Never Ending Love Is What We Found

Belinda Carlisle “Circle in the Sand”

Did you know that the same guy who co-wrote this song and other Belinda Carlisle hits like “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” is also responsible for co-authoring the majority of the Lana Del Rey catalog (including “Shades of Cool,” “Summertime Sadness,” “West Coast,” “Young & Beautiful,” and all of Honeymoon), plus “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals, “Falling Into You” by Celine Dion, “I Follow Rivers” by Lykke Li, “White Flag” by Dido, “Loud Places” by Jamie xx, and “Good to Love” by FKA Twigs? His name is Rick Nowels, and it’s shocking that he’s not more well known, particularly as he’s become this go-to collaborator for indie-identified artists who want to have crossover hits.

“Circle in the Sand,” co-written by Nowels with Ellen Shipley, was one of his earliest hits, and song that cast Carlisle in a new light. Carlisle’s work in the Go-Go’s traded on youthful exuberance and a punk/new wave approach to bubblegum pop, but her solo work – and this song in particular – took the sort of broad, romantic yearning she did so well and nudged it in a darker, witchier direction. There’s a massive Stevie Nicks influence on this song, from the melody and arrangement on down to Carlisle’s voice, which gets a bit raspier than usual. Nowels had actually worked with Nicks prior to writing for Carlisle, so it makes sense that this influence would carry over, and this music came out around the same time as Fleetwood Mac’s Tango in the Night, which has a very similar aesthetic mixing rock mysticism with high-gloss late ‘80s production.

I love the way the melodies in “Circle in the Sand” seem to move in circles, so much that if the song gets stuck in my head – which it does very often – it sorta loops around without moving into a bridge. This motif works really well in songs about romantic love, gently suggesting a one-track mind, or endless devotion. Carlisle’s vocal performance is so earnest that it’d be hard to read this as any kind of dark obsession. The longing in this song is so pure; the only negative feeling is the drag of being separated for any length of time.

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