A Song For You - Why wasn't it a single?

[SongForYou]

It's easily one of the best and most intimate/haunting tracks they ever recorded, and hell, even the album itself is named after it! So why did they not give this the single treatment it deserved? I read in Little Girl Blue, that it was too long for radio play (at least the sax solo was), but why couldn't it just have been trimmed for a single and include the rest of it on the album?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The length wouldn't have been too mucn of a problem; there were a lot of songs pushing the 4 and 5-minute barrier by that time. In my unprofessional opinion, the song is an awesome song and I love it, but it doesn't have the "hook" necessary for a 1972 pop hit. Doesn't have that one hummable thing that gets stuck in your head and won't leave. It works better as an album track. That's just my 2¢. IN NO WAY does that say it's not a good song; it's just not the type of song that would have probably worked as a hit single back then. Especially when you consider the wealth of other single-ish songs on that album.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

What's fascinating about this song is it's been recorded by literally hundreds of artists, maybe over a thousand, and performed live by tons of other artists - but it was never actually a hit single.....

 

[newvillefan]

The thing is with this song, it stands up so well in itself, it didn't really need to be released as a single to prove its worth. Look at This Masquerade. That was never a single A-side but it's on virtually every compilation out there. When they released Love Songs, for me this was the flagship song for that set, even though it wasn't the opening track. It's just gorgeous in its own right and an unrivalled version compared to the many hundreds of others out there.