World's Greatest Lover (Cheap Trick song)

Guitarist Rick Nielsen wrote "World's Greatest Lover" on the piano around 1972, but it was not recorded by Cheap Trick until the 1980 sessions for All Shook Up.{{cite book|title=Reputation Is a Fragile Thing|author1=Hayes, Mike |author2=Sharp, Ken |name-list-style=amp |page=82|year=1998|publisher=Poptastic|isbn=978-0966208108}}{{cite news|last=Pratt|first=Chuck|date=January 16, 1981|title=Cheap Trick's album has powerful but familiar sound|newspaper=The Paducah Sun|page=10B}} Nielsen told Trouser Press in 1980, "I wrote [it] around the same time as 'I Want You to Want Me'. It was very difficult coming up with the arrangement. Sometimes you get 90 per cent of a song in ten minutes, but then you can't get the other 10 per cent for 10 years."{{cite magazine|last=Robbins|first=Ira|date=December 1980|title=Greetings from Rockford, Ill. - Cheap Trick at home|magazine=Trouser Press|page=22}} Drummer Bun E. Carlos revealed that Nielsen's original version of the song was "faster and about 10 minutes long".

Lyrically, the song is a love letter from a man to a woman. Nielsen has said of the song's meaning, "'World's Greatest Lover' was written from the perspective of a guy writing a love letter to his girlfriend or his wife, sitting in a foxhole getting shot at in World War I. That's how I envisioned it, like he's climbing out of the foxhole dodging bullets."{{cite AV media notes|title=All Shook Up|author=Cheap Trick, Ken Sharp|year=2006|type=booklet|publisher=Sony BMG Music Entertainment|id=82796 94484 2}}

"World's Greatest Lover" was recorded for All Shook Up in 1980 with George Martin as the producer and arranger.{{cite book|title=Reputation Is a Fragile Thing|author1=Hayes, Mike |author2=Sharp, Ken |name-list-style=amp |page=95|year=1998|publisher=Poptastic|isbn=978-0966208108}} Martin also wrote the string parts for the track. According to Carlos, Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick intentionally gave the song a sound reminiscent of George Harrison, "One day I overheard George and Geoff talking and George goes, 'I think we should give it the George Harrison treatment.' That means throw everything but the kitchen sink on the track."

In an interview for the 1982 book The Record Producers, Martin singled out the song as his favorite on All Shook Up, describing it as "one that I think sounds very Lennon-ish".{{cite book|title=The Record Producers|author1=Tobler, John |author2=Grundy, Stuart |name-list-style=amp |year=1982|publisher=BBC Books|isbn=978-0563179580}} Bassist Tom Petersson has also picked the song as his favorite on the album.

A demo version of "World's Greatest Lover", which was recorded in 1980 with Nielsen on vocals, surfaced on the 1996 box set Sex, America, Cheap Trick. In a 2016 interview with Classic Rock, Nielsen, when asked for his favorite Cheap Trick song, said of the demo recording, "I am one thousandth as good a singer as Robin, but it's my demo and it's my emotions, so it's kinda cool."{{cite web|last=Blake|first=Mark|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/heavy-load-rick-nielsen|title=Heavy Load: Rick Nielsen|publisher=Classic Rock|date=March 18, 2016|access-date=April 14, 2021}}

"World's Greatest Lover" was released in January 1981 as a 7" single in the US, Canada, UK and Netherlands.{{cite AV media notes|title=World's Greatest Lover|author=Cheap Trick|year=1981|type=7" single|publisher=Epic|id=19-50970}} It was also issued as a promotional-only single in Australia.{{cite AV media notes|title=World's Greatest Lover|author=Cheap Trick|year=1981|type=7" single|publisher=Epic|id=ES 576}} The single's release in the Netherlands was the only one to come with a picture sleeve.

The B-side, "High Priest of Rhythmic Noise", was taken from All Shook Up. It features semi-spoken sections performed by Nielsen using a vocoder. Nielsen told Trouser Press in 1980, "This song needs noise. It doesn't sound like a rock 'n' roll riff or a blues riff; it needed an obtuse lick. It sounds like an orchestra, but it's just guitars."

Although the band intended to perform the song at their concerts, the song was not introduced into the set-list until 1996, when Nielsen and Zander shared vocals on the track.

The song was performed with only Nielsen on vocals at the band's 25th anniversary concert at Davis Park, Rockford, on August 28, 1999. This performance was included on the live album Silver, which was released in 2001.{{cite web|last=Prato|first=Greg|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/silver-mw0000116873|title=Silver - Cheap Trick|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=April 14, 2021}}

