Hailing from York, Pennsylvania, the group is comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, Live has toured with Ed’s younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist, and, previously, British keyboardist Michael “Railo” Railton.
Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey first came together for a middle-school talent show in the Pennsylvania blue-collar town of York. The group remained together throughout high school, going through a handful of band names and new-wave covers before settling on the moniker Public Affection and recording a self-released cassette of originals, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. Frequent trips into New York to play at CBGB helped net the band a deal with Radioactive Records in 1991. With the new name Live, the band entered the studio with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison that year and began recording the EP Four Songs. The single “Operation spirit (the tyranny of tradition)” went to #9 on the Modern Rock chart, and paved the way for the band’s Harrison-produced, full-length debut, 1991’s Mental Jewelry (#73). The album lyrics, penned by Kowalczyk, were heavily inspired by Indian guru Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Fueled by heavy touring (including billing at Woodstock ‘94 and Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD tour) and a string of hit singles (“I Alone”, “All Over You” and the #1 Modern Rock hits “Selling the drama” and “Lightning crashes”), their next album, Throwing Copper, went to #1 in 1994. It is their best-selling, and often most highly regarded by fans and critics, album to date. The band was even asked to perform on Saturday Night Live where they performed their hits “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama” and to this day, they are the only band to receive a standing ovation at the party after the broadcast.[citation needed]
The momentum continued long enough to help 1997’s Secret Samadhi (coproduced by the band and Jay Healey) debut at #1. Deriving its name from a state of Hindu meditation, the album spawned four Modern Rock hit singles, but failed to match its predecessor’s success, with sales topping off at 2 million. The band performed “lakini’s juice” and “Heropsychodreamer” from this album on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Harrison came back on board as coproducer for 1999’s The Distance to Here, which debuted at #4 and featured the minor US hit single “The Dolphin’s Cry.”
In September 2001, the more experimental V (originally scheduled to be titled “Ecstatic Fanatic”) was issued to mixed reviews, preceded by “Simple creed” as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11—which occurred a week before V ‘s release—the melancholic “Overcome” began receiving significant airplay, superseding “Simple Creed” and becoming V’s selling point. Unfortunately, Live’s commercial stock—compounded by their petering radio airplay—had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching #22 at home, failing to reach gold status.
Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of “Heaven”, Live’s first US Hot 100-placing since “The Dolphin’s Cry.” Reaching #28, Birds of Pray ultimately outsold V, although it too received mixed reviews and failed to reach gold status.
In November 2004, Live released Awake: The Best of Live, a career-spanning compilation that included “We deal in dreams”, a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line”, as well as Birds of Pray’s “Run Away”, re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals.
In 2005, Live signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Epic label, and released a new album entitled Songs From Black Mountain in June 2006, preceded by “The river” as lead single. Thus far, while the album has achieved international success, it has proven Live’s lowest-seller yet domestically, only reaching #52 in the US before quickly disappearing from the charts.
While Live remain only moderately popular in terms of record sales in the United States, much of their current sales come from places in Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ed Kowalczyk has said that “Holland is the center of the Live universe” [citation needed].
The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band’s road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing.
On season 5 of American Idol, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but one week later Daughtry acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying Live was one of his favorite bands. In May 2006, Live appeared on The Howard Stern Show and addressed this issue.
On May 24, 2006, the band and Chris Daughtry performed “Mystery” on the season finale of American Idol, and on June 7, a new version of “Mystery” was released on the Friends of Live website featuring Chris Daughtry on guest vocals.
The members of Live announced in June 2009 that the band would be taking a two-year hiatus as they work on other projects. On November 30, 2009, guitarist Chad Taylor confirmed that the hiatus of the band was most likely a permanent rift. See the Wikipedia page for more. During the first European tour of the new band of Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer (The Gracious Few), Taylor commented both on stage and in post-show discussions that he believes Live may still come back together, though he also stated that the chances of Kowalczyk joining them in this effort may be very small. In an exclusive blogpost[1] on website The Comet, Taylor confirmed that the remaining members of the band would be working on new material for Live in Nashville early July 2011.
The band returned from their nearly three-year hiatus on March 12, 2012, with Chris Shinn, formerly of Unified Theory, as their new lead singer. The new line-up performed before an invited audience at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. The band performed as a six-piece with The Gracious Few's Sean Hennesy on guitar and Alexander Lefever on keyboards
[1]: http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_chad_taylor_talks_the_gracious_few_and_live
There's another band with the same name:
2. Live was a 70s-era Progressive Rock group from Germany. Formed in 1971, the outfit appeared to be a strangely named band indeed.
