Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime

"Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" features a distinctive synthesizer line as primary sound, based on a prominent keyboards arrangement played by Phil Harrison.

The song also is notable for its simple, sparse lyrics, but with a direct message. Related to that, lead singer and bassist James Warren has said that the song took only 10 or 15 minutes to write, after he sang the first thing to come into his mind while he played both the chords and melody on the piano. Producer David Lord subsequently added the bigger arrangement and strings.{{cite web |title=How I wrote 'Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime' by The Korgis' James Warren |url=https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/how-i-wrote/everybodys-got-to-learn-sometime-korgis |website=Songwriting |access-date=2023-10-15 |date=2014-10-09 |url-access=subscription}}

The distinctive instrument played after each chorus is the guzheng, an eighteen-string Chinese zither. The song also features a brief violin section in the middle, as well some pizzicato after each chorus.

About the meaning of the song, Warren said:

At that time I was into new wave [sic] philosophies about working on yourself, meditation and that sort of stuff. The whole lyric comes out of that. It wasn’t a romantic song at all. For me it was all about an individual changing and being a different sort of person – trying to find out the root of your inner confusion, dealing with it and becoming a better person. So it was literally a philosophical lyric.

The song, from the group's second album, Dumb Waiters, was released on 11 April 1980, and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19800622/7501/|title=

Official Singles Chart: 21 June 1980 - 27 June 1980 |publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=23 February 2024}} and number 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.{{Cite book |title=Joel Whitburn's top pop singles 1955–2002 |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |year=2003 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=0-89820-155-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur}} The song topped the singles charts in France,{{cite web |url=http://www.laurentpons.com/charts/france/top40tmp1000.htm |title=TOP 40 TMP France |access-date=11 October 2016}} was also number one in Spain.{{cite web |url=https://revistadiscomania.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/40-principales-11-04-1981.jpg |title=Los Quarenta Principales |access-date=11 October 2016}} It charted at number five in Ireland,{{cite web|url=http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement |title=The Irish Charts |access-date=11 October 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602061251/http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement |archive-date=2 June 2009}} number six in Switzerland,{{cite web |url=http://hitparade.ch/charts/singles/12-10-1980 |title=Schweizer Hitparade - Singles Top 100 |access-date=11 October 2016}} number 11 in the Netherlands,{{cite web |url=http://www.dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp?year=1980&date=19800726&cat=s| title=Dutch Single Top 100 |access-date=11 October 2016}} number 11 in Australia,{{cite web |url=http://www.australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=27126 |title=ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts - 1980 |access-date=11 October 2016}} number 12 in New Zealand,{{cite web |url=https://charts.nz/weekchart.asp?year=1981&date=19810215&cat=s |title=Single Top 40 |access-date=11 October 2016}} and number 14 in Belgium.{{cite web |url=http://www.ultratop.be/nl/ultratop50/1980/19800913 |title=Ultratop 50 Singles |website=Ultratop |access-date=11 October 2016}} That represented the peak of the Korgis' chart success.

The original 1980 version of "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" appears on the following compilation albums and CDs:

• The Best of The Korgis (1983)
• Archive Series (1997)
• Greatest Hits (2001)
• Don't Look Back – The Very Best of The Korgis (CD1) (2 CD) (2003)

