Spotlight: What the World Needs Now is Love Lyric Book

Hello everyone, and happy Valentine’s day!

Truth be told, Valentine’s day has always been an excuse for school fundraisers and splurging on chocolate for me. This Valentine’s day, however, I’ve decided to celebrate by spotlighting the lyric book for What the World Needs Now is Love by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The lovely illustrations are by Mary Kate McDevitt, and the combination of touching lyrics and vibrant colors of the art create a beautiful picture book that I can’t wait to share with the kids I volunteer with.

Full Lyrics:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

Lord, we don’t need another mountain,
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last till the end of time.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No, not just for some but for everyone.

Lord, we don’t need another meadow
There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh listen, lord, if you want to know.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No, not just for some but for everyone.

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

The thing that really strikes true to me about these lyrics is that it explores the love across all relationships – whether it is platonic, romantic, familial, or otherwise. I feel like only with love and empathy can we really move forward as a society and understand one another. This also leads to the respect that each one of us deserve, no matter our gender, sexual orientation, romantic orientation, race, or bodies.

Valentine’s day may be a day advertising alloromantic couples, but don’t forget about the various kinds of love that come into play and shape us to become the person we are. I know I myself fall onto the aromantic spectrum, and I greatly value my platonic friendships and the love and support that my friends and I share.

I also wanted to highlight this stunning collaboration of different broadway voices that sang What the World Needs is Love after the Orlando shooting massacre on June, 2016.