"The Everlasting" is the second single to be lift from the Manic Street Preachers's fifth studio album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. It was released on November 30, 1998, through Epic, it peaked on number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, breaking their run of consecutive top ten hits. All three members of the band - James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire - share the writing credits.

The title of the song is borrowed by Nicky, "The Everlasting", is also a title from a poem by his brother Patrick Jones, after he spent some time trying to think of something similar to Blur's "The Universal" or Joy Division's "The Eternal". "The Everlasting" is often described as grand, elegiac and in some ways quite profoundly sad.

The instruments also sound different in the overall sound of the song. Contrary to Generation Terrorists the drums are now played as a synthetic element. The group also used live and simulated strings during the recording process.

The song is also featured on the 2002 compilation Forever Delayed, however, the length is only 4:07, in order to fit in the album. The album version has 6:11.

The single was released on November 1998, and it went to number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, it broke their run of 5 consecutive top 10 hits, but it managed to stay in the charts for 12 weeks. Outside of the UK the album reached number 47 in the Dutch charts, remaining in the chart for 5 weeks and in Germany it peaked on number 88, but it remained in the chart for 7 weeks.

CD single number one included "Black Holes for the Young" - a duet with Sophie Ellis-Bextor which is a criticism of London culture - and "Valley Boy", a song which criticizes the European Union. A second CD single featured remixes of "The Everlasting" - "Deadly Avenger Mix" and "Stealth Sonic Orchestra Mix".

The promotional video that accompanied the song was censored because it contained people on fire. The original version was considered insensitive as the release of the single coincided with the well-publicised inquest into the death of Michael Menson, who had been set on fire by three men in a street attack. Two versions of the video were therefore produced - one with computer generated flames, one without. The video was filmed at Euston railway station in London.

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Wikipedia