How Long, versión original

"How Long" is a 1974 song by the British group Ace from their album Five-A-Side. It reached No. 3 in the US and Canadian charts, and No. 20 in the UK chart.^[3]

Although widely interpreted as being about adultery, the song was in fact composed by lead singer Paul Carrack upon discovering that bassist Terry Comer had been secretly working with other bands.^[4] Comer returned to Ace in time to play on the song.^[5]

Covers[edit]

In 1976, Bobby Womack recorded a version that appeared on the Home Is Where The Heart Is album

In 1977, Barbara Mandrell recorded a country/disco version of the song on her Love's Ups & Downs album.

In 1981, Rod Stewart covered the song on the album Tonight I'm Yours.^[6] It charted in the top fifty of the Billboard Hot 100.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981, Lipps, Inc. released a remake of this song which reached No. 4 on the U.S. dance chart, No. 29 on the U.S. soul singles chart, and No. 42 in Canada. In 2010, it was still in rotation on satellite radio. The track Timecode, released in 2004 by German techno producer Justus Köhncke, is built around the characteristic intro of the Lipps Inc. version.

In 1989, Barbara Dickson released the song as part of the Coming Alive Again album

In 1993, British reggae group Aswad and singer Yazz covered the song which reached No. 31 in the UK, from Yazz's 1994 album One on One.

In 1998, Los Angeles based group Jango covered the song with heavy rock/funk guitar riffs and saxophone solo on their album Dreamtown

In 2013, it was covered by Smooth Jazz artists Jeff Golub & Brian Auger, with vocals handled by 80's pop star Christopher Cross

Squeeze regularly performed the song when Carrack was a touring member of the band.

_Wikipedia