“Love Potion No. 9” is a song written in 1959 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The song describes a man seeking help to find love. He enlists the help of a Romani person who determines, by means of palmistry, that he needs “love potion number nine”. The potion, an aphrodisiac, causes him to fall in love with everything he sees, kissing whatever is in front of him, eventually kissing a policeman on the street corner, who reacts by breaking his bottle of love potion.
It was originally performed by the Clovers, who took it to No.23 on the US as well as R&B charts that year. It reached No. 20 in Canada. In the LP release, at the ending of the song the Clovers used the alternative lyrics: ‘I had so much fun that I’m going back again, I wonder what’ll happen with Love Potion Number Ten?’ This version was used in the film American Graffiti and released on the LP version of the soundtrack, but replaced by the single version on the CD release.
The Searchers recorded it in 1964 and reached No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No.2 on Cash Box during the winter of 1965. Herb Alpaert and The Tijuana Brass did an instrumental version (side 2, track 1) on his 1965 album Whipped Cream and other Delights. The Coasters released their take in December 1971 with “D. W. Washburn” on the B-side. It reached No.76 on the Billboard Pop chart and No.96 on the Cash Box chart. It is also track 1 on the studio album Two Days Away, released in 1977 by Elkie Brooks and produced by the song’s writers Lieber and Stoller.
The heavy metal band Tygers of Pan Tang recorded “Love Potion No. 9” in 1982. Their version charted in the UK, reaching No.45 in 1982. Punk band MDC released their version of the song on their 1989 album Metal Devil Cokes showcasing the very punk attitude of the song, as it describes how the police kill love. The White Stripes covered it live at the Gold Dollar in Detroit, Michigan, in July 1997, including the alternative ending lyrics; this version was released in 2012 on the EP “Live On Bastille Day”.
The song was the basic premise of the 1992 film of the same name starring Sandra Bullock and Tate Donovan. In 2016 the song was performed by John Cooper Clarke and Hugh Cornwell for BBC 6 Music Live. It was released as a single by indie rock band The Wallies in November 2019 and has also been covered by punk rock group The Queers on their 2021 album Reverberation.