In 1989, original members James Warren and Andy Davis reunited the Korgis after they were approached by the Bristol-based International Hostage Release Foundation, who were gathering artists for the recording of a charity album to raise money for their cause.{{cite news |title=Old sound gets new backing |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004974/19900810/007/0007 |newspaper=Western Daily Press |date=10 August 1990 |page=7 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 December 2024}}{{cite news |last=Pope |first=Steve |title=Korgi Andy snaps up Curt's offer |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004974/19900103/015/0015 |newspaper=Western Daily Press |date=3 January 1990 |page=15 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 December 2024}} The duo recorded a new version of "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" for the project. Originally due for release as a single in November 1989,{{cite news |title=Hostage Aid bid |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005252/19891101/032/0002 |newspaper=West Lancashire Evening Gazette |date=1 November 1989 |page=2 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 December 2024}} the release was delayed until 13 August 1990.{{cite magazine |title=New Singles |magazine=Music Week |date=11 August 1990 |page=27 |issn=0265-1548}} The version has appeared on the foundation's 1991 charity album Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime,{{cite AV media notes |title=Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime |others=various artists, International Hostage Release |year=1991 |type=UK and European CD album |publisher=Mercury |id=848 647-2}} the band's 1992 album This World's for Everyone and their 2005 compilation CD and DVD Kollection.

In 1993, the Korgis collaborated with the electronic music production duo DNA on a new version of "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime". The band were inspired to give the song the "'90s treatment" after hearing a number of "dreadful 'rave' cover versions". They approached DNA to work on the track after a chance meeting with them at a studio in Bath.{{cite news |last=Marshall |first=Susan |title=Korgis in new bid for charts |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004769/19930611/021/0021 |newspaper=Western Daily Press |date=11 June 1993 |page=21 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 December 2024}}{{cite news |title=Korgis snap into action over rave band covers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004974/19930615/008/0008 |newspaper=Western Daily Press |date=15 June 1993 |page=8 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 December 2024}} The single, which was released in the UK by Euro Records on 14 June 1993,{{cite magazine |title=New Singles |magazine=Music Week |date=12 June 1993 |page=21 |issn=0265-1548}} reached number 78 in the charts.{{cite magazine |title=Hit Singles 2 |magazine=Hit Music |date=26 June 1993 |issue=39 |page=4}}

The Korgis recorded a live, acoustic version of "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" in the summer of 2005, which was intended for release on Kollection, but which eventually made its appearance in 2006 on the Unplugged CD.

An alternate version of "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime", with a different second verse, was included as a bonus track on the 1999 CD re-issue of 1980 album Dumb Waiters. That alternate version also appears on the compilations Klassics – The Best of The Korgis (2001) and Don't Look Back – The Very Best of The Korgis (CD2) (2 CD) (2003), which also includes an uptempo, 3-minute 51-second, version of the song as its closing track, taking the number of variants of the song on the double-CD compilation to three.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/dont-look-back-the-very-best-of-the-korgis-mw0000038979p |title=Don't Look Back - The Very Best of the Korgis |website=AllMusic |access-date=9 November 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}

When Warren and Davis reformed their first band, Stackridge, in 2007, they incorporated "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" into their set, with Warren introducing it as a song he wrote for the Korgis. A live version by Stackridge was included in both the CD and DVD versions of The Forbidden City, recorded at one of the 2007 shows in Bath, England. Keyboardist Glenn Tommey and drummer Andy Marsden, both one-time backing musicians for The Korgis, were part of that incarnation of Stackridge.{{cite web |url=http://www.stackridge.net/bandhistory.asp |title=History of Stackridge |access-date=11 October 2016}}

Upon its release, Simon Ludgate of Record Mirror commented, "Soft music for soft minds but don't let that worry you, as this is a hit if ever I heard one. Well-timed for early summer airplay."{{cite magazine |last=Ludgate |first=Simon |title=Singles |magazine=Record Mirror |date=10 May 1980 |page=9 |issn=0144-5804}} Jim Whiteford of The Kilmarnock Standard noted the Korgis had followed their hit "If I Had You" with "another sweet melody which tends to stay close to you... rather like aftershave". He added, "The strong title hookline must take it chartwards and make a few more quid for the two ex-Stackridge men."{{cite news |last=Whiteford |first=Jim |title=Records: Searchers go seeking some new hits |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003423/19800523/012/0012 |newspaper=The Kilmarnock Standard |date=23 May 1980 |page=12 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 May 2024}}

