This Year’s Love (1999) – David Gray

This Year’s Love by British singer-songwriter David Gray, is one of his real fan-pleasers – and it’s easy to hear why. The single peaked at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and its from his fourth studio album, White Ladder. His music has featured here often and most recently just a wee while ago with Now and Always. To tell you how expansive this song is in English popular culture Gray himself makes an appearance in the film of the same title. The song also appears in the films The Girl Next Door, Crazy/Beautiful, Wimbledon, and Heart Eyes.

Sometimes you wake up a little older, a little wiser, and realise you have to hold onto what feels good – not let it drift past the way you might’ve done in the ambivalence of youth. That’s why I admire the many people, including readers of this blog, who’ve held onto their beloveds and never let go. One day it hits you: you’re not a teenager anymore, life’s shifted, and some folks understood that far sooner than I did. Gray married his wife Olivia in Los Angeles in 1993, and the two have raised their daughters together.

White Ladder, the multi-platinum-selling album seemed to be playing in every corner of Britain in 2001. A whole generation of couples stared meaningfully into each other’s eyes as they performed their first wedding dance to “This Year’s Love“. David Gray’s voice – with its rasping blend of gravel and honey – was the soundtrack to our lives. White Ladder became one of the bestselling albums of the decade.

“I still pinch myself when I think about it. That record will be there for ever. It just connected in such a big way with people.” He pauses. “It was the period that came after that was difficult. – a bit overwhelming. Fame is not something you can do a course on at City Lit and, yes, for a moment, it was all a bit too much for me. I realised instantly that I like my privacy.”

The blame for the popularity of singers such as James Blunt has, in the past, been laid at Gray’s door. Gray has released since then many studio albums and although none of them has had quite the same popular impact, he admits they are more representative of how he sees himself as a musician. He concedes he is not the easiest person to live with. For one thing, when Gray finds himself in the grip of an idea, he disappears into the studio for days on end. “I can be a bit distracted, to say the least.”

[Verse 1]
This year’s love had better last
Heaven knows it’s high time
I’ve been waiting on my own
Too long
And when you hold me like you do
It feels so right, oh, now
I start to forget how my heart gets torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Feeling like you can’t go on

[Verse 2]
Turning circles and time again
Cut like a knife, oh, now
If ya love me, got to know
For sure
‘Cause it takes something more this time
Than sweet, sweet lies, oh, now
Before I open up my arms and fall
Losing all control
Every dream inside my soul

[Pre-Chorus]
When ya kiss me on that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing, “Ain’t this life so sweet?”

[Verse 3]
‘Cause who’s to worry if our hearts get torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Don’t ya know this life goes on?

[Pre-Chorus]
Won’t ya kiss me on that midnight street?
Sweep me off my feet
Singing, “Ain’t this life so sweet?”

References:
1. This Year’s Love (song) – Wikipedia
2. David Gray: I’m Trained to Wash Up – The Guardian

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand