Who Did It Better

After the Love Has Gone

Now that the love has gone, what's left of us?
Just a memory of what we used to be

After the Love Has Gone 0:30 stares at the hollow space where something beautiful used to live. Two people who once burned bright wake up next to strangers they once chose. Nobody knows when the fire died. Love does not announce its leaving.

The hardest question is not where the love went but what you do with the empty space. How do you fill a room that still has her furniture in it?

Original or Cover

The Original -- 1979

Earth Wind & Fire

Earth Wind & Fire recorded After the Love Has Gone for their 1979 album I Am. The song won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.

Floating Player

The Cover -- 1996

Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston won 6 Grammys and 30 Billboard Music Awards. She had seven consecutive No.1 Hot 100 hits, a record at the time.

Floating Player

Image Credits

1,414 artist portraits across 5 genres (Rock, Jazz, Soul, Blues, Folk). 1,363 sourced from Wikipedia (Creative Commons / Public Domain), 50 from Deezer (promotional artwork).

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Who Did It Better

After the Love Has Gone

Written by David Foster, Jay Graydon, Bill Champlin

Now that the love has gone, what's left of us?
Just a memory of what we used to be

This song is about...

"After the Love Has Gone" asks what two people do with the space where a feeling used to live. Earth Wind & Fire recorded it in 1979 as a ballad about a relationship that has exhausted itself. The love has not been betrayed. It has simply evaporated. No fight. No betrayal. Just the slow realization that the thing holding them together has disappeared without anyone noticing. The aftermath, not the breakup. The quiet aftermath is harder to write about than the slammed door.

Earth Wind & Fire or Whitney

Earth Wind & Fire

1979

Earth Wind & Fire recorded After the Love Has Gone for their 1979 album I Am. The song won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.

Whitney Houston

1996

Whitney Houston won 6 Grammys and 30 Billboard Music Awards. She had seven consecutive No.1 Hot 100 hits, a record at the time.

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