The Korgis

• James Warren – lead vocals, bass guitar, guzheng
• Stuart Gordon – electric guitar, violin
• Andy Davis – drums, bell tree
• Phil Harrison – keyboards

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{{Infobox song

| name = (Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving

| cover = (Everybody's_Got_to_Learn_Sometime)_I_Need_Your_Loving.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Baby D

| album = Deliverance

| released = {{start date|1995|5|22|df=y}}{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-05-20.pdf|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=47|date=20 May 1995|access-date=29 June 2021}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

• Dance-pop{{cite magazine|first= |last= |title= Cool Cuts |magazine= Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) |date= 6 May 1995 |page= 4 |accessdate= 9 May 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-05-06.pdf}}
• happy hardcore{{cite magazine|first=Tony|last=Cross|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/54313953941/in/album-72177720323683892/|title=Singles|work=Smash Hits|date=24 May 1995|page=59|access-date=20 February 2025}}
• jungle{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1995/MM-1995-07-01.pdf|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music & Media|volume=12|issue=26|date=1 July 1995|page=12|access-date=31 August 2018}}

| length = 4:10

| label =

• Production House
• Systematic

| writer = James Warren

| producer = Nino/Dice

| prev_title = Let Me Be Your Fantasy

| prev_year = 1994

| next_title = So Pure

| next_year = 1996

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|FlzAaLOUDa0|"(Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving"}}}}

}}

British electronic music group Baby D recorded a successful cover of the song, released as "(Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" on 22 May 1995 by Production House Records, as the fifth single from their only album, Deliverance (1996). It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart,{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/i-need-your-loving-(everybody's-got-to.)/|title=i need your loving (everybody's got to.)|publisher=officialcharts.com|access-date=31 January 2018}} and was also a top-20 hit in Finland, Iceland, Ireland and Scotland. A partially black-and-white music video was released to promote the single.

Taylor Parkes from Melody Maker praised the song's "spectral saintliness".{{cite magazine|first=Taylor|last=Parkes|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53651845328/|title=Singles|magazine=Melody Maker|date=6 April 1996|page=36|access-date=9 May 2024|author-link=Taylor Parkes}} Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "A female voice in the intro is the first variation on the Korgis' 1980 hit, then dub techniques and electronic percussion are used to take it to the jungle grand finale." Red Rose Rock FM/Preston/Blackpool head of music Andy Roberts said, "It kind of takes you by surprise, as it starts as a ballad and then becomes jungle, which is a very original way of updating an old hit. Now it's charted it proves that the popularity of jungle is no longer restricted to London." Music Week described it as "jungle pop which is right on track with this revamped version", remarking that "an impressive and melodic vocal complements the jungle beat."{{cite magazine|first= |last= |title= Reviews: Singles |magazine= Music Week |date= 13 May 1995 |page= 10 |accessdate= 9 May 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-05-13.pdf}}

Jake Barnes from Muzik viewed it as "jungle-lite".{{cite magazine|url=http://www.muzikmagazine.co.uk/issues/muzik009_february_1996.pdf|first=Jake|last=Barnes|title=Albums|magazine=Muzik|date=1 February 1996|page=78|access-date=5 April 2020}} The Record Mirror Dance Update named it "another catchy pop dance track that borrows from the past." In his weekly dance column in Record Mirror, James Hamilton, considered it a "sure-fire smash hit attractively warbled junglistic remake".{{cite magazine|first= James |last= Hamilton |title= Dj directory |magazine= Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) |date= 13 May 1995 |page= 11 |accessdate= 9 May 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-05-13.pdf |author-link= James Hamilton (DJ and journalist)}} Tony Cross from Smash Hits gave '(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving' four out of five, writing, "Proof that pumpin' happy hardcore isn't gonna go away comes with Baby D's return. This is even better than the chart-topping 'Let Me Be Your Fantasy'. Taking a (relatively) unknown '80s song by The Korgis (who?), the dancefloor kings have sunk their butts into turning it into the kind of hypno-trance track that blindin' nights out are made of."

