Love Will Keep Us Together Do It Again Beach Boys
That'due south A Cover? explores encompass songs that you may have idea were originals.
If asked to pick a song that best encapsulates the swinging '70s in all its shag-carpeted, Pet Rock'd, earth-shoed celebrity, you'd be hard pressed to notice a better specimen than the Captain & Tennille's 1975 #1 hit "Dearest Volition Continue Us Together." Infectious, bouncy, and supremely sticky, sounding similar both a commercial jingle and the kind of thing a Disney World in-house performing arts ensemble would include in the dearest-themed portion of their act (see the legendarily tacky incredible-ness of "Up With People," or fifty-fifty ameliorate,The Simpsons' reimagined have "Hooray For Everything"), it was POP with a capitol P and Proud of information technology. "Love Will Keep Us Together" was the musical embodiment of everything the Captain & Tennille seemed to be about, a mission statement if y'all will, a song and so aligned with their whole persona, so custom fit to their sugary weirdness, that even 45+ years later on it's withal difficult to believe it was a freakin' comprehend.
When it came to the pop charts in the '70s, age literally was only a number. You didn't have to exist a hot immature thing in your early twenties (or younger) to score a massive hitting. It was surprisingly common for songs performed by artists 35 and up to be rubbing shoulders with the songs past the "kids." Not only did radio embrace the "ageless" approach, only all the afternoon talk shows and nighttime variety hours on TV were complicit with the notion. It was downright normal to come across people your parents' (occasionally even grandparents') age, with sideburns and unbuttoned shirts, performing their latest frothy radio-friendly unmarried on prime number-fourth dimension network television set. And it was not uncommon for these songs to hit the heights in the illustrious pop top twoscore. All of which is to say, it was a groovy time to exist Neil Sedaka.
Neil began his career as part of the songwriting stable at the legendary Brill Building in NYC in the belatedly '50s along with Gerry Goffin and Carole Male monarch. He was besides a fledgling popular star himself, scoring a solid handful of hits during the start one-half of the'60s, the all-time known existence evergreen goofballs "Happy Altogether Sweet Sixteen" and "Calendar Girl"(composed with writing partner Howard Greenfield). Alas, doom was on the horizon for all the teen sweethearts of the early '60s pop universe with their pastel sweaters and corny love songs. Yup, once the British Invasion hit the U.S. airwaves, TV screens and bodily shores, all the saccharine artists and tunes that had been so dominant at the start of the decade were directly-upwards done for. To say the Beatles made almost everything that had come before them sound and look ridiculously antique and wildly unhip would be a gargantuan understatement. Neil's undeniable songwriting skills were nonetheless keeping him agile (penning songs for The Monkees, amongst others), but in the wake of Beatlemania, similar most of his previously successful early '60s peers, he was instantly persona non grata in terms of being an actual popular star…so much and then that by 1966, RCA, his label at the fourth dimension, dropped him.
But Neil persevered. By the tardily '60s he'd begun striking the alive circuit over again, specifically within the UK and Australia, whose audiences seemed especially receptive to his charms. His efforts earned him a loyal following in both countries, and this cult popularity led to albums and songs being released exclusively in those territories to capitalize.
It was in 1972 that the official rebirth of Neil Sedaka-Pop Star began. He recorded two albums within the walls of Strawberry Studios, with a pre-fame 10cc as his backing band. The 2nd album, 1973's United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland-only releaseThe Tra-La Days Are Over, featured a song chosen "Love Will Go on U.s.a. Together."
According to Neil, "Love Will Go along The states Together" (a co-write with Howard Greenfield) was inspired by the singing styles of the Al Dark-green, The Supremes, and The Beach Boys, specifically their 1968 single "Do It Once more" (and unmistakably so–bank check it out here). Though the song was released equally a single in France with no success, it was for all intents and purposes a deep cut, sitting unassumingly on side 2 and watching as ii of its roommates from The Tra-La Days Are Over got released as singles and landed themselves in the U.k. Top 40.
The original Sedaka version of "Love Volition Keep U.s. Together" is a sweet piano pounding cheese-fest, buoyant, melodic and resolutely upbeat…from a musical standpoint, that is. The lyrics themselves are another story. Featuring ominous nuggets like "Yous belong to me now, ain't gonna prepare you gratuitous now" and "Young and beautiful, but anytime your looks volition be gone," "Love…" is a pretty contemptuous thing, both a desperate plea about not succumbing to temptation and a resolutely believing finger wag nigh behaving. What'south near hitting nearly Neil'south version is how simple and straightforward the performance and production were, how bare-bones and downright demo-ish information technology sounded. It was a overnice melodic song to be sure…just information technology was near to go rainbow unicorn magical.
Daryl "The Captain" Dragon and Toni Tennille first met in 1972, when the former was hired to play keyboards for a musical Tennille had co-created. Once that project had run its course, keyboard magician Dragon moved on to become part of The Beach Boys' touring band. He before long convinced the band to accept Tennille on lath as an additional key player and singer. Information technology became clear equally they worked together that the two had an innate musical chemistry (and a personal i likewise, just that came a bit later) and then between Beach Boys tours the two decided to work on their ain project together and began performing around LA under the moniker Captain & Tennille.
