Only You (1982) – Alison Moyet (Yazoo)

Posted on November 26, 2023 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

If you take away anything from this, then read the interview with Alison Moyet below. I have spoken about Desert Island songs before and now we are getting down to the nitty-gritty. This song, everything about it will always come away with me to my Desert Island. When I was in grade 6, I sang this song in front of a whole school assembly. Sure I got laughed off and I wondered how my backup tambourine player could surmount the ordeal, but we got through. Rebecca went on to bigger and brighter things after that performance and I’m proud to say I did too. Man, what a song. I don’t have enough superlatives to describe the mastery and wonder of this song.

Looking from a window above
It’s like a story of love
Can you hear me?
Came back only yesterday
I’m moving farther away
Want you near me

All I needed was the love you gave
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew
Only you

Sometimes when I think of her name
When it’s only a game
And I need you
Listen to the words that you say
It’s getting harder to stay
When I see you

All I needed was the love you gave
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew
Only you
All I needed was the love you gave
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew
Only you

This is going to take a long time
And I wonder what’s mine
Can’t take no more (can’t take no more)
Wonder if you’ll understand
It’s just the touch of your hand
Behind a closed door

All I needed was the love you gave
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew
Only you

I have listened to Only You, I don’t know maybe 3 hundred times and I am still in awe of it. I know 80’s music gets a bad rap, but Only You is to me the best of this quagmire of synth sound. It is a song by English synth-pop duo Yazoo and written by member Vince Clarke, while he was still with Depeche Mode, but recorded in 1982 after he formed Yazoo with Alison Moyet. It was released as Yazoo’s first single on 15 March 1982 in the United Kingdom, taken from their first album, Upstairs at Eric’s (1982), and became an instant success on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two on 16 May 1982.

Vince Clarke originally wrote the music for the song on a guitar, and transposed the riff into synthesizer notes. While writing the lyrics, Clarke remarked “It was a very simple arrangement. I just formed words on a piece of paper. I was just hoping Daniel Miller, Mute Records founder, would like it“. Before Clarke presented the song to Miller, he offered it to Depeche Mode, although they rejected it. Clarke had written Only You as a sentimental ballad, and wanted to find a vocalist who could sing with emotion. My God did he find it in Alison Moyet! One for the ages.

References:
1. Only You (Yazoo song) – Wikipedia
2. Alison Moyet: ‘My biggest disappointment? I am’ – The Guardian