"Never Tear Us Apart" is a
ballad, written in the tempo of a modern
Viennese waltz, layered with
synthesizers and containing
dramatic pauses before the instrumental breaks. The music was written by keyboardist
Andrew Farriss, who recorded a blues-style demo.
Kirk Pengilly lends a
saxophone solo near the end. According to the
liner notes of
Shine Like It Does: The Anthology (1979–1997), the song was composed on
piano as a bluesy number in the style of
Fats Domino. Producer
Chris Thomas suggested a synth-based arrangement instead and replaced the demo's piano part with strings. his "closest friend and confidante", with whom he was in a relationship from 1982 to 1987 and remained close friends until his death – Bennett was the last person that Hutchence called on the morning of his death, on 22 November 1997. According to Hutchence's sister, Tina, Bennett was the only woman that Hutchence said he had considered marrying. Australian filmmaker
Richard Lowenstein, who was close friends with Hutchence, also said that he believed that Bennett was the only woman that Hutchence would marry; "I always felt that, after everything, he'd go back and marry Michele and have a baby with her," he told
The Independent in 1998. The 2019 documentary
Mystify: Michael Hutchence, directed by Lowenstein, features a
voice-over interview with Hutchence in which he says of the song: '''Interviewer: Who are you singing it to? Who don't you wanna be torn apart from?'''
Hutchence: Well, it's kinda personal. I don't make up love songs, so... That's definitely a song for a girl called Michele.
Interviewer: Does she know? Hutchence: Yeah, she knows, but we're not together anymore, so it doesn't work, does it?
[laughs]. In a 2019 interview with
NME, Lowenstein said of "Never Tear Us Apart" after reading Hutchence's diaries as part of his research for his 2019 documentary
Mystify: Michael Hutchence: He felt guilt over every break-up because it brought back memories of his parents' divorce and their break-up. When he got successful he'd feel the guilt of leaving his brother and it just seemed to be everywhere. Going back into his diaries, we'd find evidence of the guilt – it wasn't just all happy-go-lucky rockstar. There was always problems being presented. His break-up with Michele (Bennett, his childhood flame), he was utterly torn between this woman he loved and how their lives were going in so many different directions. That’s why it inspired ‘Never Tear Us Apart’.
Kick had gone to Number One and suddenly there's this kid-in-a-candy store mentality – he was travelling around the world and thought he'd never settle down. There was the hedonistic side to him, but always an almost catholic sense of self-flagellation too. On what would have been Hutchence's 50th birthday, on 22 January 2010, Andrew Farriss shared a tribute on the band's official website in which he recalled writing the song with Hutchence: Whilst INXS was on a world tour in 1986 I sat down on an upright piano and started working on the chords that would eventually become "Never Tear Us Apart". I thought it had potential and asked Michael what he thought of it. He told me he really liked it so I recorded a blues style demo for him. I gave the demo to Michael and the eventual lyric that he wrote was truly inspired. Straight from the heart. I know how much that lyric meant to him... it was a personal love lyric very much in the moment for him. It still amazes me how this song and others we wrote have touched so many people around the world. Michael was a brilliant lyricist and I am very fortunate to have written with him and more importantly, shared his friendship. ==Critical reception==