(Sidenote: Their rise to fame is described most humorously in Toni Tennille'southward eminently readable 2022 memoir, which is as well home to a cornucopia of genuinely baroque and revealing anecdotes and thus Rock 'n Whorl recommended. Here'due south a teaser: Grapefruit…that's all I'm proverb, you'll have to read it for yourself.)
Anyhow, word of mouth spread almost how good they were, crowds grew and invariably record companies started sniffing effectually at their shows. This led to their existence signed by A & M Records, and in 1974 they entered to the studio to tape their debut anthology. The LP featured not only Toni'due south lush and fabulous pop confession-confection (and future Elevation 10 hit) "The Way That I Desire To Bear upon You," it also marked the start recorded appearance of the gloriously schlocky "I Write The Songs," written past their old Embankment Boy colleague Bruce Johnston and after made famous by Barry Manilow. Merely the duo and Kip Cohen, their A & R man, nevertheless felt something was missing. As Toni effervescently explained in the liner notes of the C & T Songs Of Joy box set back in 2007 :
We were looking for an up-tempo melody to rest our new (debut) album which was a fleck carol-heavy. Kip played a few cuts from the Neil Sedaka albumThe Tra-La Days Are Over, which had only been released in England. The minute Daryl and I heard "Love Will Continue Us Together," nosotros knew it was the tune nosotros had been looking for, we couldn't get in the studio fast enough!
Think the threadbare tree in the legendary A Charlie Brown Christmas? The tree had a sweetness and sad charm, only information technology didn't come up to life and achieve its maximum potential until the gang stepped in and fattened information technology up with a mountain of garish and shiny decorations. Well, C & T's "Love Will Keep U.s. Together" is basically the sonic equivalent of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. The transformation of the sweet, beach-bound Sedaka version into the total, fleshed-out keyboard covered piece of processed that is the Captain & Tennille version is, frankly, astounding. Produced and arranged by Captain Daryl Dragon himself and featuring the legendary Hal Blaine on drums, C & T's "Love…" is fulsome, eccentric, and unrelentingly clever. From its kicked-upward tempo, to its kitchen sink of keyboard effects, to Tennille's honeyed and soulful vocal performance (too as the memorable harmonizing from her three sisters on groundwork vocals), information technology's a boundless slice of pop music art (even now, decades subsequently, the bridge all the same sounds crazy bananas). They even acknowledge the songs original source with Toni singing the line "Sedaka is back" in the coda.
With their super-sized and sugar packed version, C & T took "Dear Will Keep Us Together" away from Neil Sedaka forever, simple as that, and information technology truly became their vocal, never to return over again. The vocal was # ane on the Billboard Pop Chart for four weeks beginning in late June of 1975, and it went on to become the yr's bestselling single. And Neil Sedaka himself loved the C&T version, declaring information technology to be "a perfect pop record."
The cherry on the cake came when the song won the coveted "Record Of The Twelvemonth" honour at the 1976 Grammys, chirapsia out Eagles "Lyin'Eyes" and Janis Ian'south "At Seventeen," among others. Of course, every bit is often the example with songs this ubiquitous and pop, not everybody had beloved for "Dearest…" The honour was presented by Stevie Wonder and Joan Baez…merely Joan was non feeling the Recording Academy's choice. She exhibited a particularly pained expression upon Stevie'south announcement of C & T as the winners. Toni Tennille later recollected that Baez "looked at us like nosotros came out from under a rock" (cheque information technology out here). Nothing like a bit of piercing and vintage former school shade to spice things upwards.
Every bit for Neil Sedaka, by 1975, he literally was back, scoring a series of Top x singles including "Laughter In The Pelting," "Bad Blood," and a balladic remake of his 1962 hit "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do." He after became a fixture on the aforementioned Telly diverseness shows, his perpetually grinning face and perky Pooh-bear persona instantly ensuring his place every bit a pop guest choice. Turn on the Boob tube any Fri or Sat nighttime in the mid-'70s and there inevitably was Neil, cheerily banging on his piano, shirt collars equally wide as an eagle's wings, the absolute living embodiment of the give-and-take "exuberant." And of form it was only the start for the Captain & Tennille, who over the latter half of the '70s racked up an some other handful of Top 10 hits every bit well equally several Gilded albums, and whose popularity was so immense that they were rewarded with their own, what else, prime time diversity show.
No matter how you ultimately experience about "Love Volition Proceed U.s. Together," at its core it's still a ridiculously inventive and impressive piece of popular music. At this very moment somewhere in the earth, someone is listening to information technology, basking in its perky, pleading, pissed-off sunshine, misinterpreting its lyrics, singing along to it badly and absolutely loving it. If that's not plenty to convince y'all of its worth, possibly the fact that it inspired another genuinely magnificent and seminal song volition. The title of Joy Division's 1980 post-punk masterpiece "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was meant as an ironic reference to "Love Will Keep Us Together," a fleck of dark humor from the pen of vocaliser/lyricist Ian Curtis. Harrowing and revealing, the vocal remains the definitive musical artifact of Joy Division's career and Curtis's legacy, so much so that its title is engraved on his tombstone. And information technology was recorded in Strawberry Studios…the same identify where in 1973 Neil Sedaka created "Love Will Keep Us Together."
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Source: https://www.covermesongs.com/2021/03/thats-a-cover-love-will-keep-us-together-captain-tennille-neil-sedaka.html
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