"He’s Got No Love" is a song written by

Chris Curtis Chris Curtis (born Christopher Crummey; 26 August 1941 – 28 February 2005) was an English drummer and singer who was best known for being with the 1960s Beat music, beat band The Searchers (band), The Searchers. He originated the concept be ...

and

Mike Pender Michael John Prendergast (born 3 March 1941), known professionally as Mike Pender, is an English singer and guitarist. He was an original founding member of Merseybeat group the Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit s ...

and released by British pop rock group The Searchers. The song was released as a single in July 1965 by Pye Records in the United Kingdom and later on Kapp Records in the United States. It became a hit in 1965 in both countries.

Overview

Mike Pender has stated that he wrote the music and Chris Curtis the lyrics. "I played the slide guitar figure and the chord sequence to Chris. He put down the lyrics and we both came up with the group’s first self-penned Top 20 hit." According to Frank Allen's book, guitarist John McNally helped with the music part. Chris Curtis was equally dismissive of the song, claiming that they stole the tune off The Rolling Stones' The Last Time (inspired by "This May Be the Last Time", a traditional gospel song by The Staple Singers). In fact both songs were built on similar guitar riffs, but melodically they're different.

Recording and release

Pender purchased a Rickenbacker twelve-string semi-acoustic in order that the band could successfully reproduce the distinctive sound. It was the Rose Morris model 1993. On top of Mike's arpeggios John McNally's Telecaster overlaid a six-string figure enhanced by putting it through a tremolo effect and taking the chord down a tone and up again in a constantly repeating and almost hypnotic pattern. ''He's Got No Love'' was released as a single b/w ''So Far Way'' (another Curtis/Pender composition) on the Pye label in the UK on 2 July 1965 (Pye NPL 15878), and later on Kapp Records (Kapp-686) in the US. Record had quite positive reception. "It moves along with a tremendous beat and has an unusual backing with a great guitar sound," was written by Music Echo. It was the most successful self-penned song by the band members. The Searchers were booked to appear on Thank Your Lucky Stars with the song, Frank Allen missed the show while he was in the Bahamas. To resolve the situation the bass player with the folk group The Settlers deputised for him, standing way back in the line-up, in shadow and with no close-ups. It did not however go unnoticed and rumours flew that Frank Allen had left the band.

Charts

"He's Got No Love" reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart (

Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The title ...

) and No. 10 on

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

(which featured the group on its front page at the same week). In the US, it peaked at No. 79 (''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'') and No. 88 ('' Cashbox'').

Personnel

The Searchers *

– lead guitar,

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* John McNally –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, backing vocals * Frank Allen –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, backing vocals *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, backing vocals Additional musicians and production *

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mus ...

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, piano * Ray Prickett –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:He's Got No Love 1965 singles The Searchers (band) songs Pye Records singles 1965 songs Song recordings produced by Tony Hatch