Sunday 13 June 2021

Everlasting Love


Trust me #26

What a song!

Starting with a frantic burst of joyous energy, it just doesn't let up! Strings, beats, the groovy bass, yearning vocals, a melody that keeps flowing, an urgent pace and feel ...

Everlasting Love, written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, was originally released in July 1967, the Summer of Love, by Robert Knight. 

The song only reached number 40 on the UK charts, but it caught the ear of David Wedgebury and John Cokell who managed the band Love Affair. The duo had access to all the imports on the Monument record label and played the Everlasting Love to Love Affair in their rehearsal space.  The band loved it and decided to cut it.

I can't find this original cut by Love Affair, I'm sure it is out there somewhere. But something didn't quite feel right to producer Mike Smith, so a new version was recorded with a 40-piece orchestra, session musicians and a choir.

Lead singer Steve Ellis was the only member of Love Affair to feature on the record. Ellis was (somewhat incredibly) only a tender 17 when he recorded and released Everlasting Love, yet the power, feeling and soul in his vocal would make you think he's lived a life.

This is 3-minutes of complete power pop perfection. The video is outstanding, a young Ellis fronts his band, staring out the camera at times, looking away at others, girls dance, there is psychedelic pop art on the walls and when Ellis sings you can't take your eyes off him. Neither can the camera, closing in to capture the performance and feeling he generates. Shot in black & white, it remains timeless when lots of other footage and videos from 1967 immediately look dated. This could easily be a new young band taking influences from the past. 

Where life really flows, no-one really knows
Till someone's there to show the way to lasting love
Like the sun it shines, endlessly it shines
You always will be mine, if eternal love

Whenever love went wrong, ours would still be strong
We'd have our very own, everlasting love

You could easily mistake Everlasting Love for a Motown number, the drive, the beats, the strings, the groove, the vocal ... 

A 25-second intro cuts to just bass and then we're in. There is only 1 verse in Everlasting Love and the band fly through it with such pace that the song, at least for me, feels like one big continuous chorus. It just doesn't let up.

I am going to add this to my Trust Me playlist and also, along with the original by Robert Knight to my cover versions playlist. This is another classic example of me only finding out the song is a cover version when I was researching the song to write about it.

In this case, although the original is very good, the power and intensity that Love Affair bring to their version just knocks it out the park.

You can listen to all the songs I've featured in my Trust Me series in a playlist by searching for Everything Flows Trust Me on Spotify or by CLICKING HERE

You can also read about the previous songs I've written about by clicking on the links below.

You'll find both versions on my cover version of the month playlist on Spotify. Or search for Everything Flows - cool cover versions.


Hearts gone astray, deep in hurt when they go
I went away, just when you, you need me so
You won't regret, I come back beggin' you
Won't you forget, welcome love we once knew

Open up your eyes, then you realize
Here I stand with my everlasting love
Need you by my side, girl to be my bride
You'll never be denied, everlasting love
From the very start, open up your heart
Feel that you're part of everlasting love

Need a love to last forever
Need a love to last forever

Where life really flows, no-one really knows
Till someone's there to show the way to lasting love
Like the sun it shines, endlessly it shines
You always will be mine, if eternal love

Whenever love went wrong, ours would still be strong
We'd have our very own, everlasting love

Need a love to last forever
Need a love to last forever

Open up your eyes, then you realize
Here I stand with my everlasting love
Need you by my side, girl to be my bride
You'll never be denied, everlasting love
From the very start, open up your heart
Feel that you're part of everlasting love
Whenever love went wrong, ours would still be strong
We'll have our very own, everlasting love

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton
1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells
2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond
3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell
4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot
5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon
6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras
7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans
8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland
9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave
10. Sometimes by James
11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time
12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre
13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields
14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals
15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser
16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes
17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth
18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter
19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground
20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub
21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub
23. Belfast by Orbital
24. Clouds by The Jayhawks
25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral


1 comment:

Unknown said...

But who is the long haired lady in the video dancing with the cabaret singer?