Love Is Like Oxygen

"Love Is Like Oxygen"
Single by Sweet
from the album Level Headed
B-side"Cover Girl"
Released6 January 1978[1]
Recorded1977
Genre
, progressive rock
Length
  • 6:57 (album version)
  • 3:46 (single version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Sweet
Sweet singles chronology
"Funk It Up"
(1977) 		"Love Is Like Oxygen"
(1978) 		"California Nights"
(1978)
"Love Is Like Oxygen"
France single
"Love Is Like Oxygen"
Netherlands single

"Love Is Like Oxygen" is a song by the British band Sweet and released in January 1978. It was co-written by the group's guitarist Andy Scott, and Trevor Griffin, a musician who had played with various unsuccessful bands before becoming a roadie and sound engineer.[6] The song was a departure from earlier recordings by Sweet, which were more guitar-driven, and featured high vocal harmonies. The extended album version of the song (6 minutes 57 seconds), which appeared on their album Level Headed, incorporates strings and has some disco elements.

Their first release on the Polydor label after their departure from RCA, it was also their last Top 10 hit, reaching No. 4 in New Zealand; No. 6 in Switzerland; No. 8 in Belgium, Canada, and the United States; No. 9 in the United Kingdom and Australia; and No. 10 in West Germany.

Later that year it was honoured with a Song of the Year nomination at the Ivor Novello Awards, although beaten by "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. The song is frequently included on greatest hits compilations, usually in its edited single version.

  1. ^ "Sweet - The Polydor Albums". Discogs.com. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  2. ^ Thompson, Dave. Song Review by Dave Thompson at AllMusic. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  3. ^ Don Breithaupt (15 May 2007). Steely Dan's Aja. A & C Black. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8264-2783-0.
  4. ^ Kim Cooper; David Smay (2001). Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth. Feral House. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-922915-69-9.
  5. ^ Breihan, Tom (December 20, 2019). "The Number Ones: The Rolling Stones' "Miss You"". Stereogum. Retrieved July 7, 2023. "Love Is Like Oxygen" attempted to fuse slick, nervy disco stomp with the gleaming studio-rock of bands like Boston...
  6. ^ Bruce Eder. "Trevor Griffin Biography". AllMusic.