By Your Side
by Sade

Album: Lovers Rock (2000)
Charted: 17 75
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Lovers Rock was the group's first album since 1992's Love Deluxe. Sophie Muller directed the music video for this song, approaching Sade Adu's return to the public eye with caution and sensitivity. "She had not done anything in eight years - there had not even been a photograph taken of her," Muller told Music Video Wire. "I think I was being protective the day we did it; I did not want to push her to do something incredibly difficult, but wanted to ease her back in."
  • This song became a popular pick for wedding receptions. Celebrity couples Jennie Garth & Peter Facinelli and Dave Navarro & Carmen Electra were among those who used it as their first dance song. Both unions ended in divorce, but we're pretty sure the song wasn't to blame.
  • Sade was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for this song, but lost to Nelly Furtado for "I'm Like A Bird."
  • This song was used on Sex and the City for Samantha and Richard's rooftop dance in "The Good Fight" in 2002. It can also be heard on the animated series Daria ("Fizz Ed"), The L Word ("Last Word") and the Russian film Zhara.
  • British four-piece The 1975 covered the song in 2017. Their version was part of a charity effort supporting the UK organization War Child. Speaking to BBC Radio 1's MistaJam, 1975 frontman Matt Healy discussed the song's relationship with contemporary music:

    "If you listen to Kanye, if you listen to Bon Iver, if you listen to Francis and the Lights, moments on that Chance record - that song, [Sade's] "By Your Side," has so much of that kind of identity," he said. "When I was listening to it, I was listening to it with this real kind of sense of modernity and thinking, 'Wow, this is still really, really forward-thinking.'"

Comments: 2

  • AnonymousWho was the older couple dancing in the video?
  • Tomtom from MassachusettsThe lyrics are incorrect. The correct line is, "I'll tell you you're right when you want."
    You can hear her sing it on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6s_aOJV0g0
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And Scandals

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And ScandalsSong Writing

Surprise exits, a catfight and some very memorable performances make our list of the most memorable Idol moments.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys

Mike Scott of The WaterboysSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Lip-Synch Rebels

Lip-Synch RebelsSong Writing

What happens when Kurt Cobain, Iron Maiden and Johnny Lydon are told to lip-synch? Some hilarious "performances."

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."