The 1967 song that Tom Jones considers his career best
Tom Jones‘ main skill is his ability to transform a song with his powerful vocals and reshape a previously recorded track in his image, even if he didn’t personally write the composition.
There’s a vast difference between simply singing somebody else’s song, which, at times, can come across like bad karaoke, and delivering a true cover. In theory, the latter should perfectly toe the line between paying homage to its creator while also giving it wholly new elements that give the song a new lease of life.
Although Jones’ biggest hits, like ‘Delilah‘ and ‘It’s Not Unusual’, weren’t covers, he didn’t write them, either, but sang them like only he could have penned them. Meanwhile, other beloved recordings, such as ‘Green, Green, Grass of Home’, and ‘She’s A Lady’, took on lives far greater than the original versions that came before them from Johnny Darrell and Paul Anka, respectively.
For a time, the hits just kept coming for Jones, and unsurprisingly, his favourite song of his career comes from this early chapter. The success of ‘It’s Not Unusual’ kick-started Jones’ recording career, and soon enough, he was a superstar on both sides of the Atlantic. Due to his newfound fame, which had seen him go from playing social clubs in Wales to becoming a household name in a matter of years, everyone wanted to work with him.
Not only did Jones have the world’s leading songwriters queuing up to give him his songs, but artists were also keen for him to record his own version of their work. In 1967, Jones couldn’t believe his luck when Lonnie Donegan, who he greatly admired, asked him to cover one of his songs, and the final result remains a source of immense pride for the Welsh icon.
Skiffle pioneer Donegan, who was hero-worshipped by Paul McCartney and George Harrison, initially released ‘(It Looks Like) I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ in 1962, which failed to be a hit. However, upon growing close to Jones on tour, he encouraged his friend to record a version of the track, and he didn’t need much persuading.
While ‘(It Looks Like) I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’, which still charted at two in the UK, isn’t Jones’ biggest hit, it’s the one song that he considers to be his favourite.
During an interview with Shortlist in 2013, Jones named ‘(It Looks Like) I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ as his favourite song he’s ever released, and also provided the backstory behind the recording, sharing, “I was touring with Lonnie, and he said he had this song that I should listen to, and it was on the flip side of one of his hits. It was based on a song I knew in Wales called ‘It Looks Like I’m Never Gonna Cease My Wandering’; it was a depression song from the depression era.”
He also ensured there was a “big difference” between his take and Donegan’s original, revealing Chas Blackwell added a new arrangement for his recording that was inspired by Kitty Lester’s ‘Love Letters’, noting: “It came together so wonderfully, and it was one take. We had one acetate of it, so I took it home and gave it to my wife, and she went to Gordon’s (his manager) house and played it to his wife.”
Jones, who only had one copy of the recording at this stage, knew he’d nailed it and had a hit on his hands thanks to the reaction of those in his inner circle, adding, ”As soon as he played it to his inner circle, Jones, “I thought ‘Wow, this sounds like this is gonna be a hit! I’ve got my wife and my manager’s wife fighting over it, that’s a good sign!'”
Many years later, in a strange coincidence, Donegan’s son Peter was a contestant on the UK talent show The Voice, which features Jones as a judge. With that in mind, he performed ‘(It Looks Like) I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ during his audition. Naturally, Jones couldn’t resist joining him to perform an impromptu duet of the classic song that connected their lives.
As much as ‘(It Looks Like) I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ may not have been a monster hit for Jones or won him any awards, but that feeling inside that it gives him is irreplicable.
