Sunday Tune #2 - Never Ever by All Saints (1997)
Not only will your answers keep me sane, but I'll know never to make the same mistake again.
"I never believed that so much good could come out of such a bad situation." - Shaznay Lewis of All Saints.
All Saints - Never Ever (full album version)
Quick pop quiz.
What is the best way to get over a break-up?
Is it…
Turn to chocolate.
Drink wine and sit around in your pyjamas miming to sad songs?
Write one of the greatest break-up songs ever?
Many would choose (1).
If you’re Bridget Jones, then you’d go for (2).
Shaznay Lewis of All Saints, though, went for (3).
Now, many a good songwriter COULD craft such a song without having experienced that gut-wrenching pain, the absolute conviction that your life is over. And it may even be a good song, or even a great song.
But you’re never, ever going to turn it into a record as real as Never Ever. You have to actually feel that pain to make it count.
The song is basically a gospel tune, unashamedly and brilliantly lifting chords and counter-melody from Amazing Grace, a Christian hymn originally written by the clergyman John Newton in 1772 but better known since then, first as a Black spiritual and later adopted by the 60s folk movement.1
It starts with the sparsest piano posible and a plaintive, questioning vocal…
A few questions that I need to know
How you could ever hurt me so
I need to know what I've done wrong
And how long it's been going on
Then the delicate backing vocals come in…
Was it that I never paid enough attention?
Or did I not give enough affection?
Not only will your answers keep me sane
But I'll know never to make the same mistake again
Now the organ starts up, somewhere in the distance. She’s desperate to know what the issue was.
You can tell me to my face or even on the phone
You can write it in a letter
Either way, I have to know
Did I never treat you right?
Did I always start the fights?
Either way, I'm going out of my mind
All the answers to my questions, I have to find
And finally, after a full minute, the intro is over and the rest of the instrumentation kicks in, still restrained.
A word for producer Cameron McVey’s restrained guitar, reminiscent of Teeni Hodges’ contributions to Al Green’s Memphis gospel-soul records.
My head's spinning
Boy, I'm in a daze
I feel isolated
Don't wanna communicate
I'll take a shower, I will scour
I will (roam)
To find peace of mind
The happy mind I once owned, yeah
Flexing vocabulary runs right through me
The alphabet runs right from A to Z
Conversations, hesitations in my mind
You got my conscience asking questions that I can't find
I'm not crazy, I'm sure I ain't done nothing wrong, no
I'm just waiting 'cause I heard that this feeling won't last that long
CHORUS (twice, in unison)2:
Never ever have I ever felt so low
When you gonna take me out of this black hole?
Never ever have I ever felt so sad
The way I'm feeling, yeah, you got me feeling really bad
Never ever have I had to find
I've had to dig away to find my own peace of mind
I've never ever had my conscience to fight
The way I'm feeling, yeah, it just don't feel right
Drop out except for lead and backing vocals, piano and organ
I'll keep searching
Deep within my soul
For all the answers
Don't wanna hurt no more
I need peace, got to feel at ease
Need to (be)3
Free from pain, going insane
My heart aches, yeah
(Now sung slightly differently than before. Still very calm but you can tell she’s mad…)
Sometimes vocabulary runs through my head
The alphabet runs right from A to Z
Conversations, hesitations in my mind
You got my conscience asking questions that I can't find
(I'm not crazy)4, I’m sure I ain't done nothing wrong
Now I'm just waiting 'cause I heard that this feeling won't last that long
CHORUS x 4. Yeah, four, in true 90s swingbeat style. Take THAT, Take That!
Now they could have been forgiven for simply having the song fade out on the chorus, but the genius move they in fact make is to add an outro, with the song’s protagonist clearly in a right state while still holding it together.
This old soul music fan in me would have liked this next bit to have been really powerful and in yer face a la Lorraine Ellison’s Stay With Me Baby, but the Saints are after something lower-key here.
You can tell me to my face
You can tell me on the phone
Ooh, you can write it in a letter, babe
'Cause I really need to know
You can tell me to my face
You can tell me on the phone
Ooh, you can write it in a letter, babe
'Cause I really need to know
You can write it in a letter, babe
You can write it in a letter, babe
The repeated last line is a gut punch. You know she’s going to blow up at him any second. JUST WRITE ME A LETTER YOU COWARDLY BASTARD!
Have a listen to the song now.
Previous Sunday Tunes:
Sunday Tune #1 - Summer (The First Time) - Bobby Goldsboro
And then there was the unforgettable bagpipe-led version by The Pipes, Drums And Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, which made no.1 in the UK in 1973. I swear I am not making this up. It scotched (heh!) Ringo Starr’s best chance of ever having Number One record, consigning Back Off Boogaloo to the No.2 Slot. Ringo took it well at the time, joking that his follow-up single would be called Back Off Bagpipes.
Folks sometimes get sniffy about pop groups taking the easier option, but sometimes, as here, it is best to keep things simple.
Four-part harmony on “be” which has five syllables here. A long way from the record, which I believe is held by Van Morrison elongating the title of the song Ballerina from Astral Weeks to 12 or 13 syllables according to whose opinion you prefer.
And the harmonies again on this phrase.