Song · Squeeze
“If It's Love” by Squeeze
From the album Frank (1989)
“If It's Love” by Squeeze appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations in 1989. It was first released in 1989 on the album Frank. Its best result is #24 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1989. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #85 alternative song of 1989.
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"If It's Love" led off Frank, Squeeze's eighth album, as its first single in 1989, and it had a strange childhood. Glenn Tilbrook's tune first existed as a demo called "If I'm Dead", a hazy, ornate piece about exactly what that title says, recorded for Babylon and On and a favorite of nobody's, the band included. Tilbrook still heard something in the melody, Chris Difford wrote a fresh lyric, and it came back as reggae.
Tilbrook produced it with Eric Thorngren, who also engineered and mixed, and what came out is a love song full of nervous hope, lifted by the fluttering falsetto Spin singled out. It climbed to No. 7 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, one critic heard it as the pair's answer to their own "Is That Love", and in 2010 it sold online romance in an eHarmony ad.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 101 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1989 | 107 |
| 1989 | 24 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1989 | 90 |
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