We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again

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".{{cite AV media |people=Kyle Lehning, Jeffrey Comanor, Marshall Morgan, Tom Knox, Dan Seals, and John Ford Coley |year=1978 |title=We'll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again |medium=Vinyl record |publisher=Big Tree Records }} 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.{{cite magazine|title=Cover Battle Erupts|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|page=3|last=Grein|first=Paul|volume=90|number=8|date=February 25, 1978|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSQEAAAAMBAJ}}{{cite book|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting|last1=Kelley|first1=Casey|last2=Hodge|first2=David|page=55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76lKgSfX9m8C|publisher=Penguin|year=2011|isbn=978-1-101-54337-5}}

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 duo of Danny Deardorff and Marcus Joseph, who previously opened for Seals and Crofts, and they recorded it for their eponymous debut album. Released as a single in January 1977, with "The Little Kings of Earth" on the B-side, the song peaked at number twenty-two on the U.S. Easy Listening chart for two weeks in April 1977.{{cite magazine|title=Easy Listening|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|page=28|volume=89|number=15|date=April 16, 1977|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RyMEAAAAMBAJ}} The single did not do well on the Billboard Hot 100, and "bubbled under" at number 109.{{cite book|first=Joel|last=Whitburn|year=2013|title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2012|edition=14th|publisher=Record Research Inc.|location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|isbn= 978-0-89820-205-2|page=225}}

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.{{cite magazine|title=Released Yesterday: The Original 'We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again'|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|page=65|volume=90|number=7|date=February 18, 1978|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSQEAAAAMBAJ}} 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".{{cite magazine|title=Top Single Picks|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|page=70|volume=90|number=9|date=March 4, 1978|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiQEAAAAMBAJ}} 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]".{{AllMusic | class=album | id=some-things-dont-come-easy-mw0000206688 | tab= | label=Some Things Don't Come Easy | first=Joe | last=Viglione | access-date=December 17, 2014 }} 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".{{cite magazine|title=Top Album Picks|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|page=150|volume=90|number=12|date=March 25, 1978|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSQEAAAAMBAJ}} "Calling for You Again", written by Coley and Bob Grundy, was the B-side to the single. Cash Box said that it has "a gentle uplift to a strong chorus, effective vocals and piano-guitar interaction."{{cite news|title=CashBox Singles Reviews|date=February 25, 1978|page=18|newspaper=Cash Box|accessdate=2021-12-26|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-02-25.pdf}}

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. On March 17, 1978, McGovern promoted her song on the fourth season of the variety talk show Dinah!, which aired on NBC.{{cite episode |title=Episode 124 |series=Dinah! |first1=Dinah |last1=Shore |first2=Phyllis |last2=Diller |first3=Don |last3=Meredith |first4=Maureen|last4=McGovern |season=4 |network=NBC |date=March 17, 1978}} 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.{{cite magazine|title=Epic Records|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|page=19|volume=90|number=7|date=February 18, 1978|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSQEAAAAMBAJ}}

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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.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/HOT-100/1978-04-15|title=Hot 100, the Week of April 15, 1978|magazine=Billboard|access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2002 |publisher=Record Research |page=86}} Cashbox placed the song at number fourteen on their US Top 100 Singles chart for the week that ended on April 29, 1978.{{cite book|title=Cash Box Pop Singles Charts, 1950–1993|year=1994|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|last1=Downey|first1=Pat|last2=Albert|first2=George|last3=Hoffmann|first3=Frank W|isbn=978-1-56308-316-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/cashboxpopsingle00down/page/111 111]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/cashboxpopsingle00down/page/111}} 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.

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• List of Billboard Easy Listening number ones of 1978

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• [https://www.songlyrics.com/england-dan/we-ll-never-have-to-say-goodbye-again-lyrics/ Lyrics of this song]
• {{YouTube|cbgH1SBV-fA|England Dan & John Ford Coley - We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again}}

{{England Dan & John Ford Coley|state=collapsed}}

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Category:1976 singles

Category:1977 singles

Category:1978 singles

Category:Arista Records singles

Category:Big Tree Records singles

Category:England Dan & John Ford Coley songs

Category:Epic Records singles

Category:Maureen McGovern songs

Category:Song recordings produced by John Boylan (record producer)

Category:Song recordings produced by Kyle Lehning

Category:1976 songs

Category:Songs about parting