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Who’s got the love?

6:36pm Thursday, 29th July 2010

Scott Berry

Even if you do not listen to the radio, chances are you will have heard Florence and the Machine’s song You’ve Got The Love as it has been featured on television advertisements for Masterchef and Domestic Blitz. The strange thing about this song is that secular artists like Florence, Joss Stone and Kasabian have chosen to cover this clearly Christian song. Sex and the City chose to use a version of this song in its series finale in 2004. So what does this upbeat number actually say?
Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you
Sometimes I feel like saying “Lord I just don’t care”
But you’ve got the love I need to see me through
Sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough
And things go wrong no matter what I do
Now and then it seems that life is just too much
But you’ve got the love I need to see me through
When food is gone you are my daily meal
When friends are gone I know my Saviour’s love is real
Your love is real
You’ve got the love (x 6)
The snappy repeated chorus that “You’ve got the love” is inoffensive enough and the “Lord, I just don’t care” line could be a dismissive statement opening with a brief blasphemy. However, when the song is considered as a whole and especially when the Christian faith of the songwriter, Candi Stone, is taken into account, this pleasant pop song gains a whole new life.
The irony of the television shows and advertisements that have chosen to use this song should not be lost. Masterchef, please note the line “When food is gone, you are my daily meal” which is reminiscent of Jesus temptation in the desert and he taught us that only God can sustain us. The people who are blessed with a backyard make over in Domestic Blitz have usually been going through a rough time but the solution is that only Jesus has “got the love to see me through”.
The whole foundation for the show Sex and the City was the focus on the power of female friendships but this modern day psalm affirms that “When friends are gone, I know my Saviour’s love is real”. The song is honest enough to attest to the struggles we all go through in life and then it points us back to the reality of our Saviours love.
Before Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) chose to record “You’ve got the love” she added it to her live set. Welch recounts the inspiration for playing it live came from her time “as a kid, going to clubs and raves, this song made me feel love.... I’m really excited that now in our live shows I’m going to be playing one of my favourite songs ever, loads!”
Regardless of the intentions of Florence and the Machine or the television producers, this is a song that reminds us of the timeless truth that nothing in all the world compares with Jesus love. This song connects the pain of the human condition with the search for love that is only complete when we are in Christ. Who would have thought Christian’s would be able to worship our Saviour as we watch television commercials?
Scott Berry is Young Adults Pastor of
Enfield Baptist Church in Adelaide