{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox song | name = Love Comes Quickly | cover = PSB Love Comes Quickly.jpg | alt = | caption = 7-inch single cover | type = single | artist = Pet Shop Boys | album = Please | B-side = That's My Impression | released = 24 February 1986 | recorded = 1985 | studio = | genre = Synth-pop<ref>{{cite web|first1= Luke|last1= Edwards|first2= Mark|last2= Elliott|title= Best Pet Shop Boys Songs: 30 Synth-Pop Hits Always On Our Mind|website= Dig!|date= June 16, 2023|url= https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/best-pet-shop-boys-songs/|access-date= 24 September 2025|archive-date= 30 May 2025|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250530154410/https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/best-pet-shop-boys-songs/|url-status= bot: unknown}}</ref> | length = 4:19 | label = Parlophone | writer = * Neil Tennant * Chris Lowe * Stephen Hague | producer = Stephen Hague | prev_title = West End Girls | prev_year = 1985 | next_title = Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) | next_year = 1986 | misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|QHaA1beOwrY|"Love Comes Quickly"}}}} }}
"'''Love Comes Quickly'''" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the second single from their debut studio album, ''Please'' (1986). It peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1986.<ref name="UKcharts">{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/pet-shop-boys-love-comes-quickly/|title=Love Comes Quickly by Pet Shop Boys|website=Official Charts|access-date=24 December 2024}}</ref>
==Composition and recording== "Love Comes Quickly" was written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant in early 1985,<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Introspective: Further Listening 1988–1989|title-link=Introspective|last=Heath|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Heath|others=Pet Shop Boys|year=2018|page=10|type=booklet|publisher=Parlophone Records|id=0190295826178}}</ref> near the end of their time at Ray Roberts' Camden studio where they'd done much of their work. The duo considered it one of their most mature compositions at that point.<ref name="pleasefurther">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Please: Further Listening 1984–1986|title-link=Please (Pet Shop Boys album)|last=Heath|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Heath|others=Pet Shop Boys|year=2018|pages=11–13|type=booklet|publisher=Parlophone Records|id=0190295831745}}</ref>
During the recording sessions for ''Please'', producer Stephen Hague used a Roland MSQ-700 sequencer, which accidentally shifted the bassline off the beat, and he incorporated that into the track.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bradwell|first=David|date=March 1988|title=Talking Shop: Stephen Hague |url=https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/talking-shop/1060/|magazine=Music Technology|access-date=24 December 2024|quote=The bassline of that is interesting because, originally, it was going to be a down-beat set up as it is in the intro. I had programmed it on an MSQ700, but something got screwed up when it came back sync'd from tape and the whole thing was delayed by exactly half a beat. I thought it sounded really cool so I had to re-write the bass sequence with that in mind.}}</ref> Hague suggested adding a middle eight and received a co-writing credit for its first two chords.<ref name="pleasefurther"/>
"Love Comes Quickly" features handclaps, inspired by Sharon Redd's "Never Give You Up" (1982), and the first appearance of a high string line,<ref name="pleasefurther"/> which became a trademark of their songs.<ref name="AllMusic">{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/love-comes-quickly-mt0008375464 |title=Love Comes Quickly by Pet Shop Boys - Song Review|last=Raggett|first=Ned|website=AllMusic|access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> Andy Mackay of Roxy Music plays the saxophone parts towards the end.<ref name="AllMusic"/>
==Release== "Love Comes Quickly" was released on 24 February 1986 as the follow-up to the number one hit "West End Girls". The single only reached number 19 on the UK chart and fell out of the top 100 six weeks later,<ref name="UKcharts"/> prompting concerns that they might be a one-hit wonder.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Harrison|first=Ian|date=August 2013|title=Pet Shop Boys Interviewed: We prefer not to be fake |url=https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/pet-shop-boys-interviewed/|magazine=Mojo|issue=237|access-date=24 December 2024|quote=But then we release "Love Comes Quickly" and it's Number 19, "Opportunities" struggles, and it all feels a bit shaky, anyway. You know, I remember thinking we felt like a one hit wonder in the first part of 1986.}}</ref> A special 10-inch edition that came in a bag with a poster was released in an effort to boost sales.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Peel|first=Ian|date=28 February 2009|title=Good Old Boys |url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/good-old-boys|magazine=Record Collector|access-date=25 December 2024|quote=Love Comes Quickly's got a weird 10" in just a plastic bag with a poster. It's actually not designed. We weren't very happy about it at the time, but we were all in a panic because it had charted low.}}</ref>
