Love is the Answer

A Tribute to Broadcast Radio and Love Songs

My favorite radio died today. It was a gift from our friends from our Wedding Registry at Service Merchandise, which went out of business in 2002. The cassette player stopped working long ago, but through its radio I listened to many thousands of songs, a thousand or more Orioles games (though not a single pennant in those 24 years), and a variety of other radio shows.

Top-40, Baseball, Bible Teachers, and Broadcast Radio

Growing up, I seldom went anywhere without a portable radio, from the pocket transistor with the mono earphone jack to the stereotypical 80’s boombox to the Sony Walkman AM/FM Radio-Cassette. I loved Casey Kasem and Top-40 music, and would stay up late at night listening to CBS Mystery Theater and static-filled baseball play-by-play signals from faraway cities. During U.S. Navy Boot Camp and aboard ship, among my greatest worries was what hit songs I was missing out on. I helped produce programming for a college radio station in San Diego and interned in a country music station in Atlanta. I later learned financial principles from Dave Ramsey and political theory from Rush Limbaugh on my car and kitchen radios. Through a godly co-worker I discovered Focus on the Family, Family Life Today, and evangelists and Bible teachers like Ravi Zacharias and John MacArthur, who gave me resources for a godly marriage and family and sparked my interest in Christian apologetics and Biblical hermeneutics. Today as a letter carrier either a radio or mp3 player is attached to my belt loop at all times. Needless to say, broadcast radio has played a pivotal role in my life.

The Message of Love Songs on the Radio

“If I ran away, I’d never have the strength to go very far, how would they hear the beating of my heart? Will it grow cold, the secret that I hide, will I grow old? How will they hear? When will they learn? How will they know?”   -from “Live to Tell” written by Patrick Leonard

While the messages transmitted on Christian broadcasts spoke often of God’s perfect love, the love that was sung about in my favorite songs was a bit more muddled; it was sometimes hopeful and romantic, sometimes overtly sexual, often melancholic and unrequited (I listened to Madonna‘s “Live to Tell” over and over again on my Walkman Cassette player), occasionally pulled no punches (“Love Stinks” by J. Geils comes to mind), or some vague mix. Seldom did it point to something deeper.

“Light of the world, shine on me. Shine on us all, set us free. Love is the answer.”

One exception was “Love is the Answer.” Written by Todd Rundgren, the recording of “Love is the Answer” by England Dan and John Ford Coley was a #1 hit in 1979. The song makes a regular appearance on my 70’s Pandora feed and it has been re-recorded by a number of Christian artists since. By contrast, the message of others songs was regularly questionable, sometimes incoherent (hello “Modern Love” by David Bowie and “Tiny Dancer” written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John), and often the exact wrong message for impressionable teens like me. Here are three of the most glaring examples:

• “Love the One You’re With,” written by Stephen Stills and inspired by Billy Preston, consists of mainly one lyric line: “If you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love the one you’re with.” Um, no. I don’t think “the one you love” would appreciate that.
• Joe Brooks wrote “You Light Up My Life” and Debby Boone made it a hit. It’s a beautiful ballad until the final lyric, “It can’t be wrong when it feels so right.” Um, if you have to say that, then yes it can.
• Finally, how about Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get it On?” “And if you feel like I feel, baby, then, c’mon, oh, c’mon. Let’s get it on.” Whoa. To quote Aretha Franklin in the Blues Brothers, “You’d better think about the consequences of your actions.”

I’m sure you can think of many other examples. How refreshing, then, to hear a hit like “Love is the Answer” with such a positive message. Do any others come to your mind?

“Ask the man in your heart for the answers.
And when you feel afraid (Love one another).
When you’ve lost your way (Love one another).
And when you’re all alone (Love one another).
And when you’re far from home (Love one another).
And when you’re down and out (Love one another).
And when your hopes run out (Love one another).
And when you need a friend (Love! We’ve got to love! We’ve got to love one another).
Light of the World, shine on me. Love is the answer. Shine on us all. Set us free. Love is the answer.”