They first appeared together in 1959 in The Bluefrets. Early songwriting work was for Dean Ford and the Gaylords (later to become Marmalade). Signed by The Beatles in 1968 to write for Apple Records' Mary Hopkin.
In 1970 they joined Tom McGuinness and Hughie Flint to form McGuinness Flint and penned the hits ''When I'm Dead And Gone'' (which reached No 2 in the UK in 1970) and ''Malt And Barley Blues'' (No 5 in 1971).
In 1972 they formed their own duo and enjoyed UK chart successes in 1976 and 1977 with four hits, including ''I Wanna Stay With You'' and ''Heart On My Sleeve'' both of which reached No 6. They split in 1979.
Gallagher & Lyle compositions have provided hits for Art Garfunkel (Breakaway) and Don Williams (Stay Young) . Graham Lyle later wrote with Terry Britten and their hits included ''What's Love Got To Do With It'' and ''We Don't Need Another Hero'' for Tina Turner and ''Just Good Friends'' for Michael Jackson. Benny Gallagher spent nine years as founding director of Performing Artists Media Rights Association (PAMRA) and also performed in The Manfreds with Paul Jones, Mike D'Arbo, Tom McGuinness and Mike Hugg.
Every Little Teardrop
Gallagher & Lyle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I Would never feel the need for company
All in all we got along I needed you and yes, you
Needed me Now I′ve noticed for a while
You've been giving me those long distance
Smiles Oh, I don′t know why you're acting
Strangely As far as I'm concerned
Nothing I can do But that don′t mean to say
I've got to stop loving you Every little
Teardrop The times you made my heart stop There is
Not a moment I would wanna change Every
Little teardrop Happiness and heartache If I
Had a chance I′d do it all again Things may
Look bad at the time But in the end they seem
To work out fine It might not feel right here
Tonight But let's consider it in the morning
Light After all that we′ve been through It's the only
Thing that we can do Instead of acting so defensive Use a little
Bit of common sense Take good care of my heart It holds a love for
You I've loved you from the start There′s been no-one but you
Every little teardrop The times you made my heart stop There is not a
Moment I would want to change Every time
We break up Swearing not to make up Acting
Like we′re strangers Knowing that we're
Friends Every little mistake Happiness and
Heartache If I had a chance I′d do it all
Again Do it I'd do it, I′d do it all again
The lyrics of Gallagher & Lyle's song "Every Little Teardrop" speak about a familiar scenario in which a couple's relationship has changed over time. The first verse recognizes that the closeness they once shared is now shifting, with the other partner giving little smiles from distance instead of the warmth from before. The singer wants to understand why the other person is behaving so strangely, but beyond that, they are honest that they cannot change what has occurred in their relationship. Despite this, they also concede that they still love the other person no matter what.
In the second verse, they reflect that moments of happiness and heartache are not memories they would want to erase. Even when they break up and swear they will never make up again, they acknowledge that the love they share is still present. They accept that they are not perfect, and they are not always going to get everything right in their relationship, but if they had the chance, they would do it all over again. The song concludes by saying that despite the troubles that the couple has gone through, they must use their common sense and take care of each other's hearts since they hold each other's love.