In a review of All Shook Up, David Fricke of Rolling Stone considered "World's Greatest Lover" to be a "John Lennon-like ballad" and noted Zander's "impassioned singing" and Martin's "'Imagine'-style arrangement".{{cite magazine|last=Fricke|first=David|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/all-shook-up-19810319|title=All Shook Up|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=March 19, 1981|access-date=April 14, 2021}} Michael Kilgore of The Tampa Tribune picked the song as the most reminiscent of the Beatles on the album, with Zander's "Lennon voice" and the "Sgt. Pepper horns faintly playing in the background".{{cite news|last=Kilgore|first=Michael|date=December 19, 1980|title=Records|newspaper=The Tampa Tribune|page=2D}} Bill Missett of The Times and Democrat felt All Shook Up was not "in the same league" as the band's 1979 album Dream Police, but picked the "very Beatle-ish" "World's Greatest Lover" as one of a few tracks which "surely approach that excellence".{{cite news|last=Missett|first=Bill|date=November 23, 1980|title=Young is same, yet different|newspaper=The Times and Democrat|page=18}} Cameron Cohick of the Fort Lauderdale News criticized the song for "sound[ing] like a limp parody of ELO".{{cite news|last=Cohick|first=Cameron|date=November 7, 1980|title=Cheap Trick has run out of tricks with 'Shook Up'|newspaper=Fort Lauderdale News|page=208}} Bill Ashton of The Miami Herald wrote, "With Martin producing the LP, the group couldn't resist doing a Beatles-inspired ballad. But 'World's Greatest Lover' goes nowhere."{{cite news|last=Ashton|first=Bill|date=February 22, 1981|title=Record Roundup: Few bad apples don't spoil bunch|newspaper=The Miami Herald|page=9L}}

Upon its release as a single, Record World said that "guitars wail alongside Robin Zander's cries while a steady rhythm plod underscores the feeling of anguish" and called it an "effortless cop of John Lennon."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=January 31, 1981|page=16|accessdate=2023-02-23|title=Single Picks|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/80s/81/RW-1981-01-31.pdf}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=November 8, 1980|page=1|accessdate=2023-02-22|title=Hits of the Week|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/80s/80/RW-1980-11-08.pdf}} In the UK, Mike Stand of Smash Hits wrote, "They've gone serious. Whacking bit chords out of a piano, singing 'passionately', and not letting Nielsen play until the last 30 seconds. Well executed, I suppose. I just don't believe them though."{{cite magazine|last=Stand|first=Mike|date=February 5, 1981|title=Reviews: Singles|magazine=Smash Hits|page=28}} Tony Jasper of Music & Video Week considered the song to be "Bee Gees-sounding, or maybe Beatles with vocals mix Ringo and Paul – nasal sound for the former, thickish vocal yelps for latter". He also noted the track's "big production".{{cite magazine|last=Jasper|first=Tony|date=February 7, 1981|title=Select Singles|magazine=Music & Video Week|page=32}} Chris Bohn, writing for the NME, felt that Cheap Trick should be "welcome[d] to the '70s and congratulate[d] on finally graduating to John Lennon's solo output after plundering the Beatles' (not to mention the Kinks') back catelogue so successfully for the past five years". He continued, "At least they do it in grandiose style and it's nice to hear that the title refers to the lover and not modest Nielsen (the writer)."{{cite magazine |last=Bohn |first=Chris |title=Singles |magazine=New Musical Express |date=31 January 1981 |page=17 |issn=0028-6362}} Robbi Millar of Sounds was critical, writing, "A cheap trick indeed since both sides of the bombastic Beatling single are taken from the band's boorish album, All Shook Up. Pass."{{cite magazine |last=Millar |first=Robbi |title=Singles |magazine=Sounds |date=31 January 1981 |page=22 |issn=0144-5774}}

In a retrospective review of All Shook Up, Ira Robbins of Trouser Press stated, "'World's Greatest Lover," the sort of lyrical notion that might have been funny earlier in the band's career, lacks the snap to make it sardonic and could almost be serious." However, he praised Nielsen's guitar solo for being "one of [his] most lyrical and memorable".{{cite magazine|last=Robbins|first=Ira|url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/cheap-trick/|title=Cheap Trick|magazine=Trouser Press|access-date=April 14, 2021}} In a 2016 retrospective on "20 great non-Beatle productions" by George Martin, Jason Heller of Rolling Stone described "World's Greatest Lover" as a "particularly Beatles-like majesty" and a "sumptuous ballad stuffed with strategically deployed orchestral flourishes and languid, melancholy acoustic guitar". He praised Zander's "rich, resonant [and] thoroughly Lennon-esque vocal delivery", which he considered to be "a loving pastiche".{{cite magazine|last=Heller|first=Jason|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/george-martin-20-great-non-beatles-productions-80553/cheap-trick-worlds-greatest-lover-1980-26564/|title=George Martin: 20 Great Non-Beatles Productions|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=March 9, 2016|access-date=April 14, 2021}}

;7" single (US, Canada, UK and Netherlands)

1. "World's Greatest Lover" – 4:21
2. "High Priest of Rhythmic Noise" – 4:10

;7" single (US promo)

1. "World's Greatest Lover" – 4:21
2. "World's Greatest Lover" – 4:21

;7" single (Australian promo)

1. "World's Greatest Lover" – 4:50
2. "High Priest of Rhythmic Noise" – 4:10

Cheap Trick

• Robin Zander – lead vocals
• Rick Nielsen – piano, lead guitar
• Tom Petersson – bass guitar
• Bun E. Carlos – percussion

Production

• George Martin – producer, arranger
• Geoff Emerick – engineer
• Nigel Walker, Tony George – assistant engineers
• George Marino – mastering

{{Reflist}}

{{Cheap Trick}}

Category:1980 songs

Category:1981 singles

Category:Cheap Trick songs

Category:Epic Records singles

Category:Songs written by Rick Nielsen

Category:Song recordings produced by George Martin