In October 1972 their guitarist Martin Knaden went to Curly Curve. Throughout their history only one member has remained, the multi-talented keyboards and flute player Norbert Aufmhof. Although in existence for a decade Live never got to record a proper studio album, or gain a contract, which surely they should have. Maybe the band name was a bit of a jinx?!
Their earlier history was originally just documented by a single. Only more recently did an LP surface collecting 1974 recordings. Quite obviously a collection of rehearsal session tapes, the LP reveals a band with promise albeit rather grottily recorded with often barely understandable muffled lyrics in English. Musically, there are nods to early Satin Whale and Jane, but with lots of classical touches, notably Grieg and Bach, and a penchant to meander rather nicely during the instrumentals.
Based on the ROCK OFFERS track "Sea Fever", they had blossomed and changed focus somewhat, as a much more sophisticated symphonic progressive of the Pancake and Jane type, typical of the mid/late-1970's.
In all, during their history, three different versions of Live existed, but eventually the band split in 1976. A full history of the band is included in the GEVELSBERG CD, which documents other oddments, sessions, and a live recording!
Forever May Not Be Long Enough
Live Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Forever may not be long enough for my love
I have a will but I'm lost inside your time
If you could, would you come with me to the other side?
Forever may not be long enough
Forever may not be long enough
Forever may not be long enough for this love
Forever!
Forever!
This world is never enough
And I'm not giving up
My faith in love is like blood
I spill it freely for some
My faith in love is like blood
It flows in everyone
Don't stop to look at the clock
Forever won't be long enough
Forever may not be long enough for you to know
Just how far I'd travel, just how far I would go
Open your heart and everything will be alright
Open your heart, baby, leave with me
Don't be afraid
Forever!
This world is never enough
And I'm not giving up
My faith in love is like blood
I spill it freely for some
My faith in love is like blood
It flows in everyone
Don't stop to look at the clock
Forever won't be long enough
Forver may not be long enough for our love
Forever! Forever! Forever!
Forever!
Forever may not be long enough (Forever)
Forever may not be long enough (Forever)
Forever may not be long enough (Forever)
Forever may not be long enough
For our love
The lyrics of Live's song Forever May Not Be Long Enough speak about the intensity of love that the writer has and how the word "forever" doesn't seem long enough to express it. The song starts with the author expressing his feeling of being lost in time after giving his heart to someone he loves, and wishing that they could go beyond the "other side" of the world together. The writer seems to be very sure about his love for the person he's singing to, and wishes to leave with them in a moment's notice. The chorus "Forever may not be long enough for this love" repeats multiple times, emphasizing that the shortness of the word "forever" can't contain the depth of his love.
The second verse takes a deeper look into the writer's faith in love. He believes that his faith in love is as sacred as blood and he spills it freely to anyone who deserves it. The lyrics talk about not bothering with time and cherishing the moment instead, as forever can't possibly be long enough to experience everything that love has to offer. The song ends with the author reiterating that the word "Forever" doesn't capture the intensity of his love for the other person.
Line by Line Meaning
Forever may not be long enough for my love
My love for you is so deep that forever may not be enough time to fully express it
I have a will but I'm lost inside your time
I have the desire to be with you forever, but time is fleeting and I'm uncertain how long I'll be able to stay by your side
If you could, would you come with me to the other side?
If there's an afterlife, would you join me there when our time on earth is over?
This world is never enough
The world doesn't offer enough time or opportunity to truly grasp the magnitude of love
And I'm not giving up
Despite the limitations of time, I won't give up on expressing my love
My faith in love is like blood
My belief in love is an essential part of my being, like the blood that runs through my veins
I spill it freely for some
I'm not afraid to express my love to those I care about
It flows in everyone
Love is universal, and should be shared with everyone
Don't stop to look at the clock
Don't be concerned with how much time we have together, just live in the moment
Forever won't be long enough
No matter how long we have, it won't feel like enough time because of the depth of our love
Forever may not be long enough for you to know
It may take forever for you to understand the depths of my love for you
Just how far I'd travel, just how far I would go
I would go to great lengths to be with you, no matter the distance or obstacles
Open your heart and everything will be alright
If you're willing to give love a chance, everything can work out in the end
Open your heart, baby, leave with me
If you're willing to take a risk on love, I'll be there to take you on the journey
Don't be afraid
Fear should not hold you back from experiencing the fullness of love
Forever may not be long enough for our love
Our love is a force that may transcend time, but even forever may not be enough for us
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: EDWARD KOWALCZYK, GLEN BALLARD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind