Whitesnake is an English hard rock band, founded in 1978 by vocalist David … Read Full Bio ↴Whitesnake is an English hard rock band, founded in 1978 by vocalist David Coverdale (formerly of Deep Purple) in North Yorkshire, UK. The current line-up of the band also include Joel Hoekstra (lead guitar), Reb Beach (rhythm guitar), Michael Devin (bass), Brian Ruedy (keyboards) and Tommy Aldridge (drums). While the group's membership has fluctuated, Coverdale remains the heart and soul of the band.

In their early years, Whitesnake played in a hard-edged blues rock and heavy metal influenced style. By the mid-80s, the band had moved towards a more commercially friendly arena rock and pop metal ethos, garnering them major hits such as "Love Ain't No Stranger", "Now You're Gone", "Slide It In", "Still of the Night", and the iconic tune "Here I Go Again" (arguably their 'signature song'). They were named the 85th greatest hard rock band of all time by VH1.

Whitesnake were active primarily in the 80s, but they still tour, albeit with an entirely new line-up (bar Coverdale), to this day. Some of the most famous musicians who have joined the band for a time include Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, Rudy Sarzo, John Sykes, Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell, Tommy Aldridge, and Steve Vai.

The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple. This is not only because three past members of the band were once in Deep Purple but also because of their sound and influences. Later, the band took on a sound more in line with the hair metal style popular in the mid to late 80s, but they never truly left their heavy, blues rock roots behind

Formed in 1978 by David Coverdale after leaving Deep Purple, Whitesnake were originally a straightforwards heavy rock group with Jon Lord and Ian Paice from Deep Purple in the band. Despite a few album releases and constant touring, Whitesnake was unable to attain any significant commercial success in America, though becoming popular in the U.K., Europe, and Japan. Their critical reviews as well for their albums were somewhat mixed.

After acquaintance with Chris Cuttler, Fred Frith and most importantly, young guitarist John Sykes, David Coverdale decided to turn to a slicker, more commercially viable sound. Whitesnake made their first major splash in the States in 1984 with the album 'Slide It In', featuring the self-titled single as well as rock tracks "Slow An' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger". All three of them gained major airplay and were eaten up by fans. Sykes was not involved in any of the song writing for 'Slide It In', though re-did some of Micky Moody's guitar work in the American remastering of the U.K. version of the album.

Three years later, thanks to radio-friendly, Zeppelin-ish songwriting and MTV friendly Tawny Kitaen's automobile acrobatics, Whitesnake became superstars with the album 'Whitesnake' (titled '1987' in Europe, and 'Serpens Albus' in Japan). Containing the U.S. smash hits "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love", "Still of the Night" and others, the album eventually sold over 10 million copies. Coverdale replaced the entire band for the subsequent tour, ditching Sykes for guitarists Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell. Also joining the band at this point were bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge.

Campbell left shortly after the tour (going on to replace Steve Clark in Def Leppard. Vandenberg, despite penning most of the material on the follow-up album, was unable to record due to a freak wrist injury. Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai was brought in to record all of the guitar parts for Slip of the Tongue, which was released in the spring of 1989. Despite going platinum, the album did not reach the stratospheric heights of Whitesnake (entitled 1987 in Europe, and Serpens Albus in Japan). With a divorce looming, and the alternative 'grunge' movement threatening to destroy the melodic rock movement, Coverdale dissolved Whitesnake.

In the late 90s, David Coverdale and Adrian Vandenberg finally recorded together again. Initially intended to be a Coverdale solo effort, the Whitesnake name was eventually attached (much like the Tony Iommi/Black Sabbath projects of the late 80s). The resulting products were a new studio album entitled Restless Heart, and the live acoustic set, Starkers In Tokyo.

In the early 2000's Coverdale relaunched Whitesnake fully with an entirely new lineup centred around guitarists Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich (previously of Winger and Lion/Dio). This Whitesnake embarked on tours across the globe, releasing the "Live In the Still of the Night" DVD and "Live... In the Shadow of the Blues" on CD in 2006. A new studio album, "Good to be Bad", was released in 2008 reaching the top 10 in the UK album charts.

Over the last few years Coverdale has been involved in a remastering project which has seen all albums from 1978's Trouble, to 1989's Slip of the Tongue reissued with bonus material.

Whitesnake released Forevermore, on March 25, 2011 in Europe, and on the 29th in North America. They have released a number of scheduled 2011 tour dates on their website, with six scheduled UK tour dates and other European dates. In February 2011, Whitesnake was announced as one of the headliners to play the annual Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, on Memorial Day weekend. A digital single for the song 'Love Will Set You Free' was released, along with a video for the song, on February 21.
The album Forevermore was released as a special edition 'Snakepack' through Classic Rock magazine on 25 March, a full 3 weeks before its commercial release. The fan pack includes the full, official new album Forevermore, a 132-page magazine, poster and pin badge. On 20 March 2011, Whitesnake announced that Brian Ruedy would play keyboards on the Forevermore World Tour.
The album did not chart highly upon its official release in the UK (number 33, possibly due to the copies released as part of the aforementioned Classic Rock Snakepack, which are not eligible for the charts). It did, however, show signs of Whitesnake's slow rebuild of support in the US with the album charting at number 49 - the band's highest charting album since the 80s.

Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach are Whitesnake longest standing guitar players, both being in the band 10 years by 2012.

Whitesnake are set to embark on their farewell tour in May 2022, beginning in the UK and Ireland with Foreigner and Europe. In July 2021, the group announced the addition of multi-instrumentalist Dino Jelusick to their ranks, turning Whitesnake into a septet for the first time. Later that November, Michael Devin parted ways with the band. He was replaced by Tanya O'Callaghan, marking the first female musician to join the band.

Website: http://www.whitesnake.com/

Fare Thee Well
Whitesnake Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There's a cold wind blowing across my heart
Feels like forever since we've been apart
It's so hard, baby, I don't know where to begin

I've been so lucky in this life of mine
The best of both worlds most of the time
But now I know it's time for me to go

Fare thee well, I'll soon be gone
Fare thee well, back where I belong

We had out moments, our days in the sun
But now it's time I should be moving on
But you'll be in my heart, wherever I go

Fare thee well, I'll soon be gone
Fare thee well, back where I belong

I'm on my way, I'm going home
My bags are packed and I'm ready to roll
I'm going home, don't you cry
Let's have a drink before we say goodbye

I'm going home
Going home

All the love we've shared for years
Enough to make a heart break
All the joy and all the tears
Take me back where I belong

Fare thee well, I'll soon be gone
Fare thee well, back where I belong

I'm going home
Going home

I'm on my way, I'm going home
My bags are packed and I'm ready to roll
I'm going home, don't you cry
Let's have a drink before we say goodbye

I'm on my way, I'm going home
My bags are packed and I'm ready to roll
I'm going home, don't you cry
Let's have a drink before we say goodbye

I'm going home
Going home

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Fare Thee Well" by Whitesnake describe the feeling of a man who is ready to leave his current situation and go back home to where he belongs. The singer is torn between the life he has been living and the past that he left behind. He feels a cold wind blowing across his heart, indicating that he is filled with sadness as he prepares to leave. The first two lines of the song indicate that he has been away for a long time and has not seen his loved ones. He doesn't know where to begin because saying goodbye to someone important is always difficult. The singer reflects on the fact that he has been very lucky in his life, but he knows that it is time for him to go home.

In the chorus, the singer bids farewell to his lover, saying that he will soon be gone, but he will always carry her in his heart wherever he goes. He acknowledges that they had some great moments, but it is time for him to move on. He says that he is ready to go home, his bags are packed, and he is prepared to roll. He assures his lover not to cry, but suggests that they should have a drink before saying their goodbyes. The lyrics capture the feeling of mixed emotions that everyone has when they are preparing to leave someone dear to them.

Line by Line Meaning

There's a cold wind blowing across my heart
I feel a great emptiness inside and I'm struggling to cope with it.

Feels like forever since we've been apart
It's been a long time since we've been together and I miss you deeply.

It's so hard, baby, I don't know where to begin
This is a difficult moment for me and I don't know how to express what I'm feeling.

I've been so lucky in this life of mine
I've lived a good life and had some wonderful experiences.

The best of both worlds most of the time
I've been fortunate to enjoy the benefits of both material success and emotional fulfillment.

But now I know it's time for me to go
Despite past good fortune, it's time for me to move on.

Fare thee well, I'll soon be gone
Goodbye, I'll be leaving soon.

Fare thee well, back where I belong
Goodbye, I'm returning to where I feel most comfortable and at home.

We had our moments, our days in the sun
We had some great times together when things were going well.

But now it's time I should be moving on
It's time for me to move forward rather than dwell on past happiness.

But you'll be in my heart, wherever I go
Although I'm leaving, I'll always remember you fondly in my heart.

I'm on my way, I'm going home
I'm leaving, headed toward where I feel most comfortable.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to roll
I'm prepared and ready to leave.

I'm going home, don't you cry
I'm returning to where I belong—no need to shed tears.

Let's have a drink before we say goodbye
Before I go, let's share a drink and enjoy one another's company one more time.

All the love we've shared for years
We've had a strong, loving relationship for many years.

Enough to make a heart break
The thought of leaving and being apart from you is so painful that it makes my heart ache.

All the joy and all the tears
We've been through a lot together—both good times and bad.

Take me back where I belong
My heart is pulling me back to where I feel most at home.

I'm going home
I'm on my way back to where I belong.

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DOUG ALDRICH, DAVID COVERDALE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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