Line by Line Meaning
Used to be that you and I would never feel the need for company
We used to be so close that we didn't need anyone else to be with us
All in all we got along I needed you and yes, you Needed me
Overall, our relationship was good and we relied on each other equally
Now I've noticed for a while You've been giving me those long distance Smiles
Lately, you've been acting distant towards me and giving me fake smiles
Oh, I don't know why you're acting Strangely
I'm not sure why you're acting so oddly towards me
As far as I'm concerned Nothing's changed
I don't think anything has changed in our relationship
If you don't want my love there's Nothing I can do
If you don't want to be with me, there's nothing I can do to change your mind
But that don't mean to say I've got to stop loving you
But just because you don't want my love doesn't mean I'll stop loving you
Every little Teardrop The times you made my heart stop There is Not a moment I would wanna change
Every time I cried because of you, every moment my heart skipped a beat, I wouldn't change a thing
Every little teardrop Happiness and heartache If I Had a chance I'd do it all again
Even though our relationship had its ups and downs, if I had the chance, I'd still choose to be with you
Things may Look bad at the time But in the end they seem To work out fine
Even though things might seem bad in the moment, they usually work out in the end
It might not feel right here Tonight But let's consider it in the morning Light
Even though we might not be feeling great about our relationship tonight, let's think about it in the morning
After all that we've been through It's the only Thing that we can do
Considering everything that's happened between us, the only thing we can do is try to work things out
Instead of acting so defensive Use a little Bit of common sense
Instead of getting defensive, let's try to be rational and use some common sense
Take good care of my heart It holds a love for You I've loved you from the start There's been no-one but you
Please take care of my heart because it holds all my love for you. I've loved you since the beginning and no one else has been in my heart
Every little teardrop The times you made my heart stop There is not a Moment I would want to change
Every time I cried because of you, every moment my heart skipped a beat, I wouldn't change a thing
Every time We break up Swearing not to make up Acting Like we're strangers Knowing that we're Friends
Every time we break up, we say we won't get back together, but we end up acting distant even though we're still friends
Every little mistake Happiness and Heartache If I Had a chance I'd do it all Again
Even though we'll make mistakes and experience both happiness and heartache, if I had the chance, I'd still choose to be with you
Do it I'd do it, I'd do it all again
I'd still choose to be with you and go through everything that we've been through again
Writer(s): Graham Hamilton Lyle, Bernard Joseph Gallagher
Contributed by Julia Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@Michaeljq1
Used to be that you and
I would never feel the need for company, all in all we got along I needed you and yes, you needed me, now I've noticed for a while
you've been giving me those long distance smiles,
Oh I don't know why you're acting strangely as far as I'm concerned nothing's changed, if you don't want my love there's nothing I can do but that don't mean to say I've got to stop loving you.
Every little teardrop the times you made my heart stop there is not a moment I would wanna change, Every
Little teardrop happiness and heartache if I had a chance I'd do it all again.
Things may look bad at the time but in the end they seem to work out fine It might not feel right here
tonight But let's consider it in the morning light, after all that we've been through It's the only thing that we can do Instead of acting so defensive, use a little bit of common sense, take good care of my heart It holds a love for you I've loved you from the start There's been no one but you.
Every little teardrop the times you made my heart stop there is not a moment I would want to change, every time we break up swearing not to make up acting like we're strangers knowing that we're friends every little mistake happiness and heartache If I had a chance I'd do it all
again, do it, I'd do it, I'd do it all again.
@a0b0
these guys should have been superstars
@lovalot
Brings back memories. I never tire of hearing this song.
@esthertracey9344
Brilliant song
@Basman59
Its 1976/7 and KAS and I chose this as our song...somewhere it all went haywire...then 44 years later we managed to reconnect...easy to lament the lost time...I would never feel the need for company, all in all, we got along I needed you and yes, you needed me, nothing changed and now we feel the same..better late than never...the best is yet to come...I can listen to it to now and brings happy memories.
@ooeyb
Great song!
@Beatlefan67
Wonderful memories of that year - thankyou!
@rwasmyfirstlove
AMAZING SONG!! ONE OF MY FAVORITES OF ALL TIMES!!! Hugs, from Montevideo, Uruguay, South America, where Every Little Teardrop was a huge success :-)
@wearyoldman
This song has been going through my head recently and I'm loving every second of it.
@thoskel1
My favourite from Benny and Graham
@rslitman
Following up on my post from 4 years ago - I had remembered hearing a wonderful Gallagher & Lyle song once or twice on the radio in the late 1970s. They weren't as big in the US as they were in some other places, and the song soon disappeared. I went searching for them on YouTube and found this song. I now think that the song I heard back then was "I Wanna Live With You", but both are wonderful songs that I am glad to have had a chance to hear on YouTube.