A bunch of performers have recorded the song over the years, but the version I grew up with was the original, by Jackie DeShannon.
And the memorable refrain was ...
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of."
There always seems to be a point where the citizens of the world — if not just the people of America — need one thing above all others. And, usually, we get whatever it is that we need.
When I was a child, the Cold War had given birth to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Space Race. And, by the time I got into school, with the battle having moved into the heavens, it was clear that more love was needed here on earth.
At least, it was clear that more love was needed between nations. And, as implausible as it sometimes seemed that the U.S. and the Soviet Union — or even North and South Vietnam — could patch up their differences and live in harmony, it seemed even less plausible that the warring factions within our own borders could come to terms.
So it seemed natural to appeal for more love in the world. And if some happened to rub off on the old and the young, or the rich and the poor, or the black and the white, that could only be a good thing. Right?
Well, we didn't exactly get that international kind of love and, by 1980, America felt beaten by the Soviets and the economy. Americans needed to feel a surge of energy that comes from striking a blow for liberty. They got that collective feeling when the American hockey team beat the powerful Russian team at the Olympics in Lake Placid.
I have the feeling that, if YouTube had existed 29 years ago, the clip of the final seconds of that hockey game would hold the most–viewed record that Susan Boyle would be trying to match today.
That's a pretty lofty claim, I know. But, as iconic as the moment of that victory has become, with Al Michaels triumphantly exclaiming, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" it would have had to be viewed more than 11 million times to be leading Boyle now — and Boyle's performance only aired last Saturday.
During college basketball's Final Four a few weeks ago, I thought that perhaps the Michigan State team would give Detroit and Michigan and the rest of America that shot in the arm they all needed to overcome the poor economy. That didn't happen.
That's not really surprising, for several reasons, one of which is that North Carolina is simply a much better team than Michigan State is.
But after watching Boyle's performance, I have to think that, if there is anything to my theory that we get what we need when we need it — or destiny or kismet or whatever you want to call it — I have to conclude that the need for that shot in the arm is not a domestic thing at all. It's bigger than that — a global need.
And I wonder if Boyle just gave us that shot in the arm with her riveting performance.
In these days of escalating unemployment, isn't she kind of an everyman — unemployed, plain, middle–aged, the poster girl for those of us who work hard and dream dreams but have encountered some roadblocks along the way?
I'm not a psychiatrist, but I think that part of the response to her triumph comes from that part of all of us that would like to defy the odds. Who wouldn't like to walk out on stage before a skeptical audience — and really stick it to the doubters?
Well, be that as it may, Boyle is a source of inspiration for a lot of people who really need it right now.
And that is a good thing.
