‘Question’ is a 1970 single by the English progressive rock band the Moody Blues. It was written by guitarist Justin Hayward, who provides lead vocals. ‘Question’ was first released as a single in April 1970 and remains their second highest-charting song in the UK, reaching number two and staying on the chart for 12 weeks. The song reached number 21 on the Billboard Top 40 in the USA. It was later featured as the lead track on the 1970 album A Question of Balance. The single also features the song ‘Candle of Life’ on its B-side, which was from the Moody Blues' previous album To Our Children's Children's Children.
Hayward pieced the song together from two unfinished songs, which accounts for the change of pace in the middle of the song. Hayward said that: “Sometime before we taped the album, we [documented] "Question", which was a song that I didn’t have on Friday night for a [recording] session [the following] Saturday. But, by the morning, I had it and it was recorded very quickly.”
‘Question’ is one of the Moody Blues' most popular songs, and has been included in virtually all of their compilations and live albums. In addition, the song was re-recorded (along with "Isn't Life Strange") in the studio with the London Symphony Orchestra (who in 1978 had released an orchestral cover of the song) in 1988, for the Greatest Hits album. Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as the Moody Blues' greatest song, saying that the merging of two unfinished songs "achieve[d] this perfectly calibrated sense of emotional turbulence." Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated it as the Moody Blues' 3rd greatest song, saying that it "offers a powerful message that still retains an ability to emotionally move you."
Many of the songs Justin Hayward wrote for The Moody Blues don't have obvious titles - "The Voice," for instance. This song is another one without a natural title where he chose a word from the lyrics to represent it. In the UK, this became the group's biggest hit for their classic lineup. Before John Lodge and Justin Hayward joined the group in 1966, they had a #1 UK hit with "Go Now."
Label – Threshold
Songwriter – Justin Hayward
Producers – Tony Clarke (Original version), Anne Dudley, Justin Hayward, and John Lodge (Greatest Hits version)
SONG LYRICS
Why do we never get an answerWhen we're knocking at the door?
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war
'Cause when we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed
(ahhhh ahh ah)
(ahhhh ahh ah)
Ahhhh ahh ah
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the wall of love is for
It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what will be
And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you
I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me through
Between the silence of the mountains
And the crashing of the sea
There lies a land I once lived in
And she's waiting there for me
But in the grey of the morning
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose
I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our souls
It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war
When we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in it's greed
(ahhhh ahh ah)
(ahhhh ahh ah)
Ahhhh ahh ah
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?