Love is the Answer

by @scubed

Liner Notes

I wanted to write something in response to recent events, but I also wanted my first FAWM 2025 song to have a positive vibe. @writeandwrong gave me the "Love" card in the Oracle Challenge, so I took that as the inspiration for a 1960s-style folk song with a singalong chorus.

#oldfolkie #folk #protest #girlwithguitar #oraclechallenge

Lyrics

Love is the Answer ©️ 2025 Words and Music by Sharon Stepler

Hope is hard to hear in troubled days Like a whisper in a noisy crowd So when headlines break our hearts in 47 ways Let’s speak up Let’s shout out loud

Love is the way, love is the answer Love is the flame deep in our souls Love is the power that pulls us together And together we are stronger, stronger than we know Stronger than we know

Hope is hard to see when darkness falls And danger is lurking in the night But they cannot block us with their angry walls We’ll find the path We’ll carry the light

Love is the way, love is the answer Love is the flame deep in our souls Love is the power that pulls us together And together we are stronger, stronger than we know Stronger than we know

Hope is hard to find beneath the heel Of tyranny both ignorant and cruel But that strength is an illusion, and the Truth is real Tyrants will fall Justice will rule

Love is the way, love is the answer Love is the flame deep in our souls Love is the power that pulls us together And together we are stronger, stronger than we know Love is the way, love is the answer Love is the flame deep in our souls Love is the power that pulls us together And together we are stronger, stronger than we know Stronger than we know

Comments

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@gbg2016

Nice resolution of your initial impulse with the direction of the card; hope is hard! Very sweet, and I quite like the singalong (both the idea, which underscores the message, and the way you executed it with the second vocal).

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important tune for times like this <3 coming on here and hearing everyone's music reminds me how resilient and beautiful people are. thank you for sharing

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@ddd

Enjoyed this one. Beautiful playing. Great message.

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@jamkar

Amen Sharon. Love and hope shall stand in the face of those who grow evil.

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@kayo

Love this song, delightful guitar and vocals, and you nailed the 60s protest vibe. Thanks for sharing!

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This is a nice song in several ways. I enjoyed the guitar very much. Also, the voice is lovely, and the lyrics are meaningful. I appreciate your kind words about my lyrics, and if you'd like to write music for me, I'd be delighted to do so. I really believe in love, and the words of this song speak to that truth.

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@saulius

The FAWMers already said it. Thank you for writing an old song, from the days when Love was something we yearned for and believed could be someday, back when Hope was real and Justice seemed inevitable.

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@janeg

Love is the only way the world will recover from the hate and rage being spread by autocrats and social media. Great to have such a beautiful song about its power. I can cetainly see this a group song, or for choir groups..

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Beautiful lyrics. Both gentle and strong (no good love being the answer if we can't harness its power to tear down the odd tyrant... with love, obviously).

I also appreciate that it's non-partisan, oblique numerical references aside. With love should come unity, a goal we must all aspire to.

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Ah, LOVE this ode to love! I could not resonate more with these words... if only people realised how powerful we all are when we stand together!🙌😍

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Great message we have hope regardless of our individual perspectives

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@jorh

Great protest song - I can see the short affirmative lines at the end of each verse been shouted by the crowd! I especially resonated with the ‘Hope is hard to hear in troubled days, Like a whisper in a noisy crowd’, and how sometimes it’s not as easy as said to try keep home during hard times.

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@nadine

What a hopeful message and a lovely sound. The chorus is really a singalong :)

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You had me at "47 ways" - I hope you're right about us all coming together, even as they try to force us apart and divide us. I'm doing protest songs this year too, but I've started taking uh... a bit of a different path.

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Absolutely love your work here. What a hurting world needs more than anything. So good!

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@jinx

This is the sentiment I needed right now! So lovely, thank you for this.

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Pulling together. God, I hope you're right, and that we're stronger than we know. We're going to need that strength. Thanks for an uplifting song.

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@mikeb

A real hopeful message song! The guitar licks really impart a familiar but new feeling.

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I especially like the “headlines” line. Nice song, especially in these times.

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The song I needed right now. I also love the guitar fills; great job!

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Really love the “47 ways” line. Nice nod to the everything that’s going on. Your voice is so beautiful and clear! I love your harmonies in the choruses, absolutely stellar.

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Oh, this is wonderful. I love this. I have already heard so many songs this year about current events, and hearing one that is positive is so refreshing, and it's even better that both the vocals and instrumental are lovely. Great work.

[FAWM]