"You Oughta Be In Love" is a single by New Zealand singer/songwriter

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then he ...

, released in 1986 on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the animated motion picture, '' Footrot Flats: The Dog's ~~Tail~~ Tale''. The single charted at No. 2 in New Zealand.

Background

Dobbyn was asked to write a tune for the relationship between Footrot Flats farmer Wal Footrot and the object of his affection, hairdresser Cheeky Hobson. Assuming that the relationship was nothing serious, Dobbyn wrote a jaunty tune, but was told by Footrot Flats creator

Murray Ball Murray Hone Ball (26 January 1939 – 12 March 2017) was a New Zealand cartoonist who became known for his ''Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero'' (the longest running cartoon in ''Punch (magazine), Punch'' magazine), ''Bruce the Barbarian'', ''All t ...

that "it's true love". With that in mind, he rewrote the song to be a ballad of true love.

Covers and Alternative Versions

An edited version "You Oughta Be In Love" is featured in the Footrot Flats movie that goes through the first and second verses and skips the first chorus. The film version has extra overdubbed spoken lyrics and visual gags poking fun at the lyrics and song. The song was covered by

Annie Crummer Anne Crummer (born 1966) is a New Zealand pop singer and songwriter of Cook Islands descent who has seen success in both a solo career and as part of various musical groups. Biography Crummer grew up in West Auckland. Her father, Will Crummer ...

in her 1992 album ''

Language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

'', and

New Zealand Idol ''New Zealand Idol'', also known as ''NZ Idol'', was the New Zealand version of the Idol series originated as the hit British TV series ''Pop Idol''. New Zealand first saw the ''Idol'' format when TV2 aired '' American Idol 2'', which garnered i ...

winner

Ben Lummis Ben Lummis (born Isileli Junior Brown on (1 June 1978) is a New Zealand R&B/Pop/Gospel recording artist who rose to musical fame as the winner of the First season of ''New Zealand Idol'' in 2004. He is of Māori ( Ngati Porou) and Pākehā (E ...

on the series album '' Homegrown''.

Awards

'You Oughta Be In Love' was awarded 'Best Single of the Year' at the 1987 New Zealand Music Awards. Dobbyn also won Best Male Vocalist, and was nominated for 'Songwriter of the Year' for the song (having won the category the year before with "

Slice of Heaven "Slice of Heaven" is a single by New Zealand singer-songwriter Dave Dobbyn with the band Herbs, released in 1986 on the soundtrack of the animated motion picture, '' Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tail Tale''. The single reached 1 on the New Zealand ...

" when it was called 'Song of the Year'). At the 1987

APRA Silver Scroll The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members. APRA hold the annual Silver S ...

Awards, Dobbyn won the titular award (the APRA equivalent for songwriting).

Legacy

You Oughta Be In Love was voted number 70 best New Zealand song by APRA in 2001 and featured on ''

Nature's Best 3 ''Nature's Best 3'' is a two-disc compilation album of 35 New Zealand popular music songs, numbers 66-100 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time. See ''Nature's Best'' for more information on the selection process of thi ...

'', a compilation of songs 66–100 on the list.

Year-end charts

References

{{Reflist

External links

NZ on Screen—Making of Footrot Flats (New Zealand only)

Making of Footrot Flats (Youtube, Part 1 only)
1986 singles APRA Award winners Dave Dobbyn songs 1986 songs Songs written by Dave Dobbyn