Never Say Never

Album: Junto (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In our interview with Felix Buxton of Basement Jaxx, he talked about the meaning of this song. "Basically it's about an ex-girlfriend and just the fact that you can love someone and have such an amazing time and it'll all be so perfect, but so wrong," he said. "You'll hold that with you forever, but you don't regret it. It's a pleasure/pain thing. It's coming to terms with that and actually seeing it in a positive light."
  • An industry executive friend of Basement Jaxx named Nick Worthington helped spark the idea for this song. Simon Ratcliffe of the duo recalled to Edge of the Net: "For this album, we employed the services of an A&R guy, who A&R'ed our first two albums. We had went our separate ways and he went on to form his own company. We asked him for his opinions on a freelance basis. He said, 'Yeah, you should do something that's on that tip... that sort of deep house vibe that's going on at the moment.'"

    "So, after that meeting, I went immediately in to the writing room and I played the chords and I played the bass line, the strings and the beat," Ratcliffe continued. "I got the whole thing and felt this feels cool. Then, Felix (Buxton) heard it and he started singing some melody and came up with the words."
  • The song features vocals from the South London teenager ETML (real name: Elliott), who came at the recommendation of Nick Worthington. Basement Jaxx tried a few different vocalists on the track before having ETML give it a go. The duo liked the character in his voice, which had the kind of imperfect sound they were looking for.
  • The accompanying music video was directed by Los Angeles-resident Saman Kesh (Calvin Harris' ("We'll Be Coming Back"). It tells the story of Mr & Mrs. Nakamatsu, who develop the TW3RK-BOT to save the planet from the absence of dancing. Ratcliffe recalled: "We met him (Kesh) for the first time and basically had a Skype conversation with him. We were in London and he was in L.A. and when we played L.A. we actually met him and he came along to the show. He's a great guy who is full of energy and full of ideas. He's a very creative individual and he's made this awesome video. It's twerking robots... that's all I'll say."

    Asked by Promo News what especially frustrates him, Kesh replied; "Getting a Twerking robot to properly shake its ass."

    Years before Miley Cyrus kickstarted the twerking craze with a video that went viral, Basement Jaxx released a track titled after the dance.
  • House music veteran Mark Knight did a remix, which originated when Basement Jaxx and the DJ both arrived at Miami's International Airport after the same flight from London. "We got chatting in the queue and they were telling me about their new album and the music they had on the cards for it," Knight recalled to Billboard magazine. "I was immediately keen to get involved with a remix. I've always admired what they do and when they sent me the track the next day I knew immediately it was something I could sink my teeth into."
  • The song went to #1 on the American Dance chart, the duo's fourth #1 on that tally.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."