March 28, 2021 – Endless/Eternity/Everlasting/Forever/Infinity/Omega

Well its Sunday again and time for Jim Adam’s to give us a prompt for Song Lyric Sunday. The multi prompt this week is Endless/ Eternity/ Everlasting/Forever/Infinity/Omega!

Alive In South Africa is a live worship album by Israel & New Breed. Recorded on August 20, 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa, the disc was released on October 25, 2005 by Integrity Media. It is the fifth album by Israel, his fourth released by Integrity, and his third live album and serves as the follow-up to his 2004 album Live from Another Level. More info here

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“Infinity” is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her sixth compilation album, #1 to Infinity (2015). It was released by Epic Records on April 27, 2015, as the only single from the album. Carey wrote the song in collaboration with Eric Hudson, Priscilla Renea, Taylor Parks and Ilsey Juber. Carey and Hudson also produced the track. It is an R&B song; the lyrics are about Carey putting herself first and emancipation. However, many critics likened the content to the singer’s separation from her then-husband, entertainer Nick Cannon. Critical response to “Infinity” was positive, with Carey’s vocals and humorous songwriting praised. Particular emphasis was placed on the reference to Fritos. In the United States, the song reached number eighty-two on the Billboard Hot 100, and charted on several R&B component charts. In Europe, it peaked at number twenty-seven on the UK R&B Chart, and made the top twenty in Spain and top thirty in Hungary. Carey performed a medley of her 1990 debut single “Vision of Love” with “Infinity” at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, Live! with Kelly and Michael and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “Infinity” is the only new recording to be included on Carey’s third greatest hits album, #1 to Infinity (2015).It was written and produced by Carey and Eric Hudson, with additional songwriting from Priscilla Renea, Taylor Parks and Ilsey Juber.Carey unveiled the single’s artwork on April 24, 2015, via music identification service Shazam.Mike Wass for Idolator wrote that Carey exudes “overpowering glamor” and “looks typically ravishing in a cleavage-exposing, black ensemble, which she accentuates with huge diamond earrings and fabulous windswept hair. more information here.

“Everlasting Love” is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since remade numerous times, most successfully by the Love Affair, as well as Town Criers, Carl Carlton, Sandra, and Gloria Estefan. The original version of “Everlasting Love” was recorded by Knight in Nashville, with Cason and Gayden aiming to produce it in a Motown style reminiscent of the Four Tops and the Temptations. When released as a single, the song reached No. 13 on the US chart in 1967. Subsequently, the song has reached the US Top 40 three times, most successfully as performed by Carl Carlton, peaking at No. 6 in 1974, with more moderate success by the duo Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet (No. 32 in 1981) and Gloria Estefan (No. 27 in 1995).

“Everlasting Love”

In the UK, “Everlasting Love” was covered by the Love Affair: with a standout vocal performance by Steve Ellis it achieved No. 1 status in January 1968. That version eclipsed the Robert Knight original, which stalled at No. 40, although the latter was reissued in 1974 and reached No. 19 in the UK. Also in 1968, a cover by the Australian group Town Criers reached No. 2 in the Australian charts. Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet’s 1981 version reached No. 35 in the UK, and in the 1990s “Everlasting Love” reached the UK Top 20 three times via remakes by Worlds Apart (No. 20 in 1993), Gloria Estefan (No. 19 in 1995) and, most successfully, a charity single by the cast from Casualty that reached No. 5 in 1998. In 2004, Jamie Cullum‘s version peaked at No. 20.

Thus, “Everlasting Love” is one of two songs to become a Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hit in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (the other being “The Way You Do the Things You Do“) and the only song to become a UK Top 40 hit in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, always – with the exception of the 1980s – reaching the UK Top 20. In 1987, the rendition of “Everlasting Love” by German singer Sandra reached the Top 20 in at least eight territories, going Top 10 in five. Her version also reached UK No. 45 in early 1989, affording “Everlasting Love” its second UK Top 50 incarnation of the decade. The versions of the song by Love Affair, Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet, Worlds Apart, and Gloria Estefan also saw multinational chart action which was especially strong for the Love Affair version.

