"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" is a song originally performed in 1969 by

Jackie DeShannon Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers, August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards, as both singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-songw ...

, who composed it with her brother Randy Myers and Jimmy Holiday. In the U.S., it was DeShannon's highest-charting hit, reaching number 4 on the Hot 100 in August 1969 and number 2 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart. In late 1969, the song reached number 1 on South Africa's hit parade. The song rivalled the success of her signature song, "

What the World Needs Now Is Love "What the World Needs Now Is Love" is a 1965 popular song with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. First recorded and made popular by Jackie DeShannon, it was released on April 15, 1965, on the Imperial label after a relea ...

". In 1988, Annie Lennox and Al Green released a cover version of "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" which reached number 9 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Charts

Annie Lennox and Al Green version

In 1988, Annie Lennox and Al Green recorded a version that was released as the ending theme song to the 1988 film ''

Scrooged ''Scrooged'' is a 1988 American Christmas film, Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Richard Donner and written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. Based on the 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'' by Charles Dickens, ''Scrooged'' is a mo ...

''. The song reached number 9 in the US on the Hot 100 in January 1989 and climbed all the way to number 2 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, as well as becoming a Top 40 hit in several countries worldwide, including number 28 in the UK for the festive season of 1988–1989. Although credited to Lennox, the song was produced by her Eurythmics partner

David A. Stewart David Allan Stewart (born 9 September 1952) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for Eurythmics, his successful professional partnership with Annie Lennox. Sometimes credited as David A. Stewart, he won Best British ...

. The video was directed by

Sophie Muller Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 '' Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's so ...

Personnel

* Annie Lennox – vocals * Al Green – vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

Gold record for Put a Little Love in Your Heart

Susan Raye Susan Raye (born October 8, 1944) is an American country music singer. She enjoyed great popularity during the early and mid-1970s, and chalked up seven top-10 and 19 top-40 country hits, most notably the song "L.A. International Airport", an i ...

, on her debut 1969 album, ''One Night Stand''. It was released as a single and peaked at number 30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. *

The Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

, in 1969. Issued as a single in the UK, it spent four weeks in the top 75, reaching number 31, three positions below that attained by Annie Lennox and Al Green in 1988. * Andy Williams – ''

Get Together with Andy Williams ''Get Together with Andy Williams'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams which was released on October 6, 1969, by Columbia Records and contained covers of recent hits. The one new song was "You Are", which was w ...

'' (1969) * Cilla Black – '' Sweet Inspiration'' (1970) *

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decade ...

, on 1972's Brother, Brother, Brother album. *At the end of

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker whose notable works included some of the most financially-successful films during the New Hollywood era. According to film historian ...

's film ''

'' (1988),

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...

breaks the fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

to lead a sing-along of the song. *

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...

, on his 1974 album Outer Space/Inner Mind. *

Bright Light Bright Light Rod Thomas (stage name Bright Light Bright Light) is a Welsh independent singer-songwriter, based in New York. Bright Light Bright Light incorporates many elements of nu-disco into his music, also branching into synthpop, dance and house music. T ...

included a duet, performed with

Nerina Pallot Nerina Natasha Georgina Pallot (born 26 April 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and producer, who has released six albums and over a dozen EPs. She was nominated for British Female Solo Artist at the 2007 BRIT Awards and nominated for an I ...

, on his 2017 EP ''Cinematography III''. (2017) * Circle Jerks included a hard-core punk version on their 1982 album, Wild in the Streets (Circle Jerks album)

References

External links

Put A Little Love In Your Heart lyrics at Dolly Parton On-Line
{{DEFAULTSORT:Put a Little Love in Your Heart 1968 singles 1988 singles Songs written by Jackie DeShannon Songs written by Jimmy Holiday Jackie DeShannon songs Annie Lennox songs Al Green songs Susan Raye songs The Dave Clark Five songs Andy Williams songs 1968 songs Imperial Records singles A&M Records singles Number-one singles in South Africa