These are songs of love and hope at a time when we all need them.

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE, SWEET LOVE

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It’s the only thing that there’s much too little of.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

No, not just for some, but for everyone.”

Excerpt from Source:  Musixmatch.   Songwriters:  Hal David and Burt F. Bacharach.  Lyrics © New Hidden Valley Music Co., Casa David Music, Bmg Rights Management (uk) Ltd (Hal David).  

We “still” need love because in the last four years we seem to have less and less love for each other.   No matter what your religious or political view, there should be something that you have in common with another human being.   Try it!

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

“Believe in yourself, right from the start
You’ll have brains
You’ll have a heart
You’ll have courage
To last your whole life through.

If you believe in yourself
As I believe in you.

If you believe
Within your heart you’ll know
That no one can change
The path that you must go.”

Excerpt from Source: Musixmatch.   Songwriter: Charlie Smalls.  Believe in Yourself (Dorothy) lyrics © Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp.

This song was in the 1978 movie The Wiz with an all-star cast consisting of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne, Theresa Merritt, and Mabel King.  I loved The Wiz. Directed by Sidney Lumet who also directed other movies I’ve loved:  12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Serpico, and the Verdict.

You can do it.   Keep believing in yourself.  Don’t be discouraged.

A BRAND NEW DAY

“Everybody look around
‘Cause there’s a reason to rejoice you see
Everybody come out
And let’s commence to singing joyfully
Everybody look up
And feel the hope that we’ve been waiting for.

Everybody’s glad
Because our silent fear and dread is gone
Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
Just look about
You owe it to yourself to check it out
Can’t you feel a brand new day?

Everybody be glad
Because the sun is shining just for us
Everybody wake up
Into the morning into happiness

Hello world
It’s like a different way of living now
And thank you world
We always knew that we’d be free somehow
In harmony
And show the world that we’ve got liberty

It’s such a change
For us to live so independently
Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
Just look about
You owe it to yourself to check it out
Can’t you feel a brand new day?”

Excerpt from Source: Musixmatch.   Songwriter: Luther R. Vandross.  Music composed by Quincy Jones, Charlie Smalls, and Anthony Jackson.  A Brand New Day lyrics © Wb Music Corp.

This song was also in the 1978 movie The Wiz with an all-star cast consisting of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne, Theresa Merritt, and Mabel King.  I loved The Wiz. Directed by Sidney Lumet who also directed other movies I’ve loved:  12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Serpico, and the Verdict.

UNWRITTEN

“I am unwritten
Can’t read my mind
I’m undefined
I’m just beginning
The pen’s in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it

No one else can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries are outside the lines
We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes
But I can’t live that way

The rest is still unwritten.”

Excerpt from Source: LyricFind.   Songwriters: Danielle A. Brisebois / Natasha Anne Bedingfield / Wayne Steven Jr Rodrigues.   Unwritten lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Domino Publishing Company.

I fell in love with Natasha Bedingfield’s singing of “Unwritten” the first time I heard it on the radio.   Phrases like “break tradition”, “outside the lines”, “conditioned to not make mistakes”, “live your life with arms wide open”, etc.   The song could apply to writers or anyone living his or her life.   And it is a hopeful song with a great beat.

Merry Christmas to all and God bless us everyone!

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin