Olivia changes innocent image
In her latest single, Olivia Newton-John makes a complete turnabout from the role of Sandy she played in Grease. This song, A Little More Love, is not a 1950’s rock and role tune of young and innocent romance. Ms. Newton-John sings of a person who is trapped in a very unpleasant love situation.
The woman in this selection has no control over the man with whom she is in love. No matter what she says or how she feels this man does whatever he pleases.
This is not a very healthy basis for any kind of relationship, a person in the situation would feel used, not really loved at all. Still, she is taking it upon herself to improve the relationship, she wonders if things would be better if she loved him more. One interpretation of these words is that she is offering to make love with him more often. This woman hopes that with a better sexual relationship the man wouldn’t feel compelled to leave her and return to whatever else he is “depending” on.
This attitude, that more sex means a better relationship, is prevalent among those who purport “free love” but it is by no means a truism to be followed by all people. If the love that two people share is not based on something more than sex then it is not really love at all. The woman in Ms. Newton-John’s song could never really have her man if she depended on love-making to control him.
If, on the other hand, the words, “a little more love,” are interpreted to mean really giving love, then there is a chance that the woman might have her wish that everything would turn out all right. There are, of course, no guarantees, but if this woman truly loves the man then it certainly couldn’t hurt to show it.
Some real, unselfish giving and sharing proves more love than all the sex in the world. With a little more of this kind of love coming from both parties the relationship might have a happy ending after all.
The lyrics in the final stanza indicate, however, that no such love is present. The woman does not feel love, she only feels trapped. She knows that she has sacrificed her innocence and is now entwined in the tangle of lies told by her love.. He made her feel loved by holding her close and talking to her sweetly, but he was really interested only in the pleasure she could bring him and not concerned at all about how he could make her happy. He took what he wanted from her and then returned to his other commitments.
Now she is caught in the web. He does whatever he wants and she can’t say no to him because it doesn’t do any good. She feels frustrated in a hopeless situation. Maybe with a little more love of herself - she could get out.
A Little More Love
I was dragging my feet
I wait alone in the heat
I know you have your way
So you have to go home
No’s a word I can’t say
Cause it gets me nowhere to tell you no
And it gets me nowhere to make you go
Will a little more love make you stop depending
Will a little more love bring a happy ending
Will a little more love make it right
Where did my innocence go
How was a young girl to know
I’m trapped - in the spell of your eyes in the warmth of your arms
In the web of your lies.
Sung by Olivia Newton-John c. 1978 MCA Records