Love Will Keep Us Alive Explained

Love Will Keep Us Alive
Cover:Love Will Keep us Alive.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Eagles
Album:Hell Freezes Over
Released:November 1994
Genre:Soft rock
Length:4:02
Producer:Eagles, Elliot Scheiner, Rob Jacobs
Prev Title:Get Over It
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:Learn to Be Still
Next Year:1994

"Love Will Keep Us Alive" is a song written by Jim Capaldi, Paul Carrack, and Peter Vale and recorded by American rock band the Eagles. It was first performed by the Eagles in 1994, during their Hell Freezes Over reunion tour, with lead vocals by bassist Timothy B. Schmit. This is the last single to feature Don Felder, who was terminated from the band in 2001. The song was nominated at the 38th Grammy Awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Although the song was never formally released as a single in the US, and thus was not eligible to appear on the US Billboard Hot 100 under the rules then in place, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in early 1995[1] and reached number 22 on Billboards Hot 100 Airplay chart. In the United Kingdom, "Love Will Keep Us Alive" was issued as a single and peaked at number 52 on the UK Singles Chart.[2]

Aside from being on the album Hell Freezes Over, the song appears on the Eagles' box set and their 2003 compilation album, The Very Best Of.

Paul Carrack recorded the song for his 1996 album, Blue Views; it also featured on his 2006 compilation album, Greatest Hits – The Story So Far. In 2011, Carrack and Schmit recorded the song in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and released it in the UK on the Carrack label.[3]

Background

According to the liner notes that accompanied their 2003 greatest hits CD, this song was written when Carrack, Capaldi, and Schmit were planning to form a new rock band with Don Felder and Max Carl during the late eighties or early nineties.[4] The band had the working name of Malibu Men's Choir.[5] This never materialized, so Schmit proposed the song for the Eagles' reunion album. According to Felder, they sent demo tapes to the Eagles manager, Irving Azoff, who rejected it as not good enough.[6] Felder thought that it was ironic that the Eagles would later record one of those rejected songs.[7]

Personnel

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (1995)! scope="col"
Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[8] 64
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[9] 10
US Radio Songs (Billboard)[10] 56

Wendy Matthews' version

Love Will Keep Me Alive
Type:single
Artist:Wendy Matthews
Album:The Witness Tree
Released:January 1995
Length:4:14
Label:RooART
Producer:Booker T. Jones
Prev Title:Standing Strong
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:Say a Prayer
Next Year:1995

Australian recording artist Wendy Matthews released a version of the song in January 1995, retitled as "Love Will Keep Me Alive" as the second single from her third studio album, The Witness Tree. The song peaked at number 68 on the ARIA Charts in April 1995

Track listing

  1. "Love Will Keep Me Alive" - 4:14
  2. "God Watch Over You" (Wash Over You Mix) - 7:04
  3. "Remember My Forgotten Man" - 5:03

Charts

Other versions

"Love Will Keep Us Alive" was recorded by Capaldi and Dave Mason on their 40,000 Headman tour and live album, and by Carrack (duet with Lindsay Dracass) on his 2007 album Old, New, Borrowed and Blue.

Terry Lin also covered this song on his 1999 compilation Love Singles.[12]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of No. 1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  2. Web site: OfficialCharts.com Is For Sale. Official Charts Company.
  3. Web site: Paul Carrack – A Different Hat . . May 18, 2018 .
  4. Web site: Crowe . Cameron . Conversations with Don Henley and Glenn Frey . The Uncool . August 2003 . April 8, 2018 .
  5. Web site: Don Felder Talks Eagles Gear, "Hotel California" and His Slide Guitar Influences.
  6. Don Felder and Wendy Holden, Heaven and Hell: My Life with the Eagles (1974–2001). John Wiley and Sons, 2008, 235.
  7. Felder and Holden, 252.
  8. Web site: RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1995. RPM. November 26, 2017.
  9. 1995 The Year in Music. Billboard. 107. 51. YE-80. December 23, 1995. September 7, 2021. June 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210628190958/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1995/BB-1995-12-23.pdf. live.
  10. The Year in Music: Hot 100 Singles Airplay. Billboard. 107. December 23, 1995. Y-32. June 6, 2022.
  11. Web site: The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 23 April 1995. Imgur (original document published by ARIA). June 16, 2021.
  12. Web site: Love Will Keeps Us Alive (Live)-林志炫_无损下载_百度云网盘_91flac.com无损音乐网. www.91flac.com.