A farewell that refuses bitterness—“The Last Kiss” is David Cassidy’s grown-man goodbye, sung with grace, pride, and just enough ache to let the light in.
Key facts first. Released in February 1985 as the lead single from Romance, “The Last Kiss” returned Cassidy to the U.K. Top 10, peaking at No. 6 on March 10, 1985 and holding on the chart for nine weeks. The record also traveled well in Europe—No. 10 in Germany and No. 9 in Ireland—and even reached No. 60 in Australia later that spring. The single was issued on Arista (U.K. cat. no. ARIST 589) with “The Letter” on the flip, while the parent album Romance rose to No. 20 on the U.K. Albums Chart. Notably, Arista did not release the album in the United States, making this a distinctly international comeback.
The backstory gives the song its extra glow. George Michael—then on the cusp of global stardom—sings the high harmony that lifts the chorus, a subtle, silvery thread that longtime listeners can spot immediately. Michael admired Cassidy and even interviewed him that summer; the collaboration felt like a torch passed across generations, from one teen idol who survived fame’s furnace to another who was just entering it. Producer-writer Alan Tarney (of Cliff Richard and a-ha renown) built the track’s sleek chassis and co-wrote the song with Cassidy, drawing melodic DNA from Tarney’s earlier composition “Young Love,” recorded by Cliff Richard in 1981—Cassidy reshaped it with new lyrics and a different emotional center. Sessions ran at RG Jones in London, with a later remix at Mayfair Sound, the finished single mixing analog warmth with contemporary synth sheen.
What does “The Last Kiss” say, beneath the polish? It’s the sound of an adult choosing dignity at the end of love. The lyric carries itself without recrimination: a man acknowledging the good that was there, naming the moment honestly, and refusing to let resentment write the closing line. The melody moves like a steadying breath—verses that take stock, a bridge that lifts like memory rising, and a chorus that lands softly on the title phrase, more blessing than lament. For older ears, that stance can feel like recognition: by middle life, we learn that endings ask for tenderness too. Cassidy’s tenor—still bright, now tempered—turns that recognition into a promise to part well.
It mattered, too, where this single landed in his story. A decade had passed since the fever of The Partridge Family and those early-’70s solo smashes; the 1970s closed with career turbulence and a long gap between studio albums. “The Last Kiss” didn’t try to rewind the calendar—it modernized him. Tarney’s glass-clear production, the keyboard glow, the purposeful drums, and Michael’s discreet backing parts framed Cassidy not as an artifact but as a contemporary voice with history in it. That’s why the record felt both fresh and familiar on European airwaves in early 1985, and why it could pull crowds across the U.K. on the tour that followed. It became, in the U.K., his final Top-10 single—and his last Top-40 entry—because it was more than nostalgia; it was craft holding hands with experience.
Listen closely to the arrangement and you can hear how the parts tell the story. The intro sets a cool, reflective mood—Tarney loved elegant openings—before the vocal enters near-whispered, as if not to disturb a room where two people are deciding who they’ll be after today. Guitars flicker at the edges; the synth pads are like late-afternoon light on a table. When the chorus crests, Michael’s harmony doesn’t dominate so much as lift, the way a good friend steadies your shoulder at the right second. There’s no big theatrical break—only the quiet insistence of a heart choosing courtesy over drama.
The meaning that lingers is simple, which is why it lasts. “The Last Kiss” understands that love isn’t only fireworks and firsts; it’s also the partings we carry with respect. Many of us remember that spring of ’85 as a season of newness—new jobs, new cities, new responsibilities—and this song felt like a lesson tucked into a melody: end kindly, and you’ll be able to start again without hardening. If earlier Cassidy hits made adolescent devotion feel enormous, this one makes adult restraint feel noble.
And in the catalog, it serves as a hinge. On Romance, the track anchors a set of songs co-written by Cassidy and Tarney, giving him a modern palette without erasing the clarity of his pop instincts. That it soared to No. 6 in Britain, cracked Top 10 in Germany, and found chart life from Ireland to Australia tells you the world was ready to hear him that way. Four decades on, drop the needle and you can still feel the room tilt a little quieter when the chorus arrives—no recriminations, just a man doing the brave thing and letting something beautiful end beautifully.
At a glance (for the discography-minded): Romance (1985, Arista) includes “The Last Kiss” (with George Michael on backing vocals), recorded at RG Jones, remixed at Mayfair, and issued in the U.K. and Europe with “The Letter” as its B-side; the album reached UK No. 20 and did not receive a U.S. release.