Jerry Butler, Never Give You Up | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 131st edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Never Give You Up” by Jerry Butler.   

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 131^st edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Never Give You Up” performed by Jerry Butler.

“Never gonna give you up / No matter how you treat me / Never gonna give you up / So don’t you think of leavin’.” Jerry Butler had a successful musical career, particularly in the 1960s.  Notably, Butler was also a politician.  One of Jerry’s most important albums is The Ice Man Cometh, released in 1968. The biggest hit from the LP is “Only The Strong Survive” (Butler’s ace-in-the-hole). Beyond that strong gem, “Never Give You Up”, the seventh track from The Ice Man Cometh, is superb too. It impacted the pop charts, peaking at no. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Butler penned “Never Give You Up” with the iconic songwriting and production duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff.

With Gamble and Huff behind the boards, the backdrop is classy, refined, and sophisticated to the nth degree.  The orchestration is marvelous (the beauty and punch of brass), while the rhythm section is tight. Butler sings over the backdrop like a champ.  He gives an authentic, nuanced, and well-rounded performance. “Girl, you treat me bad, and I know why,” Butler sings in the first verse, continuing, “Yeah, I’ve seen you runnin’ around with another guy / And you think, if you hurt me, that I’ll go away.” Oh, my! In the second verse, her tactics are similar: “You think you’re gonna take me and put me on the shelf? / Girl, I’d rather die than see you with somebody else.” Oh, snap! The section to beat is the chorus, among the most memorable of Butler’s career (excerpted at the top).  Butler is NEVER GONNA GIVE HER UP! Even though his ‘friends say he’s a fool,’ he’s resolved to win her affection.  Love makes you do crazy things and the ultra-memorable “Never Give You Up” is a prime example. Jerry Butler shines.

Jerry Butler // The Ice Man Cometh // UMG Recordings, Inc. // 1968

Jerry Butler, Never Give You Up: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 131 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]