Love Will Keep Us Together
| "Love Will Keep Us Together" | ||||
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| Single by Captain & Tennille | ||||
| from the album Love Will Keep Us Together | ||||
| Released | 1975 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1974 | |||
| Genre | Pop, R&B, Soul | |||
| Length | 3:24 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Writer(s) | Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield | |||
| Producer | Daryl Dragon | |||
| Captain & Tennille singles chronology | ||||
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Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" from Love Will Keep Us Together
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"Love Will Keep Us Together" is a popular song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield best known due to their 1975, #1-hitting cover by Captain & Tennille.
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First versions[edit]
The song first appeared on the 1973 Neil Sedaka's 1973 album The Tra-La Days Are Over which did not have a US release, Sedaka's version of the song making its US album debut on the 1974 compilation album Sedaka's Back.
"Love Will Keep Us Together" had its first single release via a UK recording by Mac and Katie Kissoon on September 28, 1973, but it failed to chart. This version also failed to chart in its US release in February 1974; however, it did become the first hit version of "Love Will Keep Us Together" by virtue of charting in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1973, peaking at #12 that December.
Captain & Tennille version[edit]
In 1975 Captain & Tennille recorded "Love Will Keep Us Together" for their debut album for which it would be the title cut and lead single although "Captain" Daryl Dragon hoped to have another cut, the duo's rendition of "I Write the Songs," be the first single off the album. "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending June 21, 1975, and remained in the top position for four weeks. Their version ranked as the top US single for year-end chart Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1975. This version also spent one week at number one on the Easy Listening charts.[1]
"Love Will Keep Us Together" won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in February 1976.
Dragon and Tennille acknowledged Sedaka's authorship — as well as his mid-1970s comeback — by working the phrase "Sedaka is back" into the song's fadeout, where the applause from the studio musicians can be heard. Their version would earn Sedaka and Greenfield a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. 20 years later in 1995, they would re-record this song for their "Twenty Years of Romance" CD
In 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked the Captain & Tennille version at #56 on his list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that "Thirty-five years on, love has kept them together. The rest of us can stand united by our mutual dislike of this song."[2]
Por Amor Viviremos[edit]
While Love Will Keep Us Together was topping the charts in the summer of 1975, Captain & Tennille released a Spanish version of the song, Por Amor Viviremos. Por Amor Viviremos rose to number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving Captain & Tennille a rare feat of the identical song, in different languages and released as separate singles (rather than the A-side and B-side of one single), appearing simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100. Chicago radio station WLS AM 890 used the two versions to create a Spanglish version of the song for their own broadcasting use.
Por Amor Viviremos would later appear on their May 1976 album Por Amor Viviremos, a Spanish track-for-track rerecording of their album Love Will Keep Us Together.
Chart positions[edit]
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Easy Listening | 1 |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 1 |
| Canadian RPM 100 | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 33 |
| French Singles Chart | 6 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 8 |
| UK Singles Chart | 32 |
Year-end charts[edit]
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Cashbox Top 100 | 1 |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 6 |
| Brazil Singles Chart | 19 |
| Canadian RPM 100 | 1 |
Other covers[edit]
In 1976, The Tubes covered "Love Will Keep Us Together" with a live show track on the album T.R.A.S.H..
Wilson Pickett recorded "Love Will Keep Us Together" for his 1976 album release Chocolate Mountain from which it was issued as a single which did not chart.
In the 1979 Mae West movie Sextette, West and Timothy Dalton cover the tune in a Disco style.
In 1983, The Circle Jerks covered "Love Will Keep Us Together" as one of the six cover versions on "Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45)", which appears on their third album with the same title.
In 1999, French singer Sheila, who is best known internationally as Sheila B. Devotion ('Spacer' 1979), covered the song for her album Dense. The song was released as a CD and 12 inch single with remixes in the Summer of 2000 (EMI France).
In 2000, Nickelback performed an impromptu cover on Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge on Australia's Triple M Sydney radio station. Nickelback later added it as a bonus track on some versions of their 2003 album The Long Road.
In 2007 the song was covered by Lazlo Bane for their 70's covers album Guilty Pleasures.
In 2009, Neil Sedaka rerecorded a spoof of his song, renaming it "Lunch Will Keep Us Together" for his first children's CD Waking Up Is Hard To Do.[3]
Appearances[edit]
The song was featured on the video game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol.
Charo sung this as the opening song in her 1976 television special "Charo"
Part of this song was sung by Rajeev, in the NBC show Outsourced.
The song was used in Prince of the City, in the barbershop scene.
The song was also featured as the opening of the 2001 film Get Over It starring Kirsten Dunst. It appears in Starsky and Hutch, Sextette, House Arrest and A Smile Like Yours.
The song can be heard in the "Academic Octathelon" episode of Malcolm in the Middle, "The Alma Matter" episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as well as in the "Some Like It Hoth" episode of Lost and the pilot episode of Arrested Development. It was also sung in the "Will & Grace" episode An Old Fashioned Piano Party by the title characters.
The song was sung by Judy and Kevin in the 2010 film "FRED: The Movie".
The song can be heard twice during the pilot episode of SyFy's Haven, firstly when Audrey wakes up to it on her clock radio and turns it off, and secondly when she swerves her car to avoid a crack and nearly drives off the cliff. As she is teetering, the song plays and she leans forward to switch it off and nearly topples the car over.
In the That '70s Show first episode, That '70s Pilot, at Kitty's party, the song could be heard in the background.
A 2003 Kohl's Christmas commercial used the song.
References[edit]
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 45.
- ^ Wilkening, Matthew (September 11, 2010). "100 Worst Songs Ever -- Part Three of Five". AOL Radio. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ Waking Up Is Hard To Do
| Preceded by "Wonderful Baby" by Don McLean |
Billboard Easy Listening number-one single June 7, 1975 |
Succeeded by "Wildfire" by Michael Murphey |
| Preceded by "Sister Golden Hair" by America |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single June 21, 1975 - July 12, 1975 |
Succeeded by "Listen to What the Man Said" by Paul McCartney and Wings |
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