“Everlasting Love” was remade for the country music market by Narvel Felts would make the song a major C&W hit in 1979, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard C&W chart; a concurrent remake by Louise Mandrell peaked at No. 69 on C&W. Just prior to the release of Jamie Cullum’s 2004 version, Buzz Cason theorized on his composition’s appeal: “It’s an uplifting song, with a real positive feeling, and it’s danceable. I think people get a lift from it. When it comes to that chorus it just really lets go.”

“Everlasting Love” was recorded by Love Affair in 1967. According to the band’s lead vocalist Steve Ellis: “We had two managers, David Wedgebury and John Cokell, who both worked at Decca [and] had access to all the imports on the Monument label. We rehearsed in a factory in Walthamstow and one night they turned up with ‘Everlasting Love’ by Robert Knight. I loved it and so we set about putting it down on tape.”Muff Winwood produced the original Love Affair version of “Everlasting Love” which was recorded at Island Studios and featured the group’s actual members: Island Records passed on releasing the track but CBS in-house producer Mike Smith – after failing to interest his regular clients Marmalade in recording the song (which Marmalade deemed “too poppy”) – cut a new Love Affair version of “Everlasting Love”.

The second Love Affair recording of “Everlasting Love” in fact featured only one member of the group: lead vocalist Steve Ellis who fronted a session ensemble comprising arranger/conductor Keith Mansfield‘s 40-piece orchestra plus a rhythm section, the session musicians including Peter Ahern (triangle percussion), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Parker (guitar), Russ Stableford (bass), and a chorale comprising Madeline Bell, Kiki Dee, Lesley Duncan, and Kay Garner: the track was recorded in two takes. Mike Smith would eventually attribute the non-utilization of the actual musicians in Love Affair to the need for expediency, arguing that “there just wasn’t time for the group to learn the arrangement in time, so we used session musicians”, a UK release for the Robert Knight original version being imminent.

Debuting on the UK Top 50 dated January 2, 1968, “Everlasting Love” by the Love Affair rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for a two-week stay that February. The track was also a Top 20 hit in a number of other European countries in 1968. More information here.

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Isolation is the Gold-certified fifth studio album by Toto, released on October 18, 1984. This was the only album the band made with Fergie Frederiksen as the primary vocalist, as he was let go following the album’s world tour due to ongoing vocal problems. Isolation failed to achieve the popularity of its predecessor, Toto IV, although it achieved gold record status and gave the band their highest charting mainstream rock single “Stranger in Town” (No. 7). Relatively few songs from this album were featured in live performances after 1985’s Isolation World Tour. More information here.

“Eternity“/”The Road to Mandalay” is the fifth single from Robbie Williams‘ 2000 Sing When You’re Winning album, released in July 2001. “Eternity” does not appear in the album but it was later included on Williams’ Greatest Hits album. The lyrics of “Eternity” were written as a tribute to Williams’ close friendship with Geri Halliwell and was the 20th-best-selling single of 2001 in the United Kingdom, topping the country’s singles chart. Brian May plays guitar on the track. Though “Eternity” never appeared on a Robbie Williams studio album, a comedic snippet of the song can be heard in “Outtakes”, a hidden track on Swing When You’re Winning. More information here.

“Eternity”

Close your eyes so you don’t fear them
They don’t need to see you cry
I can’t promise I will heal you
But if you want to I will try

I’ll sing this somber serenade
The past is done
We’ve been betrayed
It’s true
Someone said the truth will out
I believe without a doubt, in you

You were there for summer dreaming
And you gave me what I need
And I hope you find your freedom
For eternity
For eternity

Yesterday when you were walking
We talked about your mum and dad
What they did that made you happy
What they did that made you sad
We sat and watched the sun go down
Picked a star before we lost the moon
Youth is wasted on the young
Before you know it’s come and gone too soon

You were there for summer dreaming
And you gave me what I need
And I hope you find your freedom
For eternity
For eternity

For eternity
I’ll sing this somber serenade
The past is done
We’ve been betrayed
It’s true
Youth is wasted on the young
Before you know it’s come and gone too soon

You were there for summer dreaming
And you are a friend indeed
And I hope you find your freedom
For eternity

You were there for summer dreaming
And you are a friend indeed
And I know you’ll find your freedom
Eventually
For eternity
For eternity

Happy Sunday Everyone