• Europe 12" single - 1995 issue on Systematic Records [SYSCD4]

1. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (R.A.F. Zone Mix)
2. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (Original Mix)
3. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (T.S.O.B. Mix)
4. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (Masters of House Mix)

• UK CD single - 1995 issue on Systematic Records [SYSCD4]

1. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (Radio Edit) — 4:10
2. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (Original Mix) — 5:38
3. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (T.S.O.B. Mix) — 6:26
4. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (Neil Mclelland Mix) — 5:46
5. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (Ray Keith No Sell Out Remix) — 5:28
6. "(Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving" (D-SP Remix) — 6:40

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Baby D|title=(Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving|award=Silver|relyear=1995|certyear=1995|id=2-1092-1|access-date=16 February 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

"Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" has been covered many other times over the years, including several versions that reached the UK Singles Chart, including those by the Dream Academy (1987), Brian Davis (1991), Yazz (1994), Army of Lovers (2001) and the Cantamus Girls Choir (2005).{{cite web | url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/1614/cantamus-girls-choir/ | title=CANTAMUS GIRLS CHOIR | website=Official Charts | access-date=30 September 2015}} NRG covered the song on their 1991 release The Real Hardcore. In 1997, a cappella group the King's Singers recorded the track with lead vocals by James Warren. In 2000, German music duo Marc et Claude sampled the song for their track "I Need Your Lovin' (Like the Sunshine)". In 2003, Erasure recorded the song on their cover album Other People's Songs.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

In September 2004, Zucchero and Vanessa Carlton entered the French charts with their version of the song.{{cite web | url=http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Zucchero+%26+Vanessa+Carlton&titel=Everybody%27s+Got+To+Learn+Sometime&cat=s | title=lescharts.com - Zucchero & Vanessa Carlton - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime | access-date=30 September 2015}} That same year, Beck also covered the song for the Michel Gondry film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.{{cite web|title = Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Jon Brion {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-mw0000696862|website = AllMusic|access-date = 25 September 2015}}

In May 2005, Zucchero and Lara Fabian performed and recorded a live version of the song with a full orchestra for the Symphonic Show on French television. In 2008, Glasgow indie band Glasvegas covered the song on the B-side of the second 7-inch of Geraldine. Richard Thompson covered the song as part of his 1000 Years of Popular Music tour in 2009.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

On March 7, 2008, Dutch pop rock band Krezip covered the song for the film Love Is All.{{Cite web |title=Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime - Krezip |url=https://www.npo3fm.nl/muziek/tracks/2f58a59f-cf0d-420e-87ba-060a54e4ce55/everybodys-gotta-learn-sometime |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=NPO 3FM |language=nl}}

In 2011, British singer Nicola Roberts, of girl group Girls Aloud, covered the song for her debut solo album, "Cinderella's Eyes".

In 2020, G-Eazy covered the song for his compilation album Everything's Strange Here.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Yazz

Marc et Claude

Zucchero and Vanessa Carlton

Cantamus Girls Choir

Krezip

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.thekorgis.com/ The Official band website]
• {{Citation | url = http://www.discog.info/korgis.html | title = The Korgis, James Warren and Stackridge discography | publisher = Discog}}.
• [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6516 Songfacts]

{{The Korgis}}

{{Yazz}}

{{Zucchero Fornaciari}}

{{Robyn Loau}}

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Category:1980 songs

Category:1980 singles

Category:1995 singles

Category:The Korgis songs

Category:Baby D (dance group) songs

Category:Beck songs

Category:Vanessa Carlton songs

Category:Zucchero Fornaciari songs

Category:Pop ballads

Category:New wave ballads

Category:Synth-pop ballads

Category:1980s ballads

Category:British soft rock songs

Category:Number-one singles in France

Category:Number-one singles in Spain

Category:Asylum Records singles

Category:Production House Records singles