Jackie DeShannon Wrote This 60s Classic While Recalling Her Mother’s Advice

There are some songs that just seem to turn up the brightness in the world for the time that they’re playing. Jackie DeShannon’s 1969 song “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” certainly fits that hallowed category.

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DeShannon co-wrote and recorded the song at a time when her career was in a bit of a downslide. It was a family affair. Her brother co-wrote it and her mother inspired the uplifting tone of the lyrics.

Leading Up to “Love”

Jackie DeShannon stood out in the early 60s as one of the few female songwriters who also had the opportunity to record her material. She recorded singles when she was in her teens. Songwriting success started to come her way with a pair of hits that she helped pen for Brenda Lee.

Songs like “Needles And Pins” and “When You Walk In The Room” have since been identified as classics. But they didn’t originally do much on the US charts. That breakthrough came with the 1965 smash “What The World Needs Now Is Love”, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

But DeShannon’s follow-up singles and albums in the following years failed to make that same kind of impact. As a female artist, she struggled at times to have her artistic vision fulfilled in the studio. Luckily, she delivered a song in “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” that no amount of interference could stop.

Mom Knows Best

While preparing music for an album to be released in 1969, DeShannon was in a writing session with her brother Randy Myers and Jimmy Holiday. Myers came up with a keyboard riff that opened the floodgates for DeShannon’s lyrics.

When it came to the words, DeShannon remembered that her mother would often tell her kids to put a little love in their hearts when dealing with others. In the studio, DeShannon laid down what she thought was an ideal vocal.

But some mistake in the studio led to that vocal track being wiped out. She was forced to go back and do it again, and she didn’t think that she matched the take that had been erased. Even with that hiccup, “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” became an immediate anthem upon its release, hitting No. 4 on the US charts in 1969.

Behind the Lyrics of “Put A Little Love In Your Heart”

“Put A Little Love In Your Heart” offers advice filled with simple wisdom and benevolence. “Think of your fellow man,” DeShannon pleads. “Lend him a helping hand.” She hopes that her words will be contagious in the best way: “If you want the world to know/We won’t let hatred grow.”

“I hope when you decide,” DeShannon insists. “Kindness will be your guide.” And what’s the end result of all this munificence? “And the world will be a better place,” DeShannon promises. “For you and me/You just wait and see.”

Because of its inclusion in the movie Scrooged, the 1988 cover version by Annie Lennox and Al Green has turned into a Christmas classic. But regardless of when it’s played, Jackie DeShannon’s “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” delivers a message always worthy of being heard.

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