Always

Album: I Say I Say I Say (1994)
Charted: 4 20
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Songfacts®:

  • This hit from Erasure's sixth album features lyrics by lead singer Andy Bell programming by their beatmaker Vince Clarke. After founding Erasure and Yazoo, Clarke formed Erasure with Bell when he found the singer after placing an ad in Melody Maker. Clarke is much more reserved than the openly gay Bell, and their differences lead to a fruitful songwriting collaboration, with Bell providing lyrics for Clarke's tracks.

    "Always" is typical of Bell's words: a very dramatic appeal for a lover to accept him and be with him forever. With the exception of "Only You," this is the stuff Clarke couldn't do when he was writing on his own with his previous acts. He told us: "Up to Andy, it was a mystery to me how people write songs together. Andy I, we've been together a long, long time and we feel very comfortable around each other. I've tried to write lyrics that perhaps express the way I feel sometimes. I've struggled with that feeling. I find it easier to write lyrics about someone else's situation other than my own. I can't with any of my songs, say Yeah, that was me when I was half drunk, hung over or something or other. They're more situations about other people. Andy is much better at offering his heart to the world and expressing how he feels, he's a king at that, I think." (See our full interview with Vince Clarke.)

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