"Still in Love with You" is a song originally recorded by
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...
. The studio version was first released on their 1974 album ''
Nightlife
Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, c ...
'', and went on to be a live favourite, showcasing the guitarists, including
Brian Robertson,
Scott Gorham
William Scott Gorham (born March 17, 1951) is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after ...
,
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...
and
John Sykes
John James Sykes (born 29 July 1959) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He has also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums.
Following a stint in ...
. Live versions were released on the albums ''
Live and Dangerous
''Live and Dangerous'' is a live double album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in June 1978. It was recorded in London in 1976, and Philadelphia and Toronto in 1977, with further production in Paris. It was also the last Thin Lizzy ...
'', ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'', ''
BBC Radio One Live in Concert'', ''
The Peel Sessions'' and ''
One Night Only''.
Composition
The studio version was recorded at Saturn Sound Studios,
Worthing
Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
,
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
in March 1974, with
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, bassist, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and ba ...
on vocals and bass,
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...
on guitar and
Brian Downey on drums. Moore later said the song was a combination of two pieces; Lynott's "Still in Love With You" with his "I'll Help You See It Through", which he had been working on for some years. Moore left the band the following month, and the song ended up being credited on ''Nightlife'' to Lynott alone.
"Still in Love with You" was one of the demos that secured the group's contract with
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany.
Phonogram was the name ...
in summer 1974, by which time Moore had been replaced by guitarists
Brian Robertson and
Scott Gorham
William Scott Gorham (born March 17, 1951) is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after ...
. Manager Chris O'Donnell later said he lied to the Phonogram representatives, saying Robertson (then aged 17) played the solo instead of Moore. The group returned to Saturn Sound in October to add
overdub
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
s.
On his video, Still in Love with the Blues,
["Still in Love with the Blues", JamTrax VHS video] Robertson described the song as "a slow blues".
Live and later versions
Originally, the song was a duet between Lynott and Moore (as can be heard on an early BBC session recording), but following Moore's departure Scottish singer
Frankie Miller
Francis John Miller (born 2 November 1949) is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter and actor.
Miller wrote for and performed with many recording artists and is best known for his 1977 album ''Full House'', the singles "Be Good To Yourself", " D ...
was recruited to replace his vocal parts. However, Robertson refused to similarly re-record Moore's guitar solo, believing that it could not be improved upon. Despite this, Robertson would go on to consider "Still in Love with You" his signature song, and would not let it be removed from the band's setlist.
The song was featured as a set-closer in the band's live shows and became a showcase for each of the band's subsequent guitarists, including Moore (who rejoined and replaced Robertson) and
John Sykes
John James Sykes (born 29 July 1959) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He has also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums.
Following a stint in ...
, featuring in their live set until the band split in 1983.
The song is usually played in the key of A minor but Thin Lizzy often down-tuned half a step when playing live for a heavier live sound, as is the case for the double live album, ''
Live and Dangerous
''Live and Dangerous'' is a live double album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in June 1978. It was recorded in London in 1976, and Philadelphia and Toronto in 1977, with further production in Paris. It was also the last Thin Lizzy ...
'', making the actual key a
concert pitch
Concert pitch is the pitch (music), pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are musical tuning, tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from musical ensemble, ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over music history. ...
A flat minor.
Live versions of the song were also released as the b-side of the "Thunder and Lightning" single in April 1983, and as one of four tracks on the 12" release of "Dedication" in 1991. A re-recording appeared as a B-side to the "
Out in the Fields
"Out in the Fields" is a song by Irish musicians Gary Moore and Phil Lynott, who had previously been bandmates in Thin Lizzy. Written by Moore and released as a single in 1985, the song was also featured on his album '' Run for Cover'' in the sa ...
" double single and 12" by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott in 1985.
After Lynott's death, the touring version of Thin Lizzy performed the song as a duet in 2011–12, with vocals shared between keyboard player
Darren Wharton
Darren Leigh Wharton (born 25 December 1961) is a British keyboardist, singer and songwriter. He has fronted his own band, Dare, since 1985, but first came to attention as a member of Thin Lizzy. His son, Paris, is also a musician.
Biography
W ...
and frontman
Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick (born 11 July 1966) is a Northern Irish musician and the lead singer of the rock bands Black Star Riders and Thin Lizzy. He is also the frontman for the Scottish hard rock band The Almighty, with whom he achieved chart success in ...
.
Reception
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's review of the song says it "is widely considered to be Thin Lizzy's greatest, most romantic ballad."
The Live and Dangerous performance was described by Mark Putterford as the highlight of Lynott's musical career.
Cover versions
Bobby Tench
A
cover
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
of this song was recorded by
Bobby Tench
Robert Tench (born 21 September 1944) is a British vocalist, guitarist, sideman, songwriter and arranger.
Tench is best known for his work with Freddie King and Van Morrison, as well as being a member of The Jeff Beck Group, Humble Pie, Str ...
, and released on the
Stiff label in 1986. This version features
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...
guitarist
Brian Robertson and the
B side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
is entitled "Heart Out of Love" which was co-written by
Peter Bardens
Peter Bardens (19 June 1945 – 22 January 2002) was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the British progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked al ...
and Tench.
Curt Smith
The first solo album of
Curt Smith
Curt Smith (born 24 June 1961) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and co-founding member of the pop rock band Tears for Fears along with childhood friend Roland Orzabal. Smith plays bass guitar, has co-written several ...
after leaving
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new wav ...
, entitled ''
Soul on Board
''Soul on Board'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer Curt Smith, released on 6 September 1993 by Vertigo and Phonogram Records.
The album was Smith's first musical venture after leaving pop rock band Tears for Fears in 1991. Prec ...
'', closes with a cover of the song. Curt explained that Lynott was a big influence on him, being a bass player and singer. Additionally, an acoustic version was released on the b-side of his single ''Words''.
Sade
British
R&B/
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
band
Sade
Sade may refer to:
People
* Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine
* Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band
* Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...
covered the song on their 2011 compilation album ''
The Ultimate Collection''. It was released as the first single from the album and was included on the
Sade Live
Sade Live (also known as the Once in a Lifetime Tour or the Soldier of Love Tour) is the sixth concert tour by British band Sade. Visiting Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia the tour supports the band's sixth studio album, '' Soldier of L ...
Tour setlist. In Europe, it was released as a
promo single
A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...
along with another song from the album titled "Love Is Found".
Sade's cover of the song received a positive reception from critics upon its release. ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' described Sade's cover as "one of the group's finest unreleased treasures" in its review of the single. Andy Kellman of
AllMusic Guide
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
called the song "The best of the new songs" from the new compilation.
[Andy Kellman]
The Ultimate Collection
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
.
Charts (Sade's version)
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
Still in Love with Youat
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
{{Authority control
1974 songs
1986 singles
2011 singles
Rock ballads
Thin Lizzy songs
Songs written by Phil Lynott
Sade (band) songs
Vertigo Records singles
Song recordings produced by Ron Nevison
Contemporary R&B ballads
Blues songs