“Higher Love”
On Saturdays our companions are musicians.
“Think about it,” Steve Winwood sings, “there must be a higher love—Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above.”
That’s the force we’ve been trying to fathom this week in “Stories of Transforming Love”—a power we can name only as a “Higher Love,” Steve Winwood’s 1986 hymn of sacred longing.
“Higher Love” was co-written with Will Jennings, who helped write a majority of the tracks on Back in the High Life. Jennings also took over for Eric Clapton when he had only one line of a song about the death of his four-year-old son, and was stuck in his grief, unable to finish it. Will Jennings stepped in and helped write “Tears in Heaven.” Speaking of the inspiration for “Higher Love,” Jennings said, “My earliest memories are of the music in church and of my aunts and uncles singing the beautiful old hymns. ‘Higher Love’ is a generation past that, when things were not so much taken for granted, so that one has to plea, ‘Bring me a higher love,’ and the lines are all trying to explain why there must be higher love. A modern hymn, you might call it.”
This performance is by the “Soul Sanctuary Choir” at St. James, Piccadilly, an Anglican church in the heart of London. Their energy, their voices, and the sacred space of St. James makes this, I hope, a transforming offering of this song. (Full lyrics below.)
Acknowledgements
On this final day of “Companions on the Way,” I want to thank Chuck Jones for his collaboration on all the songs in this series. Chuck suggested not only powerful and beautiful pieces—but he specified the performance that was right for each song, one that took a great song and brought it straight to the heart of each week’s theme.
Thanks to Margaret Keet for the artwork.
And finally, thanks to my editor, Pam Anderson, who read each post, saved me from countless rabbit trails, and made me fight for the meaning of each post. Thank you, Pam.
Think about it, there must be higher love
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above
Without it, life is wasted time
Look inside your heart, I’ll look inside mine
Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk blind and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love, oh
Bring me a higher love
Where’s that higher love, I keep thinking of?
Worlds are turning and we’re just hanging on
Facing our fear and standing out there alone
A yearning, and it’s real to me
There must be someone who’s feeling for me
Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk blind and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love, oh
Bring me a higher love
Where’s that higher love, I keep thinking of?
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love, oh
Bring me a higher love
I could rise above on a higher love
I will wait for it, I’m not too late for it
Until then, I’ll sing my song
To cheer the night along
I could light the night up with my soul on fire
I could make the sun shine from pure desire
Let me feel that love come over me
Let me feel how strong it could be
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love, oh
Bring me a higher love
Where’s that higher love, I keep thinking of?
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love, oh
Bring me a higher love
Thanks to you, David, for your guidance.
As always, I learned more from the daily discipline of thinking, praying and writing.
David – another song I’ve heard so many times but today listened to with a different ear thanks to you. A huge thank you for taking us along on your Lenten journey, and thanks to your helpers who were behind the scenes! My mom called yesterday to share she has recently rediscovered “Breakfast Epiphanies” which I gave her years ago. Your writing is a gift that keeps on giving. Easter blessings to you and Pam and much gratitude for you and the wisdom and love you share with us.
This series has been such a gift. I was going to ask how you found just the right songs for each week and now I know. So thanks to you and the whole team for the gift of insight this Lenten season.
Thanks for the guided walk through Lent, David. What a glorious way to arrive on the threshold of Easter!
Thanks, David. Once again, thank you very much. And thank you, Chuck, Margaret, and Pam!
Glad I waited to the very end of the video. Fun to see the dancing in the aisles. I’m going to London in a couple of weeks. I’m going to have to find Saint James.
Thank you to all who made this Lenten series possible. The input of Chuck Jones for the songs, especially “Higher Love”, Pam Anderson’s editing out rabbit holes and providing support to “fight for the meaning of each post“ are so appreciated.
David, these weekly themes and daily insights really nourished my development. I experienced a very meaningful Easter. Thank you!
Thank you, David (and all) for sharing your writing, reading, music, and artwork. I was inspired by the thought and creativity you put into each devotion during a time when it’s not always easy to be introspective.