Don't Give Up

Ciao! The theme of this episode is “Don’t Give Up”. Let’s start off with The Temptations and “Ain't Too Proud to Beg” from 1966.

Now let’s listen to “You Can't Hurry Love” by The Supremes. Written by Motown production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song topped the Billboard pop singles chart, made the UK top five, and made the top 10 in the Australian Singles Chart. It was released in late summer of 1966. Billboard named the song number 19 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time, and the BBC ranked it at number 16 on the The Top 100 Digital Motown Chart.

Next up is “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys from 1964.

“Cade La Pioggia” by Negramaro is a beautiful song from 2007. The title means “the rain falls”, and it is about a relationship that is ending.

And now, here is “I’ll Never Let You Go” by Steelheart from 1990.

Our next song is “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” by Dionne Warwick from 1979. It reached number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 in Canada. It was eventually certified as gold by the RIAA for sales of over one million copies and won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Here is “Non Arrendersi” by Fiorella Mannoia from 1988. The title means “don’t give up”.

Next up is one of my favorite bands of all time: Air Supply with “Chances” from 1984.

“Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey, from 1981, became the top-selling track in iTunes history in 2009, among songs not released in the 21st century. Understandable, since it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

"Somewhere" is a song from the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story that was made into a film in 1961. The music is composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It features a phrase from the slow movement of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto, which forms the start of the melody, and also a longer phrase from the main theme of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. In the stage musical, the song appears in the second act of the show during the Somewhere Ballet. It is performed by an off-stage soprano singer and is later reprised by the entire company. In the original Broadway production, "Somewhere" was sung by Reri Grist who played the role of Consuelo. At the end of the show, when Tony is shot, Maria sings the first few lines of the song as he dies in her arms. The version I’ve chosen was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her 1985 album “From Broadway”. 

Our next number is by Italian singer songwriter Renato Zero, with his 1979 “Arrendermi Mai”, which means “I’ll never give up”.

And now here’s “Try” by Pink from 2004.

From 1980, here is “Hold On To My Love” by Jimmy Ruffin, who was the elder brother of David Ruffin of the Temptations. Jimmy had several hit records from the 60s to the 80s, the most successful being the Top 10 hits "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and "Hold On (To My Love)".

Be sure to tune in every week for a new episode of Love Songs, featuring host Marcy Coate. See the sidebar for current broadcast days and times.