Never Let Me Go (song)

Never Let Me Go
Single by Florence + The Machine
Released	March 30, 2012
Writer(s)	Florence Welch Paul Epworth Tom Hul
Producer(s)	Paul Epworth
Genre	baroque pop, indie pop, gospel
Length	4:31
Album
Label	Island
Singles chronology
Previous	No Light, No Light
Current	Never Let Me Go
Next	Breath of Life
Ceremonials chronology
"What the Water Gave Me"
"Breaking Down"
Music Video

"Never Let Me Go" is the fourth track and single from Florence and the Machine’s sophomore album, Ceremonials.

The songs lyrics describe going down in the water and being carried by the ocean. Lyrically, the song serves as a continuation of the previous track in Ceremonials, “What the Water Gave Me”, which narrates entering the water with the purpose of drowning.

Background and release

"Never Let Me Go" was written by Florence Welch, Paul Epworth and Kid Harpoon while production was handled by Epworth. Florence and the Machine premiered "Never Let Me Go" along with two other songs from the album, "Spectrum" and "Heartlines" as part of their set list at New York's Creators Project on October 15, 2011, two weeks before the release of the album. Speaking about the song, Welch told Digital Spy, "The gospel thing comes from my obsession with hymns. I'm drawn to anything that has a hymnal quality, be it Spiritualized or dusty old albums by Georgian choirs." Island Records released "Never Let Me Go" as the third single from the album on April 2, 2012. A Clams Casino remix of the song was placed on the 12" white vinyl single which was available for pre-order on March 22, 2012. The artwork for the vinyl single was shot by Karl Lagerfeld and was described by The Guardian’s Michael Cragg as "swanky". Andrew Martin of Prefix Magazine commented that the "Clams Casino's remix of [the song]... was the weirdest thing to happen to Florence Welch's voice". The Guardian’s Michael Cragg commented, "He takes the stately Never Let Me Go and adds gusts of distorted backing vocals, big drum claps and, midway through, pitches Florence Welch's vocals down a notch or two to create what sounds like an eerie duet recorded in a cave."

Lyrics

Looking up from underneath
Fractured moonlight on the sea
Reflections still look the same to me
As before I went under

And it's peaceful in the deep
Cathedral where you cannot breathe
No need to pray, no need to speak
Now I am under all

And it's breaking over me
A thousand miles down to the sea bed
Found the place to rest my head

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me
And all this devotion was rushing out of me
And the crashes are heaven for a sinner like me
But the arms of the ocean delivered me

Though the pressure's hard to take
It's the only way I can escape
It seems a heavy choice to make
But now I am under, oh

And it's breaking over me
A thousand miles down to the sea bed
I found the place to rest my head

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me
(So cold and so sweet)
And all this devotion was rushing out of me
And the crashes are heaven for a sinner like me
But the arms of the ocean delivered me

And it's over and I'm going under
But I'm not giving up
I'm just giving in

Oh, I'm slipping underneath
So, so cold and so sweet

In the arms of the ocean, so sweet and so cold
And all this devotion, well, I never knew at all
And the crashes are heaven for a sinner released
In the arms of the ocean deliver me

Deliver me

Deliver me
(Never let me go, never let me go)
(Never let me go, never let me go)

Deliver me
(Never let me go, never let me go)

And it's over (never let me go, never let me go)
And I'm going under (never let me go, never let me go)
But I'm not giving up (never let me go, never let me go)
I'm just giving in (never let me go, never let me go)

I'm slipping underneath
Ooh, so cold and so sweet

Music video

An accompanying music video for the song was released on Bing on March 7, 2012. Along with the music video, behind-the-scenes video was also released. It was directed by Tabitha Denholm. The video stars actor Jamie Campbell Bower who plays Welch's love interest in the video.

The video starts with Welch looking into an ice rink which holds an arcade. A man is seen using the arcade machines as Welch enters, wearing torn, worn away clothing. As the first chorus starts, the ice rink is lit up by the man with spotlights moving around. Several scenes are shown throughout the video of water e.g. an overflowing sink, a floor being mopped, watery footprints on the floor. What looks like dirty water is shown trickling down Welch's face and hands. She walks onto the ice rink and the man enters, leading them to dance with each other and hug. As Florence dances on her own, a cleaner is shown to be watching. Towards the end of the song, Welch looks at the man and starts to fall back, her face and hands engulfed by dirty water as the woman cleaner looks on.

