| Love Potion No. 9 | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Clovers |
| B-Side: | Stay Awhile |
| Released: | July 1959[1] |
| Recorded: | June 8, 1959 |
| Studio: | Capitol (New York City) |
| Genre: | Doo-wop |
| Label: | United Artists |
| Love Potion Number Nine | |
| Cover: | Love_Potion_Number_Nine_-_The_Searchers.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Searchers |
| Album: | Meet the Searchers |
| B-Side: | Hi-Heel Sneakers |
| Released: | November 1964 |
| Studio: | Pye Studios, London, England |
| Genre: | Rock and roll |
| Label: | Kapp KJB-27 |
| Producer: | Tony Hatch |
| Prev Title: | When You Walk in the Room |
| Prev Year: | 1964 |
| Next Title: | What Have They Done to the Rain |
| Next Year: | 1964 |
"Love Potion No. 9" is a song written in 1959 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally performed by the Clovers, who took it to No. 23 on the US as well as R&B charts that year.[2] [3] It reached #20 in Canada.[4]
The Searchers recorded it in 1964 and reached No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on Cash Box during the winter of 1965.[5]
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded an instrumental version for their 1965 album Whipped Cream & Other Delights.[6]
The Coasters released their take in December 1971 with "D. W. Washburn" on the B-side. It reached No. 76 on the Billboard Pop chart and No. 96 on the Cash Box chart.
It is also track 1 on the studio album Two Days Away, released in 1977 by Elkie Brooks and produced by the song's writers Leiber and Stoller.
The song describes a man seeking help to find love. He enlists the help of a Romani person who determines, by means of palmistry, that he needs "love potion number nine". The potion, an aphrodisiac, causes him to fall in love with everything he sees, kissing whatever is in front of him, eventually kissing a policeman on the street corner, who reacts by breaking his bottle of love potion.
In the LP release, at the ending of the song the Clovers used the alternative lyrics:[7]
This version was used in the film American Graffiti and released on the LP version of the soundtrack, but replaced by the single version on the CD release.
The song was the basic premise of the 1992 film of the same name starring Sandra Bullock and Tate Donovan.
| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)[8] | 4 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 2 |
The heavy metal band Tygers of Pan Tang recorded "Love Potion No. 9" in 1982. Their version charted in the UK, reaching No.45 in 1982.[9] Punk band MDC released their version of the song on their 1989 album Metal Devil Cokes[10] The White Stripes covered it live at the Gold Dollar in Detroit, Michigan, on July 14, 1997, including the alternative ending lyrics; this version was released in 2012 on the EP "Live On Bastille Day". In 2016 the song was performed by John Cooper Clarke and Hugh Cornwell for BBC 6 Music Live.[11] It was released as a single by indie rock band The Wallies in November 2019 and has also been covered by punk rock group The Queers on their 2021 album Reverberation.[12] Rockapella also covered the song.
This song also gained popularity in Vietnam as US-based singer Nguyễn Hưng covered it in Vietnamese in 1998.
