"Never My Love"

A couple days ago, I was thinking about the Association's "Never My Love" and realized that in the lines "When I've asked you to spend your whole life / With me," "life" is held for almost two measures in the lead vocals and sung with a melisma in the backing vocals and that both of these articulations provide a sense of the entirety of that "whole."  I also referenced the version by "Neil MacArthur" (Colin Blunstone's pseudonym from the late 1960s) and found that while it's a bit different, these elements are present there too.  The backing vocals in this section don't have words, just "ah"s, but "life" is sung with a melisma in the lead vocal (C# B) and held for almost a whole measure.

"Never My Love"

I listened to Into the Afterlife on Sunday and noticed some things about which I'll have posts for the next couple days.  First is the bridge in "Never My Love."  In the first iteration, it's:

What makes you think love will end
When you know that my whole life depends
On you

(I should note that I'm not sure if I have the line breaks in the right places.  I went more by where the breaths are taken in the Association's version, but "Neil MacArthur" doesn't pause between the first two lines.)

Structurally, that second line completes the first ("depends" rhymes with "end"), but the meaning is left incomplete.  The "On you" is necessary for the those two lines to make sense, and, likewise, the sentiment here is that the speaker/singer's life hinges "On you."  The structure illustrates the meaning.

"Never My Love"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

Verulam Cover Project:

I happened to hear the Association's "Along Comes Mary" on the radio this evening, and it reminded me that - hey! - the Association is a band I like (although I have only one album and it's the compilation The Association's Greatest Hits!).  Later I tried figuring out some parts to "Everything That Touches You," which is one of my favorites by them, but I didn't have any luck on it.  But then I tried "Never My Love," and I ended up getting all of the chords (although I'm sure not all of them are actually played in the song; some are implied or something like that).

And that's relevant for this project because Colin Blunstone recorded a cover of "Never My Love" under his Neil MacArthur pseudonym (although - honestly - I prefer the Association's original; the opening string part in the Neil MacArthur version strikes me as over-dramatic).  As far as I can tell, he uses the same chords as the Association, but his version is a half-step higher, which I'm grateful for.  The Association's version is in Db major, which is one of the most difficult keys (because it has five flats); a half-step higher is D major, which is much simpler (because it has only two sharps).

I noticed that going into the bridge ("How can you think love will end…"), there's a modulation from I to III, which is unusual (there's a accidental in that second chord that makes it major instead of minor).  However, that same change is also in "Friends of Mine."  ("Butcher's Tale" has a III to V modulation, and because "Butcher's Tale" is in a minor key, I think that's comparable, although I'm out of my depth here.)

Anyway, now that I know the chords, it should be easier to figure out some other parts.

I spent some more time verifying these as I wrote them down, and I discovered that I was missing two chords, one of which is sort of significant with regard to the I to III modulation I made so much about above.  I'd thought it was just Db major to F major (or D major to F# major in the Neil MacArthur version), but there's actually an Fsus4 (or F#sus4) in between there.  In the Neil MacArthur version, those middle notes (B to A#) are actually sung in the backing vocals as "ah"s.

So, it's still something like I to III, but there's that interstitial chord there (that I don't know how to simplify into the Roman numeral convention).

"Never My Love"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

I happened to hear the Association's "Along Comes Mary" on the radio this evening, and it reminded me that - hey! - the Association is a band I like (although I have only one album and it's the compilation The Association's Greatest Hits!).  Later I tried figuring out some parts to "Everything That Touches You," which is one of my favorites by them, but I didn't have any luck on it.  But then I tried "Never My Love," and I ended up getting all of the chords (although I'm sure not all of them are actually played in the song; some are implied or something like that).

And that's relevant for this project because Colin Blunstone recorded a cover of "Never My Love" under his Neil MacArthur pseudonym (although - honestly - I prefer the Association's original; the opening string part in the Neil MacArthur version strikes me as over-dramatic).  As far as I can tell, he uses the same chords as the Association, but his version is a half-step higher, which I'm grateful for.  The Association's version is in Db major, which is one of the most difficult keys (because it has five flats); a half-step higher is D major, which is much simpler (because it has only two sharps).

I noticed that going into the bridge ("How can you think love will end..."), there's a modulation from I to III, which is unusual (there's a accidental in that second chord that makes it major instead of minor).  However, that same change is also in "Friends of Mine."  ("Butcher's Tale" has a III to V modulation, and because "Butcher's Tale" is in a minor key, I think that's comparable, although I'm out of my depth here.)

Anyway, now that I know the chords, it should be easier to figure out some other parts.