Nick Neyland of Prefix Magazine compared the video with Kazuo Ishiguro's eponymous novel, Never Let Me Go (2005). Melinda Newman of the website HitFix praised Welch's gothic look and wrote, "It's spooky and we don't fully understand it. It’s one of those videos that creates an atmosphere more than a linear story." Leah Collins of the Canadian magazine Dose commented that in the video, "Welch is the sort of gal who busts into skating rinks after hours with her skid boyfriend... The kind of gal who dyes her hair by summoning dark, demonic spirits -- ones who ooze out of her pores, and various plumbing fixtures, until she's nothing but a black-haired creepy mist." MTV News' James Montgomery called the video "ethereal" and said, "Never Let Me Go" is certainly visually arresting, but it also works on another level: Namely, it perfectly (and artfully) captures the experience of literally melting in the presence of a lover, the feeling of casting abandon to the wind and giving yourself away truly and completely." Consequence of Sound's Alex Young commented briefly "Don’t watch this one before breakfast." A writer of The Huffington Post gave a mixed review for the video, saying that it had an unclear plot.

Composition

"Never Let Me Go" is a downtempo baroque pop ballad with elements of indie pop. It has a piano-led instrumentation accompanied by thumping drums. Lyrically, the theme of the song revolves around the sea and the ocean, interpreted in the lines "The arms of the ocean so sweet and so cold/And all this devotion I never knew at all". The song also talks about sin and redemption. According to Michael Hann of The Guardian, the opening lyrics "Looking out from underneath, fractured moonlight on the sea", of the song sound similar to the songs written by Elizabeth Fraser in the group This Mortal Coil. Backing vocals are heard during the chorus repeatedly singing the lines "never let me go". Many critics noted similarities between "Never Let Me Go" and artists such as Enya and Evanescence. The production of the song was also compared with Ryan Tedder-produced songs. Jillian Mapes of Billboard magazine further noted that "Never Let Me Go" sounds more similar to the songs from the band's debut studio album Lungs.

Critical reception

"Never Let Me Go" received critical acclaim by music critics. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph chose "Never Let Me Go" as a highlight on the whole album. Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian praised the song saying that it has "thumping stadium drums and sounds like it has the US charts in its epic crosshairs." Similarly, Robert Copsey of Digital Spy said, "Big enough to bring a stadium audience to its knees, it's more structured and less hectic than anything on her debut, but still remains packed with eccentricities." In a separate review of the single, Copsey graded it with four out of five stars saying, "she chants with pent-up emotion over a neo-gothic piano riff, before letting it all pour out on a chorus of sweeping strings and crashing cymbals. The result is her least hectic cut to date, but much like her contemporaries, remains full of eccentricity." Slant Magazine’s Matthew Cole called the song "gorgeous... [and] easily the best ballad Florence has done yet". Another writer of the same publication commented that "Welch is perfectly capable of doing delicate too, as evidenced by... "Never Let Me Go". David Edwards of the website Drowned in Sound commented that "by the end of the superb 'Never Let Me Go', you could easily be forgiven for thinking that you are listening to one of the most unexpected surprises of 2011, so strong and resonant is the roar of the opening salvo." Richard Smirke of Billboard magazine called the song an "impassioned midpaced ballad". Ryan Reed of The Phoenix gave a mixed review for the song saying "When she exclaims, 'It's all over; I'm going under,' it's unclear whether she's committing suicide or practicing her can-opener dive. Either way, it's boring. On occasion, her show-off-y melisma floats past acquired taste into plain ol' ridiculousness.

Commercial performance

"Never Let Me Go" debuted at number 135 on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending April 7, 2012, peaking at number eighty-two the following week, making it their second lowest-charting single to date. The song entered the Australian Singles Chart at number nineteen and peaked three weeks later at number three, earning the band their highest-charting single to date in the country. In Belgium, the single charted on the Ultratip charts at number fifteen in Flanders and at number forty-three in Wallonia. In July 2018, its sales in the United Kingdom were 133,000, and in February 2021, it was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry for passing 200,000 combined sales and streams.