Never Close Our Eyes - Stream with Lyrics

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Well it's truly been an embarrassment of riches recently with all the performances, hence the lack of posts so I hope my companion blog of bare performances has helped you keep up. I'm in the process of watching and summarising everything and will hopefully post on those soon. For now though, it's time to listen to the new single Never Close Our Eyes:



I must be one of the only fans who hadn't yet listened to the live Bing Lounge version, deciding to give my ears the full studio treatment of NCOE first. It's taken a hell of a lot of restraint but I'm glad to have made it. I think it'll give me a much better appreciation of the acoustic performances.

From the minimal sound of the keyboard and the echo effects it's apparent right from the beginning that this song is going to have an electronic dance production, late 90s springing to mind. Any concerns about Adam's voice getting neutered are alleviated at the first 'that' - rich, a little rough, with a hint of vibrato and unmistakably, powerfully, Adam. And there's plenty more of that on this track so I'm a happy chappy.

The instrumentals have a phased introduction coming in layer by layer. Unusually this song starts with the chorus, the verses finally kicking in with a very satisfying, driving, syncopated beat. I find that I'm loving this part, with the rub-a-dub bass, the cheeky beeps and Adam's voice on top.

It moves onto a hands-in-the-air section on the return of the echoey synths where beat builds for the release of the full-blown pumping chorus. It has a four-on-the-floor house sound with the bass zipping up and down. It's my least favourite part of the song, having wanted to hear those earlier rhythms built upon but I can see it being meant for the clubs and people going mad for it. The bridge is a series of 'ooh's and 'ah's building up to a climactic vocal lead into the final chorus which ends abruptly. It's a very fitting end, suddenly closing your eyes at the death of the song.

If BTIKM is this era's WWFM then I'd say NCOE is its more sophisticated, accomplished IIHY. Released before the start of summer (unlike IIHY), I can see this Bruno Mars collaboration taking off as a huge summer hit. It's almost made for Ibiza - party-goers with cocktail in hand, evening breeze carrying over the excitement of the night as the sun sets over the sea, promising insanely fun times ahead. Maybe you could interpret in the lyrics a reference to recreational substances too, for round-the-clock goggle-eyed hardcore clubbers feeling the sense of togetherness that they bring on.

I've mentioned before that I'm not a huge fan of lyrics written from the first person addressing someone directly but I have to admit, I really like how this one's written. On a subject that's been well-worn, it still manages to avoid cliché and I find the oblique lyrics very elegant. Even the title sums it up so well, capturing the desperation not to miss anything. Whether that may be fun times larging it up with mates determined to enjoy life to the max, or whether it's the sad agonising final moments with a loved one, it's all up to the listener to decide and interpret which experience it is that they can't bear to end.

NCOE is an upbeat positive song with heaps of energy and delicious rock vocals. Having now listened to one of the acoustic versions, I think this studio version with all the excitement of the multiple build-ups works much better, despite missing that live quality in Adam's voice. Though still different to what I was expecting and not the darkly humoured funk (which I think will be Shady) I'd been hoping for, I'm liking it a lot. It's very catchy, sure to never leave our ears once we've heard it.

Here are the lyrics as far as I can make out:

I wish that this night
Would never be over
There's plenty of time to sleep
When we die
So let's just stay awake
Until we grow older
If I had my way
We'd never close our eyes
Our eyes
Never

I don't want to let a minute get away
'Cause we got no time to lose
None of us are promised to see tomorrow
And what we do is ours to choose

Forget about the sunrise
Fight the sleep in your eyes
I don't want to miss a second with you
Let's stay this way forever
It's only getting better
If we want it to

You know that I wish that this night
Would never be over
There's plenty of time to sleep
When we die
So let's just stay awake
Until we grow older
If I had my way
We'd never close our eyes
Our eyes
Never

It's so hard to think this could fade away
But what goes up must come down
Why can't we just live life with no consequence
And always live in the now

Forget about the sunrise
Fight the sleep in your eyes
I don't want to miss a second with you
Let's stay this way forever
It's only getting better
If we want it to

You know that I wish that this night
Would never be over
There's plenty of time to sleep
When we die
So let's just stay awake
Until we grow older
If I had my way
We'd never close our eyes
Our eyes
Never (never never)

Ooh
Yeah
Ooh
Yeah

You know that I wish that this night
Would never be over
There's plenty of time to sleep
When we die
So let's just stay awake
Until we grow older
If I had my way
We'd never close our eyes
Our eyes
Oh
Never