Watch Eurythmics' gorgeous acoustic 1989 performance of rare song 'When The Day Goes Down'

9 June 2025, 16:02

Few synth-pop acts came close to them in terms of being iconic.

When Eurythmics first burst into the charts, nobody had quite seen or heard anything like them.

Annie Lennox's look – the short bright red David Bowie-esque coloured hair and tailored suit – transformed her into an instance icon.

That, and her miraculous voice, which brought a weighty soul to electronic music that didn't quite exist before she and Dave Stewart made music together.

After the release of 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)', the duo was transformed into one of the world's biggest bands.

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When the Second British Invasion of new wave music from our shores started circulating regularly on MTV, there was no looking back.

But as their career went on, Eurythmics proved that it was the soulful elements of their music that was driving them.

There's no better example of this than when Lennox and Stewart performed a rare gorgeous acoustic version of 'When The Day Goes Down' in 1989.

'When The Day Goes Down' was never released as a single, and featured on their 1989 album We Too Are One, which they were promoting at the time.

But over the years, it has evolved into one of the group's most beloved songs, a beautiful anthem for reassurance and perseverance.

It came into being when they began work on We Too Are One, when Stewart had taken up residence in Los Angeles.

Eurythmics actually went to London and Paris when it came to recording 'When The Day Goes Down', with Stewart lending out his studio to a famous group of friends.

(Fun fact: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and later Bob Dylan started jamming out some demos in Stewart's recording studio, who later became none other than the Traveling Wilburys.)

With 'When The Day Goes Down' though, Lennox and Stewart carefully crafted each element of the song to evoke a sunset and eventual sunrise, like a promise that things will get better if you keep hope.

Watch Eurythmics' gorgeous acoustic 1989 performance of 'When The Day Goes Down' below:

Eurythmics - When The Day Goes Down (Live Acoustic Wogan 1989)

Booked in for an interview on the Wogan chat show, the titular Terry Wogan was ironically not in the studio that day with Ben Elton temporarily taking over hosting duties instead.

Playing out the show, Lennox – wearing a bold yellow suit and with her hair bleached and typically short – alongside Stewart, gently performed on the sofa after the interview came to its conclusion.

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Her voice was immaculate, which was to be expected, as she delivered every lyric with passion and heart.

'When The Day Goes Down' is a powerful song, an uplifting and encouraging ode to carrying on when we think we can't carry on any longer.

Lennox sings for the "broken dreamers", the "vacant souls" and the "hopeless losers" who are also deserving of beauty in their own way.

Throughout this tear-inducing performance, the way Annie Lennox sings with her eyes closed is like she's letting us know that she's experienced pain in her life.

But she's also communicating through her words that we all experience pain, and can feel lonely, and there's a sense of solidarity in that.

'When The Day Goes Down' is the final track on Eurythmics' 1989 album We Too Are One, which was the last album they made until Peace was released ten years later.

It's a gorgeous way to end that era of the band, one that leaves their time together on a hopeful note despite the issues Lennox and Stewart may have had behind the scenes.

They may not have released 'When The Day Goes Down' as a single, but Dave Stewart felt the song was a vital one in the duo's back catalogue.

Calling it a hidden gem in a later interview, Stewart admitted: "Sometimes we could do that just acoustic and everybody's crying."

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