We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again

"We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" is a song by Jeffrey Comanor from the album A Rumor in His Own Time, which debuted in September 1976. Written by Comanor, the song describes a couple who spend a night together, one which the narrator wishes would "never end". Both the song, which Epic Records released as a single, and album failed to chart.

"We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again"
German cover art of "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again"
Single by England Dan & John Ford Coley
from the album Some Things Don't Come Easy
B-side"Calling For You Again"
ReleasedFebruary 17, 1978 (1978-02-17)
Genre
Length2:49
LabelBig Tree
Songwriter(s)Jeffrey Comanor
Producer(s)Kyle Lehning
England Dan & John Ford Coley singles chronology
"Gone Too Far"
(1977)		 "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again"
(1978)		 "You Can't Dance"
(1978)
Audio sample
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Discovered four months later by Arista Records President Clive Davis, "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" was covered by soft rock duo Deardorff & Joseph for their eponymous debut album, released on Arista. After Deardorff & Joseph disbanded, Marcia Day, who managed Maureen McGovern, became the manager of Deardorff, while Susan Joseph, who managed England Dan & John Ford Coley, became the manager of Joseph. Both McGovern and England Dan & John Ford Coley released covers of "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" in February 1978; while McGovern's failed to chart, Dan & Coley's spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard US Easy Listening chart, reached number two on the RPM Canada Adult Contemporary chart, and went to numbers nine and eleven on the magazines' respective overall charts.

Original release

Lyricist and composer Jeffrey Comanor recorded "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" for the album A Rumor in His Own Time, which debuted in September 1976. Produced by John Boylan and released on Epic Records, both the album and the single failed to chart. "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" describes a couple that spends a night together, one which the narrator wishes "would never end".[1] Comanor, who wrote the song, stated that his lyrical inspiration originated from a girl he dated who owned a wooden KLH radio that continued to play music quietly when he attempted to turn it off. When Comanor's next girlfriend, Molly, left the city where he lived, he remembered their last night together and how he "hated that night to end": a combination of the two memories formed the introductory lyrics of the song.[2][3]

Covers

After its release, Arista Records President Clive Davis found the song and wanted Melissa Manchester to record a cover; instead, he gave it to Deardorff & Joseph, a group that previously opened for Seals and Crofts, and they recorded it for their eponymous debut album. Released as a single in January 1977, the song peaked at number twenty-two on the US Easy Listening chart for two weeks in April 1977.[2][4]

Nineteen months after its initial debut, England Dan & John Ford Coley covered the song for the album Some Things Don't Come Easy. Produced by Kyle Lehning and engineered by Lehning and Marshall Morgan with help from Tom Knox, Big Tree Records issued it as a single on February 17, 1978; the song's debut preceded its album's.[5] A Billboard magazine writer described England Dan & John Ford Coley's cover of "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" as a soft ballad with a "catchy chorus" and "excellent vocal harmonizing".[6] In a review of Some Things Don't Come Easy for AllMusic, Joe Viglione called it "far and away the best song on the album" and wrote that its "hook and instrumentation are so radio-friendly that the 45 could be put on repeat and after the 30th spin not bore like many of the tracks [on Some Things Don't Come Easy]".[7] Another Billboard writer listed "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" as a "hot cut" from the album, along with "You Can't Dance", "Calling for You Again", and "Lovin' Someone on a Rainy Night".[8] "Calling for You Again", written by Coley and Bob Grundy, was the B-side to the single.[1]

In February, Maureen McGovern also recorded a cover that Epic Records released as a single. After Deardorff & Joseph separated, Marcia Day, who managed McGovern, became the manager of Danny Deardorff, while Susan Joseph, who managed Dan & Coley, became the manager of Marcus Joseph. According to Day, Susan told her that "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" would "absolutely not" be Dan & Coley's next single, and that McGovern could release a cover; Susan, however, states that she did not know of its plans for future release.[2] On March 17, 1978, McGovern promoted her song on season four of the variety talk show Dinah!, which aired on NBC.[9] Described by Epic as the "title song" to McGovern's newest album, the cover did not appear on her next album and the single failed to chart.[10]

Chart performance

On March 25, 1978, in their "Top Album Pick" section, Billboard predicted that the first single from Some Things Don't Come Easy would reach the top-ten; afterwards, it went to number nine on the magazine's Hot 100 chart and spent six weeks at number one on their Easy Listening chart.[8][11][12] Cashbox placed the song at number fourteen on their US Top 100 Singles chart for the week that ended on April 29, 1978.[13] In Canada, "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" peaked on the RPM Top Singles chart at number eleven, while on the Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, the song peaked at number two behind "Dust in the Wind" by the progressive rock band Kansas.[14][15]

Weekly singles charts

Year-end charts
England Dan & John Ford Coley
Chart (1978) Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[19]
85
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See also
  • List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1978 (U.S.)

References
  1. Kyle Lehning, Jeffrey Comanor, Marshall Morgan, Tom Knox, Dan Seals, and John Ford Coley (1978). We'll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again (Vinyl record). Big Tree Records.
  2. Grein, Paul (February 25, 1978). "Cover Battle Erupts". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 90 (8): 3. ISSN 0006-2510.
  3. Kelley, Casey; Hodge, David (2011). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting. Penguin. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-101-54337-5.
  4. "Easy Listening". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 89 (15): 28. April 16, 1977. ISSN 0006-2510.
  5. "Released Yesterday: The Original 'We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again'". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 90 (7): 65. February 18, 1978. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. "Top Single Picks". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 90 (9): 70. March 4, 1978. ISSN 0006-2510.
  7. Viglione, Joe. Some Things Don't Come Easy at AllMusic. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  8. "Top Album Picks". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 90 (12): 150. March 25, 1978. ISSN 0006-2510.
  9. Shore, Dinah; Diller, Phyllis; Meredith, Don; McGovern, Maureen (March 17, 1978). "Episode 124". Dinah!. Season 4. NBC.
  10. "Epic Records". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 90 (7): 19. February 18, 1978. ISSN 0006-2510.
  11. "Hot 100, the Week of April 15, 1978". Billboard. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  12. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 86.
  13. Downey, Pat; Albert, George; Hoffmann, Frank W (1994). Cash Box Pop Singles Charts, 1950–1993. Libraries Unlimited. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-56308-316-7.
  14. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5468a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. May 13, 1978.
  15. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 4575." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. May 27, 1978.
  16. [Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004]
  17. "Cashbox Top 100 Singles". Cashbox. Vol. 38 no. 49. April 23, 1977. p. 4.
  18. "Adult Contemporary, the Week of April 29, 1978". Billboard. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  19. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0070a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. December 30, 1978.
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