A great Cheap Trick song. In 1982 it was released off the album “One on One” and peaked at #45 on the Billboard 100 and #57 on the UK Charts. That low charting surprised me somewhat because it received heavy airplay on MTV when they actually played music videos.
When I heard the bridge of this song I noticed the strong Beatle influence. I would tell people in the 80s…if the Beatles released a song now…this is what it would sound like. Just a couple of years before, their album All Shook Up was produced by no other than George Martin.
This song was off the album One On One which was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. I bought the album and is one of my favorites by them. John at 2loud2oldmusic reviewed this album a while back. It peaked at #39 on the Billboard Album Chart, #39 in Canada, and #95 in the UK. The two hit singles were If You Want My Love and She’s Tight.
Original bassist Tom Petersson left the band in 1980 and was replaced by Pete Comita. Comita didn’t make it through the recording of this album and he was replaced by Jon Brant. Brant played on Saturday at Midnight, If You Want My Love, and She’s Tight. The rest of the album’s bass tracks were recorded by Rick Nielson. Brant left on good terms in 1987 after playing on the next three albums. Tom Petersson returned after that. Brant has filled in for Petersson when he wasn’t able to tour.
A similar instance happened with Tom Petty and The Heartbreaker’s original bass player Ron Blair. He left the band in 1982 only to return in 2002.
Cheap Trick was always one of the hardest-working bands ever…they toured relentlessly. Rick Nielson has said If You Want My Love is one of his favorite songs he ever recorded.
If You Want My Love
If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh
If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh
Yes, I thought you were a mystery girl
A special girl in this crazy old world
You couldn’t see me when I laid eyes on you
Lonely is only a place
You don’t know what it’s like
You can’t fight it
And it’s a hole in my heart, in my heart
If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh
You hold the secrets of love in this world
I’m hypnotized by your every word
A special face, a special voice, a special smile in my life
‘Cause lonely is only a place
You don’t know what it’s like
You can’t fight it
And it’s a hole in my heart, in my heart
If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh
If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh
If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
You won’t hide it
You won’t throw your love away, ooh
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
I love this album and for me was the last real good CT album til the self titled album in 1997! This single was a great track but as I have said in the past Zander can sing list of groceries and make it sound cool!
CT=Power Pop Cool!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with you Deke….the mid – eighties were not the best time for Cheap Trick…they kinda did a Heart and fell too far down the eighties hole.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Worse than HEART Max as CT got sucked under by quicksand. lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL… I’m glad they came out of that awful sounding period.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You and I both Bro!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can hear the Beatles in this song and at 2 and a half minutes into this, it sounds a bit like While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes I had written that! I don’t know why I took it off.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And the chorus has Lennons signature sound all over it- never noticed it before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
somehow I’d forgotten about this one, but it is pretty good. For whatever reason, I had kind of gone off them at that point, not sure why since I really loved the Budokan and Dream Police records.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like Deke said…I didn’t enjoy many of their 80 albums…this one they were still rooted in the seventies….then they went full on Heart for one album at least.
LikeLike
👏👏👏
LikeLike
It’s very much classic power pop, right? I hate The Flame, but some of the recent stuff that 2loud2old has posted is pretty good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do like their newer songs. They headed down after this album.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Local (to me) trivia for you, on the anniversary of Otis Redding’s death: he was to play in Madison WI with The Grim Reapers of Rockford, IL as opening act on the day he died. Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson of The Reapers went on to form Cheap Trick.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you…that is some cool trivia.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. Great song.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice power pop tune – and, yes, that bridge sounds very Beatle-esque! I don’t think I had heard this before. I only know a handful of Cheap Trick songs from the radio.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This song is almost the definition of power pop…While My Guitar Gently Weeps
LikeLiked by 1 person