Behind the Songs: Only You And I

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Only You And I".

John Ashton: "If memory serves me well, 'President Gas,' 'Forever Now,' and 'Only You And I' were songs that were around when [Roger Morris and Duncan Kilburn] were around. Only maybe in a very early stage, but they're outstanding songs because the orchestration is so different, the way the songs start and then the next part. The dynamics of the songs are very different than, say, 'Merry Go Round' or 'Danger' or a couple of the others." (Popdose 2012)

John Ashton: "Love that song. Love it so much. It's another one of those songs that I think we were working out at the time when Roger and Duncan were still in the band. It definitely had its beginnings way, way early on in the project. A bit of a carryover from the Talk Talk Talk days. The cello was obviously an addition at the time, but, again, the orchestration of it, the way it starts, the way it kicks into the verse, and then the chorus is kind of a carryover to Talk Talk Talk, orchestration-wise. Dynamics-wise, definitely." (Popdose 2012)

Interviewer: "I've talked about some of the songs that I really like that you guys do. Do you have any particular favorites that you love?"

Tim Butler: "Yeah, my three favorites, I would have to say, would be 'Heaven,' 'President Gas' and 'Only You And I.'"

Interviewer: "And what do you like about those?"

Tim Butler: "They are constructed the best and all the parts of the instrumentation is perfect for those songs. They're some of the best-realized songs in our catalogue." (Songfacts 2013)

Interviewer: "You're playing singles from your back catalogue on this tour in the autumn. Which ones are you most looking forward to playing?"

Tim Butler: "My favorite songs we've ever done are 'Heaven' and 'Only You And I,' which wasn't a single but I hope we put it in there." (Outline Magazine 2017)

Tim Butler: "I love playing 'Only You And I' off of Forever Now, which we play sometimes but I'd love to play more because it's one of my favorites off that." (Rock & Roll Globe 2020)

Interviewer: "What are your favorite classic Psychedelic Furs songs to play?"

Rich Good: "'Soap Commercial', 'Sister Europe', 'Dumb Waiters', 'Only You And I', 'Alice's House'… Honestly, there's not really any I don't like playing." (Post-Punk.com 2022)

Photo: Paul Natkin