Love Will Keep Us Together
“Love Will Keep Us Together” is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It was first recorded by Sedaka himself in 1973 and was released as a single in France. American pop duo Captain & Tennille covered the song in 1975, with instrumental backing by L.A. session musicians from the Wrecking Crew and had a worldwide hit with their version.
Neil Sedaka version
“Love Will Keep Us Together” first appeared on Neil Sedaka’s 1973 studio album The Tra-La Days Are Over which did not have a US release. His version of the song made its US album debut on the 1974 compilation album Sedaka’s Back. The song was released as a single in France, on the Polydor label. In West Germany, Sedaka’s original song was also included as the B-side of his 1976 hit, “Love in the Shadows.”
In 2009, Neil Sedaka rerecorded a spoof of his song, renaming it “Lunch Will Keep Us Together” for his first children’s CD Waking Up Is Hard To Do.
Captain & Tennille version
“Love Will Keep Us Together” was the title cut and lead single of Captain & Tennille’s debut album, although “Captain” Daryl Dragon originally hoped that honor would go to the duo’s rendition of “I Write the Songs”. The single rose to number 1 on both the Billboard Easy Listening chart and the Billboard pop chart, staying atop the latter for four weeks starting June 21, 1975. It also hit the top of the 1975 year-end chart. In the US it was the best-selling single of 1975. “Love Will Keep Us Together” became a Gold record and also won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in February 1976.
Dragon and Tennille acknowledged Sedaka’s authorship — as well as his mid-1970s comeback — by working the phrase “Sedaka is back” into the song’s fadeout, where the applause from the studio musicians can be heard. Their version would earn Sedaka and Greenfield a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. Twenty years later in 1995, the duo would re-record the song for their Twenty Years of Romance CD.