When You're Feeling Down

Album: Ebony McQueen (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about the healing power of music, how it can be a source of comfort even in the darkest days:

    Music is not blind
    To the way you feel
    It's always real
    So many colors to reveal


    Dave Stewart, best known as one half of Eurythmics, really got into music when he was about 14. It gave him solace growing up in Sunderland, England, after his parents separated and an injury dashed his hopes of a football (soccer) career.

    "When I was 14 in 1966, I switched the radio on and my mind was blown in several ways: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and The Kinks, particularly," he told Songfacts.
  • "When You're Feeling Down" is part of Ebony McQueen, a 26-song album that charts Stewart's journey through adolescence, with the spirit of music embodied by the titular voodoo blues queen. He recorded most of it at his studio in the Bahamas, later adding a 60-piece orchestra.

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