Song Lyric Sunday

For Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams is asking for a “song that includes the act of depending, leaning, relying, or trusting another.”

As I began jotting down songs that might work for this, I was surprised at how many I came up with. When I began to narrow it down, I had some great songs. Reach Out I’ll Be There by the Four Tops, Stand By Me by Ben E. King, You’ve Got a Friend by James Taylor, I’ll Be There by the Jackson Five, and of course, Lean on Me by Bill Withers. No doubt one or two of those will show up in other blogs today.

Believe it or not, my pick didn’t even stem from a song title. Instead, one line kept popping into my head: “…on my love you can depend…” So I’ve chose a great song from The Troggs – Love Is All Around.

The lead singer for the group, Reg Presley, said it took him all of ten minutes to write the song. From songfacts.com: Presley recalled the inspiration for the song in the July 2011 edition of Mojo magazine: “I got back from America, I smelt the Sunday lunch cooking (inhales deeply), phaaaaw – after about 25 years on burgers – I kissed my wife, my little daughter, four years old. We went into the lounge and those Salvation Girls, The Joystrings, were on television, banging their tambourines and singing something, ‘Love, love,’ love.’ I went over to turn it off, knelt down and hearing that ‘Love, love’ I got a bass line, (sings) ‘doom, doomdoom, doomdoom, doomdoom, doom,’ and I got: ‘I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. My wife, my kid… And so the feeling grows.'”

In 1994, the group Wet Wet Wet we approached to record a cover for the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” They passed on I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor) and I Can’t Smile Without You (Barry Manilow) and chose to cover Love Is All Around. Their version was a UK #1 for 15 weeks and became the best selling single in the UK in 1994.

Even the guys of REM covered it. They even played it on an episode of MTV’s Unplugged.

Love Is All Around

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
The love is all around me
And so the feeling grows

It’s written on the wind
It’s everywhere I go
So if you really love me
Come on and let it show

You know I love you, I always will
My mind’s made up by the way that I feel
There’s no beginning, there’ll be no end
‘Cause on my love you can depend

I see your face before me
As I lay on my bed
I kinda get to thinking
Of all the things you said

You gave your promise to me
And I gave mine to you
I need someone beside me
In everything I do

You know I love you, I always will
My mind’s made up by the way that I feel
There’s no beginning, there’ll be no end
‘Cause on my love you can depend

It’s written on the wind
It’s everywhere I go
So if you really love me
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show