Never My Love – The Association | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#2); 1967

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

An argument in 1965 among the 13 members of The Men split the group in two. Six carried on as The Association. An initial single on Jubilee Records – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You – left them back where they began: without a label. Eventually they were signed by Valiant.

Their first disc – Bob Dylan’s One Too Many Mornings – did no better than their earlier 45. The second, however, put them on the map. Along Comes Mary was followed by the chart-topping Cherish, two so-so sellers, and another #1, Windy, in the summer of 1967.

With Windy still riding high on the chart, the Association released a ballad in the Cherish mold, Never My Love, written by Dick and Don Addrisi. The title came from a post-marriage proposal conversation between Don and his girlfriend.

She asked if his feelings for her would ever change, to which he answered, “Never, my love.” Put to music, Don’s heartfelt response almost made it to #1; blocked only by the Box Tops’ The Letter.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• Bones Howe

Lyrics Written by:

• Don Addrisi
• Dick Addrisi