Put A Little Love In Your Heart

She is best known as a singer, but Jackie DeShannon is one of the most talented tunesmiths of her time - she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010. She wrote many of her own songs, including this one, which she composed with her younger brother Randy Myers (Jackie's real name is Sharon Lee Myers) and a Soul singer at her label (Liberty Records), Jimmy Holiday. In our interview with Jackie DeShannon, she told the story: "My brother Randy was playing this little riff and I said, 'Gee, I really like that riff, that's great.' All of a sudden, 'Think of your fellow man, lend him a helping hand, put a little love in your heart,' came just like that. I owe some of that to my mom, because she was always saying that people should put a little love in their heart when things are not so good. I'd like to say it was very difficult, but it was one of those songs you wait a lifetime to write." Jimmy Holiday's contribution came after Jackie and her brother started composing it, as he helped polish the song. Holiday, DeShannon and Myers went on to write Jackie's hits "Love Will Find A Way" (#40, 1969) and "Brighton Hill" (#82, 1970).

DeShannon recorded a demo of this song which she had a hard time beating in the recording session. In our interview, she recalled struggling to get the right feel. "After about eight hours we finally got it and I just felt that I had done probably one of my best vocals ever," she said. "But when I came back in to hear it somehow my vocal was erased. Somebody must have hit something. I called my mom and I said, 'You know what, I'm just heartbroken. I've probably done the best vocal ever - at least it felt to me that it was right on the button - and I have to go do it again.' So I went right back in there fast, before I lost the muse. When I got to hear the new vocal I felt that, of course, I wished I could have had the other one. But who's to say? Maybe this was the better vocal."

The song was released as the first single from the album in June of 1969, and it gained momentum when a radio station in Atlanta started playing it. In August, the New York radio station WABC made it a "Pick of the Week," and stations around the country jumped on it, sending the song to its peak chart position of #4 on August 30. Said DeShannon: "The airplay was great, and in those days if you had a record in rotation, that could be very good money. I was actually able to buy a car for my dad, and I bought a house for my parents."