That lovers want to be together, often to the exclusion of others, is a timeless sentiment, so there will always be songs about it. What changes, though, is the way pop singers sing about it.
In 1978, Roberta Flack teamed up with the late Donny Hathaway for the suave and elegant monster R&B and Pop hit, “The Closer I Get To You.”
Forty-plus 40 years later, Ellie Goulding, also a sensational songstress, brings her unique vocal style to a song with the same sentiment. “Close To Me,” a collaboration with award winning producer Diplo and rapper Swae Lee, is hovering Top Ten in both Top 40 and Adult Top 40 formats.
“The Closer I Get To You” was right for the times, just as “Close to Me” is appropriate for today: It’s still a love song, but it’s rougher, tougher, blunter:
And I don’t wanna be somebody without your body close to me
And if it wasn’t you, I wouldn’t want anybody close to me.
Two songs with the same message. Musical styles may change, but the human desire and need for closeness and connection, does not.