As with "Opportunities", the 12-version of the single contains remixes by 1980s producer Shep Pettibone. The remixes of "Love Comes Quickly" and "That's My Impression" reached the top ten on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play chart in October 1986.<ref>Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''Hot Dance/Disco 1974–2003'', (Record Research Inc.), page 201.</ref> Later, in 2003, new remixes by Blank & Jones were produced for the promotion of the singles collection ''PopArt''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://superdeluxeedition.com/feature/blank-jones-on-curating-so80s/ |title=Blank & Jones on curating so80s|last=Sinclair|first=Paul|date=6 June 2016|website=Super Deluxe Edition|access-date=24 December 2024}}</ref>
Pet Shop Boys sampled "Love Comes Quickly" for their song "Somebody Else's Business", which appeared on the ''Disco 3'' album in 2003.<ref>Pet Shop Boys (April 2003). "Disco 3". ''Literally'', issue 26.</ref>
===Artwork=== The cover, featuring Chris Lowe in a baseball cap emblazoned with "BOY" in block letters, has become an iconic Pet Shop Boys image. Neil Tennant later recollected that he had expected the image of the cap to be the group's coming out moment, calling it "incredibly gay".<ref name="montrealmirror">{{cite news|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204040754/http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1999/111199/music1.html|author=Silcott, Mireille|year=1999|url=http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1999/111199/music1.html|title=The Pet Shop Boys, obsessively|newspaper=Montreal Mirror|archive-date=4 February 2012|access-date=21 June 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Critical reception== In a contemporary review for ''Billboard'''s "Dance Trax" column, Brian Chin wrote that "Pet Shop Boys' "Love Comes Quickly" (Parlophone U.K.) is even more a tribute to drifting Italian disco-pop than the team's current hit. Once "West End Girls" has concluded what will undoubtedly be a hugely successful run, this will follow nicely. The flip, "That's My Impression," deserves double A-rank, with its jittery hi-NRG beat and petulant lyric."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT68|title=Dance Trax|magazine=Billboard|last=Chin|first=Brian|date=15 March 1986}}</ref> Dave Henderson of ''Sounds'' noted that the "mellow" song is "not as immediately striking" as "West End Girls", but added the Pet Shop Boys "know their onions when it comes to massaging the correct ear lobes".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Henderson |first=Dave |title=Singles |magazine=Sounds |date=8 March 1986 |page=23 |issn=0144-5774}}</ref>
In a 2023 interview with Greatest Hits Radio, Noel Gallagher stated that "Love Comes Quickly" is the song he wished he'd written.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/its-just-to-die-for-the-melody-noel-gallagher-wishes-he-had-written/ |title='It's just to die for': The melody Noel Gallagher wishes he had written|last=Taylor|first=Tom|date=5 December 2023|website= Far Out|access-date=24 December 2024}}</ref>
==Music video== Directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson,<ref name="mvdbase">{{cite web|url=http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=21683|title=mvdbase.com - Pet Shop Boys - "Love comes quickly"|work=Music Video DataBase|last=Garcia|first=Alex S|accessdate=31 October 2015}}</ref> the video to the song is very simple, utilising facial shots of Tennant singing, interposed with blurry montages of the faces of various other people; at points, shots of Lowe, lying on top of a construction of a square grid, are superimposed over these shots. Watson would later call it a "complete disaster".<ref name="literally">{{cite web |date=May 1992|url=http://www.petshopboys.net/html/literallys/literally_08/literally_08_page_2.shtml |title=Interview with Eric Watson|publisher=Literally (Pet Shop Boys fanclub magazine)|access-date=21 June 2006|archive-date=27 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195731/http://www.petshopboys.net/html/literallys/literally_08/literally_08_page_2.shtml |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Live performances== Pet Shop Boys performed "Love Comes Quickly", along with "West End Girls", at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, accompanied by singer Ava Cherry.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Mills|first=Simon|date=24 September 1986|title=Pet Shop Boys: Weird Tales from America |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Smash-Hits/1986/Smash-Hits-1986-09-24.pdf|magazine=Smash Hits|volume=8|issue=20|pages=55–56|access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> The song was on the setlist of their first tour in 1989.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heath|first=Chris|year=2020|title=Pet Shop Boys, Literally|location=London|publisher=William Heinemann|page=28|isbn=9781473575691}}</ref> More recently, "Love Comes Quickly" has been performed on the Super Tour in 2016–2017 with Tennant on keyboards<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=23 February 2017|title=Review: Pet Shop Boys - Super Tour|url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/review-pet-shop-boys-super-tour-605261|work=Edinburgh Evening News|access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> and on the Dreamworld tour in 2022–2024.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Earls|first=John|date=25 July 2024|title=Online Exclusive: Live Review - Pet Shop Boys at London's Royal Opera House |url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2024/07/online-exclusive-live-review-pet-shop-boys-at-london-royal-opera-house/|magazine=Classic Pop|access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref>
==Track listings== ===7": Parlophone / R 6116 (UK)=== * A. "Love Comes Quickly" – 4:18 * B. "That's My Impression" – 4:45
