Well, if Edwyn Collins has his way, you can have the song that made him a one-hit wonder gratis.

The Scottish singer-songwriter was in the news last week after it was reported that MySpace had prohibited him from streaming “A Girl Like You” on his artist page. Warner Music Group claims it owns the copyright, though during Collins’ career, he’s made a point of refusing to relinquish rights to most recordings; “A Girl Like You” is one of those tunes. In a post on MySpace, Collins’ wife and manager Grace Maxwell says, “We want to allow people to download it for free. Edwyn owns it, he should be able to do what he wants.”

“A Girl Like You,” which samples the drums from Len Barry’s 1965 hit “1-2-3,” was included on the Empire Records soundtrack as well as Collins’ own album, Gorgeous George. On October 7, 1995, the reached #7 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, holding there for two weeks. A month later, “A Girl Like You” peaked at #32 on the Hot 100. Fourteen years since, the song sounds as groovy coming out of my speakers as it did back then, a brilliant production brimming with swagger and stomp:

Collins produced The Cribs’ second album, The New Fellas (a band that, as you might know, has enjoyed some recent press after The Smiths’ Johnny Marr joined its fold). In early 2005, Collins suffered two massive cerebral hemorrhages that left him unable to speak, read, write, walk, sit up, or feed himself. His long, difficult–and amazing–road to recovery (he’s returned to recording and performing again) has been chronicled in a book by Maxwell, released this past July.

Purchase Edwyn Collins – “A Girl Like You” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.