Tonight’s song is one that will get the blood pumping and the toes tapping … but … which version???  Mac Gayden and Buzz Cason originally wrote this song for Robert Knight in 1967.  The song has been recorded by a number of prominent artists, with four different versions charting in the United States and an astounding seven versions in the UK, the biggest of which was by the English band Love Affair, who reached #1 on the UK charts in 1968, relegating Knight’s original to #40. However, the Knight version was reissued in the UK in 1974 and reached #19.

Love Affair used session musicians rather than the band itself on their version. The only member of the group who performed on it was their 16-year-old vocalist Steve Ellis.  The highest-charting version of this song in the United States (and my favourite, though I like the others also) was by Carl Carlton, whose cover reached #6 in 1974. Carlton kicked off a career in soul, R&B, and funk in the late 1960s, originally recording as “Little Carl” Carlton, in synergy with Stevie Wonder, who also started out as “Little Stevie.”

Chart breakdown of the “Everlasting Love” covers:

Robert Knight (1967): #13 US, #19 UK
Carl Carlton (1974): #6 US
Rex Smith/Rachel Sweet (1981): #32 US, #35 UK
Gloria Estefan (1995): #27 US, #19 UK
Love Affair (1968): #1 UK
Worlds Apart (1993): #20 UK
Cast From Casualty (1998): #5 UK
Jamie Cullum (2004): #20 UK

U2 released a version of this song on their All I Want Is You single. According to the song’s co-writer Buzz Cason in 2015 …

“We still don’t know why U2 did ‘Everlasting Love.’ It was a very big song in England. A bigger song in England than it was in the States. It was a #1 record by a band called the Love Affair in England, so everybody knew it. So I kind of assumed that it was the same in Ireland where Bono and all those guys were and they just decided one night, ‘Hey, let’s throw this thing together.’  They don’t even do the lyrics right on it. But I raced cars for years and one of my mechanics called me and said, ‘Hey, listen to what’s in the background. That’s U2 singing your song.’ I was like, ‘Oh no, man, that’s got to be somebody else. That can’t be.’ It was just surreal.”

Since the versions that were popular in the U.S. largely flopped in the UK, and vice versa, I’m playing several versions tonight.  Gloria Estefan also recorded this song, and while I love Gloria Estefan’s music, her cover of this song was … meh … so, in the interest of time (both mine and yours) and energy (largely mine), I will leave out her version and play instead, Robert Knight’s (he gets top billing, since it was his song, after all), Carl Carlton’s (because it’s my favourite and this is my blog), and the UK fave, Love Affair’s.  Let me know which you like best.

Everlasting Love
Robert Knight/Carl Carlton/Love Affair

Hearts go astray, leaving hurt when they go.
I went away just when you needed me so.
Filled with regret I come back beggin’ you,
Forgive, forget. Where’s the love we once knew?
Open up your eyes, then you’ll realize here I stand
With my everlasting love.
Need you by my side, girl you’ll be my bride.
You’ll never be denied everlasting love.
From the very start, open up your heart,
Be a lasting part of everlasting love.
Real love will last forever.
Ooh, ooh.

Where life’s river flows, no one really knows
’til someone’s there to show the way to lasting love.
Like the sun that shines, endlessly it shine,
You always will be mine. It’s everlasting love.
When other loves are gone, ours will still be strong,
We have our very own everlasting love.
Real love will last forever.
You give me, you give me, you give me everlasting love

Ooh.

Open up your eyes, then you’ll realize here I stand
With my everlasting love.
Need you by my side, girl you’ll be my bride.
You’ll never be denied everlasting love.
From the very start, open up your heart,
Be a lasting part of everlasting love.
Real love will last forever.

Open up your eyes, then you’ll realize here I stand
With my everlasting love.
Need you by my side, girl you’ll be my bride.
You’ll never be denied everlasting love.

Open up your eyes, then you’ll realize here I stand
With my everlasting love.
Need you by my side, girl you’ll be my bride.
You’ll never be denied everlasting love.

Open up your eyes, then you’ll realize here I stand
With my everlasting love.
Need you by my side, girl you’ll be my bride.
You’ll never be denied everlasting love.

Songwriters: Mac Gayden / Buzz Cason
Everlasting Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Royalty Network

Note:  Lyrics vary slightly from one cover to another.  Being that it is nearly 3:00 a.m., I took the lyrics that seemed most prevalent.  Any errors are my own due to exhaustion.