===12": Parlophone / 12 R 6116 (UK)=== * A. "Love Comes Quickly" (Dance Mix) – 6:50 * B. "That's My Impression" (Disco Mix) – 5:18 **also released on 10" (10 R 6116)
===12": EMI America / V-19218 (US)=== * A1. "Love Comes Quickly" (Shep Pettibone Mastermix) – 7:34 * A2. "Love Comes Quickly" (Dub Mix) – 6:55 * B1. "Love Comes Quickly" (Dance Mix) – 6:50 * B2. "That's My Impression" (Disco Mix) – 5:18
==Personnel== Credits adapted from the liner notes for ''Please: Further Listening 1984–1986''<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Please: Further Listening 1984–1986|author=Pet Shop Boys|date=2018|type=liner notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=0190295831745}}</ref> and "Love Comes Quickly".<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Love Comes Quickly|author=Pet Shop Boys|date=1986|type=liner notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=R 6116}}</ref>
'''Pet Shop Boys''' * Chris Lowe * Neil Tennant
'''Additional musicians''' * Andy Mackay – saxophone
'''Technical''' * Stephen Hague – production * David Jacob – engineering
'''Artwork''' * Mark Farrow – design * Chris Lowe – design * Eric Watson – photography
==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+ Chart performance for "Love Comes Quickly" ! scope="col"| Chart (1986) ! scope="col"| Peak<br>position |- ! scope="row"| Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref>{{cite book |last=Kent |first=David |author-link=David Kent (historian) |title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 |edition=illustrated |location=St Ives, N.S.W. |publisher=Australian Chart Book |year=1993 |page=232 |isbn=0-646-11917-6}}</ref> | 54 |- {{single chart|Flanders|35|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Love Comes Quickly|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020}} |- {{single chart|Canadatopsingles|74|chartid=0734|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020}} |- ! scope="row"| Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/80s/86/M&M-1986-04-19-OCR-Page-0004.pdf |title=European Hot 100 Singles |magazine=Eurotipsheet |volume=3 |issue=15 |date=19 April 1986 |page=12 |oclc=29800226 |via=World Radio History}}</ref> | 15 |- ! scope="row"| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>{{cite book |last=Pennanen |first=Timo |title=Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 |language=Finnish |edition=1st |location=Helsinki |publisher=Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava |year=2006 |page=233 |isbn=978-951-1-21053-5}}</ref> | 12 |- {{single chart|Ireland2|13|song=Love Comes Quickly|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020}} |- {{single chart|New Zealand|8|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Love Comes Quickly|rowheader=true|access-date=30 August 2019}} |- ! scope="row"| Spain (AFYVE)<ref>{{cite book |last=Salaverrie |first=Fernando |date=September 2005 |title=Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 |language=Spanish |edition=1st |location=Madrid |publisher=Fundación Autor/SGAE |isbn=84-8048-639-2}}</ref> | 6 |- {{single chart|Switzerland|24|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Love Comes Quickly|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020}} |- {{single chart|UKsinglesbyname|19|artist=Pet Shop Boys|artistid=26802|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020}} |- {{single chart|Billboardhot100|62|artist=Pet Shop Boys|rowheader=true|access-date=14 May 2018}} |- {{single chart|Billboarddanceclubplay|10|artist=Pet Shop Boys|rowheader=true|access-date=14 May 2018|note=with "That's My Impression"}} |- {{single chart|Billboarddancesales|37|artist=Pet Shop Boys|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020|note=with "That's My Impression"}} |- ! scope="row"| US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 Singles<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/19861004.html |title=Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending October 4, 1986 |work=Cash Box |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> | 56 |- {{single chart|West Germany|17|songid=1417|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Love Comes Quickly|rowheader=true|access-date=30 April 2020}} |}
==Cover versions== As early as 1986, a Japanese-language cover version of the song was recorded by pop singer Hidemi Ishikawa.<ref>{{in lang|ja}} [http://idolep.hp.infoseek.co.jp/80s/hidemi-ishikawa/hidemi.htm Hidemi Ishikawa discography page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312085439/http://idolep.hp.infoseek.co.jp/80s/hidemi-ishikawa/hidemi.htm |date=12 March 2009 }}</ref>
UK hardcore rave group Ultrabeat covered the song in 2005 with additional production and writing from fellow hardcore producer Hixxy.<ref>{{Citation |title=Hixxy + Recon - Love Comes / Get Hard |date=2007-12-17 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1157236-Hixxy-Recon-Love-Comes-Get-Hard |access-date=2025-09-30 |language=en}}</ref>
==External links== [https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/lyrics/love-comes-quickly Lyrics: Love Comes Quickly]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Pet Shop Boys singles}}
{{authority control}}
Category:1986 songs Category:1986 singles Category:Music videos directed by Andy Morahan Category:Music videos directed by Eric Watson (photographer) Category:Parlophone singles Category:Pet Shop Boys songs Category:Song recordings produced by Stephen Hague Category:Songs written by Chris Lowe Category:Songs written by Neil Tennant Category:Songs written by Stephen Hague Category:Synth-pop ballads