"When You've Gotta Go" was written by

Lynsey de Paul Lynsey de Paul (born Lyndsey Monckton Rubin; 11 June 1948 – 1 October 2014) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting ...

(credited to her birth name, Lynsey Rubin) and

Ron Roker Ronald Ernest Alfred Roker (born 23 January 1941) is an English songwriter, singer and record producer. Roker has written UK chart hits for Jackie Lee, The Fortunes, Barry Blue, Tina Charles, Polly Brown, The Pearls, The Real Thing and Swe ...

. It was recorded by

Solomon King Solomon King (born Allen Verner Levy; August 13, 1930 – January 20, 2005) was an American 1960s and 1970s popular music singer. He is best remembered for his 1968 British hit single, "She Wears My Ring", which charted in 40 countries. Ear ...

at 10cc's

Strawberry Studios Strawberry Studios was a recording studio in Stockport, historically in Cheshire, now within Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1968, it operated until the early 1990s. Strawberry Studios was used by a range of artists including the Ramones ...

and produced by

Harvey Lisberg Harvey Brian Lisberg (born 2 March 1940) is an English talent manager and impresario, best known for discovering Herman's Hermits in 1963. In 1965, he signed songwriter Graham Gouldman, a founder member of 10cc, who Lisberg also managed, along w ...

and released as a single in July 1972. The single was a chart hit in Australia in early 1973, and also spent four weeks on the Dutch "Tipparade", peaking at No. 17. It also appeared on the Polydor compilation album ''Doppel Pop Tops 3''. Another version of the song was also released as a single in Australia by Jay Justin (a regular on national TV shows ''Bandstand'' and ''the Johnny O'Keefe Show''), in November 1973 on the RCA label. Filipino singer Joe Alvarez, also released a version of the song on his 1973 album, ''Mr. Musicman''.

Eddie Mesa Eduardo de Mesa Eigenmann (; born February 18, 1940), better known by his stage name Eddie Mesa (), is a Filipino retired actor and singer. He was discovered by talent agents when he sang a Sammy Davis song. Afterwards he changed his surname t ...

, often referred to as the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

of the Philippines, also recorded his version of the song as the first track on his 1973 album, ''The Total Performer'' and this was also released as a single. In 1974, the British vocalist, Ricki Disoni (aka Gordon Waddison, a former winner of ATV's talent show ''

New Faces ''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central. Original series: ...

'', and a regularly appearing artist at venues such as

The Night Out Theatre Restaurant The Night Out Theatre Restaurant in Horsefair, Birmingham, was one of the country's premier cabaret venues throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.''Up the Fire Escape and Through the Kitchens'' pp 137-200 The recollections of Patti Sommers & Tony ...

, released his recording of the song, produced by Dave Richardson, as a track on his UK album, ''This Is Ricki Disoni''.

Cover versions with lyrics in other languages

The song was covered by German artist and producer

Frank Farian Franz Reuther (18 July 1941 – 23 January 2024), known professionally as Frank Farian, was a German record producer and singer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequent ...

in 1973 as "Was kann schöner sein", with German lyrics by Fred Jay and released as a single as well as a track on his 1973 album, ''So Muß Liebe Sein''. He performed the song on the German TV programme ''ZDF Hitparade'' on 17 February, 1973 and it reached No. 48 on the German singles chart on the 16 March that year. His version of the song was featured on a number of hit compilation albums as on CD for the first time in 2009 on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, ''Frank Farian – Das beste aus 40 Jahren ZDF Hitparade'' and is listed as one of Farian's song highlights by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. The song was also recorded as a track by Jürgen Marcus on his albums, ''Ein Festival Der Liebe''. and "Ein Festival Der Liebe" but with the title "Was Auf Dieser Welt Kann Schöner Sein". The duo

Wyn Hoop Wyn Hoop (born 29 May 1936) is a German singer, birth name Winfried Lüssenhop, best known for his participation in the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest. Born in Hannover, in the early 1950s, Hoop formed a jazz band called the Capitellos, who toured ...

& Andrea Horn also recorded "Was kann schöner sein" and released it as a single in Austria and Germany on Decca Records. This version of the song was also released on the Telefunken compilation album, ''Die Grosse Star Und Schlagerrevue 10''. A Finnish version of the song entitled "Kun Mentävä On" with lyrics by Pertti Reponen was released by the artist Danny as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to his single "Yksinäinen Ilta", as well as the title track on his 1973 album. A Spanish version of the song with the title "Adios Amigo" (albeit with lyrics partially in English) was also recorded and released as a single by the pop group Los Albas in 1972, as well as a track on their self-titled album in 1974. It was also released on a Los Albas greatest hits album collection in 2022.

References

1972 singles Lynsey de Paul songs Songs written by Lynsey de Paul Songs written by Ron Roker {{1970s-song-stub