Originally published in 2003 on NE20.com (inactive)
“‘Cause I’m with you all the way
I’ll never give up this dream
Although it may seem
There’s no way out today”
For a long time, the chime-sounding keyboards that open “With You All The Way” were a signal for me to hit the fast-forward button on my cassette player (remember cassettes?). Today, this song is one of my favorites on All For Love. Why?
It’s the lyrics. I never paid much attention to this song in the past. As I said, I’d usually hear the intro and hit the fast-forward button so I could listen to “Let’s Be Friends”. But I can’t claim to be a “NExpert” without knowing my stuff, huh?
So I bought the CD and listened to this song and was immediately struck by the lyrics. This is Diane Warren-quality stuff here. Good melody. A mature theme. Internal rhymes.
Why does this song work? Turns out it was written by composer Carl Wurtz, who’s currently runs World’s Tallest Music, a music production company.
And then there’s Ralph. Yes, he sounds really young on this record, but who else in NE could have pulled it off?
One of my favorite things in life is discovering, or rediscovering, an artist, album or song that I’d ignored. I’m glad I gave “With You All The Way” a second chance.
UPDATE: My hunch was correct! I knew this song was strong enough to be covered by another artist.
I discovered that “With You All The Way” appeared on The Jetsons soundtrack and was sung by Shane Sutton. Listen to Sutton’s version (requires RealOne Player).
Will Leon 