Love Will Keep Us Together

"Love Will Keep Us Together"
Single by Captain & Tennille
from the album Love Will Keep Us Together
B-side "Gentle Stranger"
Released April 1975
Format 7" single
Recorded 1975
Genre Pop
Length 3:24
Label A&M
Writer(s) Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield
Producer(s) Daryl Dragon
Certification Platinum
Captain & Tennille singles chronology
"Love Will Keep Us Together"
(1975)
"The Way I Want to Touch You"
(1975)
"Love Will Keep Us Together"
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 song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It was first recorded by Sedaka himself in 1973 and was released as a single in France. American pop duo Captain & Tennille covered the song in 1975, with instrumental backing by L.A. session musicians from the Wrecking Crew and had a worldwide hit with their version.[1]

Neil Sedaka version

"Love Will Keep Us Together" first appeared on Neil Sedaka's 1973 studio album The Tra-La Days Are Over which did not have a US release. His version of the song made its US album debut on the 1974 compilation album Sedaka's Back. The song was released as a single in France, on the Polydor label. In West Germany, Sedaka's original song was also included as the B-side of his 1976 hit, "Love in the Shadows."

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.[2]

Mac and Katie Kissoon version

"Love Will Keep Us Together" had its first single release via a UK recording by the brother and sister vocal duo 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 number 12 that December.

Captain & Tennille version

Background

"Love Will Keep Us Together" was the title cut and lead single of Captain & Tennille's debut album, although "Captain" Daryl Dragon originally hoped that honor would go to the duo's rendition of "I Write the Songs". The single rose to number 1 on both the Billboard Easy Listening chart[3] and the Billboard pop chart, staying atop the latter for four weeks starting June 21, 1975. It also hit the top of the 1975 year-end chart. In the US it was the best-selling single of 1975.[4] "Love Will Keep Us Together" became a gold record and also 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. Twenty years later in 1995, the duo would re-record the song for their Twenty Years of Romance CD.

Por Amor Viviremos

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. It also appears on the 2002 Hip-O Records compilation album Ultimate Collection: The Complete Hits.

Personnel

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1975–76) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 1
Canadian RPM Top Singles 1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary 1
French Singles Chart 6
Italian Singles Chart 33
New Zealand Singles Chart 8
UK Singles Chart 32
US Billboard Hot 100[5] 1
US Billboard Easy Listening 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1975) Rank
Australia 6
Brazil 19
Canada 1
New Zealand[6] 22
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 1
US Cash Box 1

Other versions

References

  1. Hartman, Kent (2012). The Wrecking Crew. St. Martin’s Griffin. pp. 261–263. ISBN 978-1-250-03046-7.
  2. "Music: Waking Up Is Hard to Do (CD) by Neil Sedaka". Tower.com.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 45.
  4. Hyatt, Wesley. The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits, Billboard Books, 1999, p. 166.
  5. Whitburn, Joel. Top Pop Singles 1955-2002.
  6. "Top Selling Singles of 1975". THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART.
  7. "Top 100 Hits of 1975/Top 100 Songs of 1975". musicoutfitters.com.
Preceded by
"Wonderful Baby" by Don McLean
Billboard Easy Listening number-one single
June 7, 1975 (one week)
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 (four weeks)
Succeeded by
"Listen to What the Man Said" by Paul McCartney and Wings
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