Love_scandinavian_cover Album: The Concretes
Year: 2003

For awhile in the early 2000s, MTV2 revived 120 Minutes, and — just like in the late 80s — I would occasionally record it looking for things that hadn’t previously crossed my radar. That’s how I first came across acts like Broken Social Scene, Secret Machines and where I first saw the amazing animated video for “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Concretes.

That video is one of my all-time favorites, depicting what I assume are The Concretes interacting with icons from the 1970s & 1970s: Eno, Ono, Elton, Buckingham & Nicks, and probably some others that I’m missing. It’s the perfect video for one of my favorite songs of this millennium.

“You Can’t Hurry Love” is a pure shot of Swedish pop bliss that steals its title from another pure shot of pop bliss and makes good on the theft. In just two minutes, The Concretes pack everything you could want into a pop song: doubled snare, handclaps, an organ hook, and a joyful trumpet blast on the chorus that is only topped by an even more joyful trumpet solo.

Oh, and an insanely great melody, made both endearing and enduring singer Victoria Bergsman’s off-kilter singing of the title phrase:

You can’t hurry luuuhh-ooooooooo-ve
You can’t hurry luuuhh-ooooooooo-ve

Not the Supremes song — not even close, really — but also weirdly totally influenced by The Supremes song, a fact tacitly acknowledged by the Concretes two songs later when they anchor a song called “Diana Ross” with the phrase “Love Hangover.”

I’m also guessing that this video is kind of rare as probably some of the iconic artists depicted in it protested. So watch it while you can!

Video for “You Can’t Hurry Love”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Concretes, You Can't Hurry Love

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2088: The Rolling Stones – “Claudine”
  • Certain Songs #2087: The Rolling Stones – “Shattered”
  • Certain Songs #2086: The Rolling Stones – “Respectable”
  • Certain Songs #2085: The Rolling Stones – “Some Girls”
  • Certain Songs #2084: The Rolling Stones – “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

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