"You've Got the Love" - Candi Staton

I suppose one good thing came from hearing 'The XX's murderous cover of "You've Got the Love" last night.  It motivated me to educate myself about one of the greatest house tunes of all time.

It's been covered many times (most famously by 'Florence and the Machine'), but the original single came out in 1986.  It was a soul/disco/gospel track by a band called 'The Source' (actually just an alias for Source Records), with vocals from an overlooked single by Candi Staton, "You got the love".

Staton, an American gospel singer, had recorded the tune for a 1980s documentary about an obese man who was trying to lose weight.  The film went straight-to-video, Staton forgot about the song, and didn't even know her vocals had been sampled until she was told that she had a number 1 single!

"They were calling my house saying I had a number one record in England, and I said, 'What song? I haven't released any song.' When they told me it was "You Got the Love", I said I'd never made a record called that. Then I got off the phone and realised - it was the one from the diet video - which was never supposed to be put on a record at all!"

The most well-known house mix (released in 1991) layered the vocal track over an instrumental version of Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principle's "Your Love".

Ravers everywhere assume the track is about romantic love, but actually the lyrics are about Jesus.  Praise the Lord for Candi Staton and dieters everywhere!  Without them we'd be missing one beautiful piece of music.

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through

Sometimes it seems the going is just too rough
And things go wrong no matter what I do
Now and then I feel like life is just too much
But you've got the love I need to see me through

When food is gone, you are my daily meal

When friends are gone I know my Saviour's love is real
Your love is real

You've got the love, you've got the love, you've got the love

You've got the love, you've got the love, you've got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through

Oh, it gets so rough sometimes
Oh, the going gets so hard
But I know:

You've got the love, you've got the love, you've got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through

It's all I can do sometimes to keep it together
But I know you've got it; you've got the love

You've got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through.