To Be a Lover in early 1969. This version has since been sampled by Ludacris on his song "Growing Pains" from "Word of Mouf", by Jaheim on "Put That Woman First" from "Still Ghetto" and by Dilated Peoples on the song "Worst Comes to Worst". In 1977, the song was covered as a more uptempo reggae number by the Jamaican singer George Faith under the amended title of "To Be a Lover (Have Mercy)" for his Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced album also called "To Be a Lover". In 1986, the track was again reworked and became the second high-profile cover Billy Idol released as a
Everybody Loves a Lover Records, for which company Day recorded. Although Day, Melcher and Miller all saw the song's potential as a hit for Day, Melcher made Day's recording of "Everybody Loves a Lover" conditional on the song's copyright being granted to Artists Music, the publishing firm he owned with Day – a condition to which Allen was not agreeable. However, after a few days, Melcher phoned Allen to say that Day would record the song without her and Melcher acquiring its publishing rights. Day recorded "Everybody Loves a Lover" in May 1958 with Frank DeVol producing and Earl Palmer on drums. Issued as