1977's Biggest Tearjerker, Sung By a TV Star, Named One of the Saddest Songs of the Decade

In 1977, David Soul was best known as one half of the crime-fighting television cop drama Starsky & Hutch. Alongside Paul Michael Glaser, the actor took down bad guys on the streets of Southern California in a red-and-white Ford Torino, quickly becoming one of the biggest and most recognizable heartthrobs on the planet.

Soul was a genuinely accomplished musician. But because the 1970s were notorious for prime-time stars launching flashy, short-lived singing careers, he was easily lumped into that category.

Then he released the tearjerker “Don’t Give Up on Us” in January 1977 and shot straight to the top of the Billboard charts by April. The song hailed from his self-titled debut album, released in the latter part of 1976.

It was a perfect time for its release. Starsky & Hutch was more than halfway through its second season, and Soul was a bona fide television star. Therefore, the show’s popularity helped the song become a huge hit and made Soul a singing idol.

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Ironically, the tune wasn’t included on the LP when it was first released, according to Billboard. But its popularity prompted Soul’s record company to re-release the album with the new song added to the track listing.

“Don’t Give Up on Us” made a list, compiled by the website Pop Preservationists, titled “Sad Songs of the ’70s.” It ranked on a Spotify list among many of the decade’s tearjerkers, such as Terry Jacks‘ “Seasons in the Sun,” Andrew Gold‘s “Lonely Boy,” The Carpenters‘ “Superstar,” and Anne Murray‘s “I Just Fall in Love Again,” which left listeners reaching for the tissues.

The tune was written by Tony Macauley, who helmed many major pop hits of the late ’60s and ’70s, including The Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup” and Edison Lighthouse’s “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes).”

Macauley told The Tennessean that he had written the song’s beginning, but didn’t have a second verse. Macauley revealed that the second section came to him while he was walking his dog.

“I walked round the park with my dog, and I remember when I got the second verse together, which I thought was really sweet, the way it all paid off and hung together as an idea,” the songwriter explained. “I remember kneeling on the ground singing it to my dog and several people walking past, probably thinking ‘poor man.'”

Macauley concluded, “From the time I started writing it, to its coming out was about 10 days. From finishing writing it to its coming out was a week.”

David Soul would never capture the lightning-in-a-bottle success that was “Don’t Give Up on Us” ever again. He charted twice more that same year with the songs “Going In With My Eyes Open” and “Silver Lady.”

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