Let My Love Open the Door
| "Let My Love Open the Door" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Pete Townshend | ||||||||||
| from the album Empty Glass | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Greyhound Girl" | |||||||||
| Released | June 4, 1980 (US) | |||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||
| Recorded | March 1980 | |||||||||
| Genre | Art rock, new wave | |||||||||
| Length | 2:44 | |||||||||
| Label | Atco Records | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Pete Townshend, Chris Thomas | |||||||||
| Pete Townshend UK singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Let My Love Open the Door" is a song written and performed by Pete Townshend from his 1980 album Empty Glass. It reached the top ten in the United States in that same year, reaching number nine.[1][2] It reached number five in Canada.[3]
Background
Although Townshend is a devotee to the religious guru Meher Baba, he claimed in the liner notes of his Anthology CD that "Jesus sings" on the track.[4]
"Let My Love Open the Door" was released as the second single from Empty Glass in Britain, where it was backed with the non-album tracks "Classified" and "Greyhound Girl." The song was a minor British hit, reaching #46.[5] The song saw more success when it was released as the debut single from Empty Glass in America, where the song reached #9.[6] It was Pete Townshend's only solo top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, but The Who's song "I Can See For Miles," which was written by Townshend, reached the same position on the chart 13 years earlier.
Initially, Townshend's manager despised the track due to it "not sounding like Townshend," and wanted it to be removed from Empty Glass.[4] However, upon the song's chart success, his manager called to apologize.
Despite the song's critical and commercial success, Pete Townshend did not consider it one of his best songs. He told Rolling Stone in an interview that "Let My Love Open the Door" was "just a ditty," also claiming that he preferred his minor US hit "A Little Is Enough" from the same album.[4]
In 1996, Townshend released a new version of the song, called "the E. Cola mix", turning the song into a ballad. This version appeared in different TV shows and movie soundtracks.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Personnel
- Pete Townshend: vocals, guitars, synths
- John "Rabbit" Bundrick: "straight" keyboards
- Simon Phillips: drums
- Tony Butler: bass guitar
- Ted Jensen - mastering engineer
Covers
- A version of this song by Luminate appears on The Covers EP.[12]
- It was also covered by M. Ward (for the 2005 Starbucks compilation album, Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs)
- Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline covered this song on their 1999 album Underdog.
- Natalie Imbruglia covered the song on her album Male released in 2015.
- Great Big Sea covered the song on their 2012 album XX (Great Big Sea album).
- Roger Daltrey covered the song in 2015 for a campaign involving Teen Cancer America and First Citizens Bank.[13] A full version was released in February 2016, with all proceeds going to Teen Cancer America.
List of films and TV shows featuring the track
The song has been used frequently in film, most notably the comedy genre, often as trailer music for movies such as Jerry Maguire and How Do You Know, and then as end credit song for Mr. Deeds in 2002; Jersey Girl and Along Came Polly, both in 2004. It was featured in the following films and TV series:
- Look Who's Talking (1989)
- Grosse Pointe Blank as "E. Cola Mix" (1997)
- Mr. Deeds (2002)
- Jersey Girl as "E. Cola Mix" (2004)
- Along Came Polly (2004)
- Click (in trailers) (2006)
- Dan in Real Life (2007)
- Doctors (soap opera), season 11, episode 106 (2009)
- Old Dogs (2009)
- How Do You Know (in trailers) (2010)
- Take Me Home Tonight as "E. Cola Mix" (2011)
- Red Dog (2011)
- Hit and Run (2012)
- The Newsroom (2012) - cover by Luminate used in the second season finale, "Election Night, Part II" (September 15, 2013)
- Californication, season 7, episode 1 (April 13, 2014)
- The Goldbergs, season 1 "Why're You Hitting Yourself?" (2013) the "E. Cola Mix" played at end before credits.
- A cover of the song by Stacey Markus is used at the end of episode nine ("The Invitation") of the 2015 Netflix original series Grace and Frankie, starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
References
- ↑ Unterberger, Richie (2012-06-14). "Let My Love Open the Door". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
- ↑ "Pete Townshend, 'Empty Glass' | 100 Best Albums of the Eighties". Rolling Stone. 1989-11-16. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
- ↑ http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0249a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.0249a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0249a
- 1 2 3 "Let My Love Open the Door". Songfacts.com.
- ↑ "Pete Townshend UK charts". Official Charts.
- ↑ "Pete Townshend US charts". Billboard.
- ↑ http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0249a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.0249a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0249a
- ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
- ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.0272&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062
- ↑ usicoutfitters.com
- ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/80s_files/1980YESP.html
- ↑ "The Covers EP: Various artists: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
- ↑ "Help us open the door to better cancer care | #LetMyLoveOpenTheDoor". Firstcitizens.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
