IF EVER
I SEE YOU AGAIN
ROBERTA
FLACK
SONGWRITER:
JOE BROOKS
COUNTRY:
U. S. A.
ALBUM: ROBERTA
FLACK
LABEL: ATLANTIC
RECORDS
GENRE: SOUL
YEAR: 1978
"If Ever I See You Again" is the
title of a 1978 hit single by Roberta
Flack. The song was composed by Joseph "Joe" Brooks and
served as the title song for the 1978 film If Ever I See You Again, which
Brooks directed and also starred in with Shelley
Hack as his leading lady. Male vocalist Jamie Carr sang the
theme song on the film's soundtrack.
Brooks' directorial debut, You Light Up My Life, had become successful
largely on the strength of its title song, which as recorded by Debby Boone had spent ten weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. With Brooks producing, Debby Boone had subsequently
recorded the If Ever I See You Again title song plus four other songs
heard in the film: "California", "Come Share My Love",
"It Was Such a Good Day" and "When It's Over", at the
Hollywood recording studio the Record Plant in January 1978, with the track
"California" being issued as Boone's follow-up single to "You
Light Up My Life" in February 1978 to reach #50 on the Hot 100. Boone's
version of the If Ever I See You Again title song, plus the four other
songs from the film that she'd recorded, would be included on her July 1978
album release Midstream.
Despite Boone's success with the theme song
from You Light Up My Life, Brooks was hoping to place the If Ever I See
You Again theme song plus other songs from the film with an established
artist. According to his partner Robert K. Lifton, Brooks offered the If Ever I
See You Again numbers to Arista Records president Clive
Davis for Barry Manilow to record only to renege after hearing the existing tracks intended
for Manilow's upcoming album, which Brooks felt were sub-par and would sink his
own compositions (in fact Manilow's 1978 album release Even Now would be a triple platinum
seller).
Brooks then approached Atlantic Records president Jerry
Greenberg with the intent of having the If
Ever I See You Again theme song and other songs from the film recorded by Roberta Flack (Flack has stated that she had been offered "You Light Up My
Life" prior to the Debby Boone recording: (Roberta Flack:)"Some
people whose opinions I respect very much suggested I should do it...but the
song reminded me of too many other things that I had heard or sung and I just
didn't like it [although] I think [for] Debby Boone ['You Light Up My Life']
was perfect". Flack would eventually describe "If Ever I See You
Again" as "a song I couldn't stand" that Greenberg insisted she
record: (Roberta Flack quote:) "I had a very clever lawyer who
made a huge money deal for [my recording] that song": Flack recorded
"If Ever I See You Again" at A&R Recording Studios in New York City in a session produced by Brooks which also yielded Flack's versions
of "Come Share My Love" and "When It's Over". With a track
from Flack's 1977 Blue Lights in the Basement album:
"I'd Like To Be Baby To You", as B-side,
"If Ever I See You Again" was released as a single in 21 April 1978 -
a month before the film's premiere - to debut the Billboard Hot 100 dated 20 May 1978 at #87 (the same chart ranked the Blue Lights in
the Basement single: the Donny
Hathaway duet "The
Closer I Get to You" at its #2 peak for a
second and final week).
With the film If Ever I See You Again quickly
proving a massive flop, Flack's single was left to fare on its own merit, and
did in July 1978 spend three weeks at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart with an
eventual ranking as the #8 Easy Listening hit for the year: however, while
reaching the Top 40 on both the Pop-oriented Hot 100 and the R&B chart, "If Ever I See You
Again" was not on either chart afforded the impact which had previously
been customary for Flack's lead singles, the Hot 100 peak for "If Ever I
See You Again" being #24 with its R&B peak being #37. On the
pop-oriented singles charts published in both Cashbox and Record World,
"If Ever I See You Again" peaked at #38, with the single's peak on
the respective magazines' R&B charts being #37 (Cashbox) and #58 (Record
World)).
"If Ever I See You Again" was
included on the August 1978 album release Roberta
Flack - the planned album title of If Ever
I See You Again being dropped due to the single's underperformance - , that
album also including the two other tracks cut with Joe Brooks at A&R
Studios: "Come Share My Love" and "When It's Over", the two
latter tracks being issued on a single in October 1978 with the A-side
"When It's Over" reaching #82 on the R&B chart.
From
1979 Flack would tend to rank on the R&B chart as opposed to the Hot 100,
her only solo Hot 100 entry subsequent to "If Ever I See You Again"
being another movie theme song: "Making Love", which peaked at #13 in 1982. However
Flack did reach the Top 20 of the Hot 100 with two duets: "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love"
with Peabo Bryson (#16/ 1983) and "Set
the Night to Music" with Maxi Priest (#6/ 1991).
I've wondered all my
life
How I could ever let you go
There's not a lot of change in my life
But one thing that I know
If ever I see you
again
Maybe this time it well work out alright
Maybe this we won't say goodbye but only goodnight
With a love that won't end
If ever I see you again
Warm sleepy morning
working up next to you
Feeling you close by side
Nothing on earth has ever felt better
Then the feelings I've felt deep inside
Sometimes it seems that I never lost you
And that your not really gone
Cause I had this dream
This wonderful dream
It just goes on and on
And If ever I see you
again
Maybe this time it well work out alright
Maybe this we won't say goodbye but only goodnight
With a love that won't end
If ever I see you again...
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