"A Girl Like You" is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...

from his third solo studio album, ''

Gorgeous George George Raymond Wagner (March 23, 1915 – December 26, 1963) was an American professional wrestler known by his ring name Gorgeous George. In the United States, during the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s–1950s, Gorgeou ...

'' (1994). The song samples the drum track of

Len Barry Leonard Warren Borisoff (June 12, 1942 – November 5, 2020), known professionally as Len Barry, was an American singer, songwriter, lyricist, record producer, author, and poet. Life and career Born on June 12, 1942 and raised in Philadelphia, ...

's single " 1-2-3" (1965). It was released as a single in December 1994 and became a worldwide hit, reaching number one in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

and Iceland and peaking within the top 10 in several countries, including Australia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In North America, "A Girl Like You" reached number 16 on Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles chart, number 32 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 28 on the US ''Cash Box'' Top 100.

Production

The

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

drummer

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He was also called "Cookie" by his friends on the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was raised in Hammersmith and atte ...

performed on the recording. The song had started out as "a more thrashy kind of guitar thing" and there had been a suggestion that

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

might record a version for the US market but before that could happen Collins' version was gaining

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

Critical reception

Steve Baltin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' felt that Collins "has one of the year’s more surprising hits with this very Bowie-esque song that’s been all over

Modern Rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

for the past month." He added, "Slightly funky and very catchy, “A Girl Like You” is a track that will get under your skin."

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

described the song as "magical" in his weekly UK chart commentary, noting that here "hardcore Northern Soul meets the 1990s to delicious effect." A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated it four out of five, commenting, "Ignored by the UK last November but scoring throughout the rest of Europe, the white-soul-swinging track gets a timely re-release."

Track listings

* CD single # "A Girl Like You" – 3:59 # "A Girl Like You" (Macramé remix by

Youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

) – 5:42 * French CD single # "A Girl Like You" – 3:59 # "Out of This World" (Remixé par St-Etienne) – 4:58 * CD maxi # "A Girl Like You" # "Don't Shilly Shally" # "Something's Brewing" # "Bring It On Back" * Cassette single # "A Girl Like You" – 3:59 # "If You Could Love Me" (acoustic version) * CD maxi # "A Girl Like You" # "If You Could Love Me" (acoustic version) # "Don't Shilly Shally" (spotter's 86 demo version) # "You're on Your Own"

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Appearances

The song appeared on the soundtrack of the 1995 film ''

Empire Records ''Empire Records'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Allan Moyle, starring Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, Robin Tunney, Renée Zellweger, and Liv Tyler. The fil ...

'' and on that of 2003 film '' Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.'' It was also featured in season 1, episode 5 of ''

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...

'' ("Sweet Kicks"), and in the 2022 horror film ''

Goodnight Mommy ''Goodnight Mommy'' (german: Ich seh, Ich seh , translation=I see, I see; UK: ''Goodnight Mummy'') is a 2014 Austrian psychological horror film, written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The film stars Susanne Wuest and twin ac ...

''. It also plays over the end credits in season 5, episode 7 of

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Like You, A 1994 songs 1995 singles Edwyn Collins songs Songs written by Edwyn Collins Black-and-white music videos Number-one singles in Iceland Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Setanta Records singles