Eddie writesTake Two: “You Got the Love” (The Source and Candi Staton Vs. Florence + The Machine)

by Eddie Sayago

There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.

The Original: The Source and Candi Staton

By 1986, singer Candi Staton, a working musician since the mid-1950s, was a born-again Christian whose heyday seemed to be behind her (The 1976 single “Young Hearts Run Free” is her most successful song in the U.S). She had left Disco and R&B to record and perform gospel. However, she was approached to record this song for a video about weight loss.

The producers didn’t have any money to pay her, so she was given half the copyright and publishing rights for “You Got The Love.” There is no trace of this weight-loss video anywhere, and “You Got The Love” should have disappeared into thin air, until DJ/producer The Source remixed the song and began to play it at raves and clubs across the U.K. by the 1990s.

Staton was unaware of the song’s delayed success (and the money that arrived after legal issues were settled) until she was approached in a phone call about having a hit single in the U.K. The song peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart in 1991 and has been remixed and re-released several more times since.

The Cover: Florence + The Machine (and Jamie xx)

After spending more than two decades as a house music staple (and a couple of more trips back onto the UK Singles Chart), “You Got The Love'' earned a new life when Florence + The Machine recorded a cover as a B-side for “Dog Days Are Over.”

The cover was popular enough to be featured on their debut album Lungs (2009) and was later remixed by Jamie xx (The xx). While Florence’s solo cover is a rock ballad that’s at home at any stadium concert, the remix with Jamie xx is a sultry, smooth electro-pop duet where both singers are consoling one another.