Song #394: "Let Your Love Flow" by Bellamy Brothers

Date: May 1, 1976
Weeks: 1

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Ew. Country music trying to sound vaguely disco? I'm not even sure how to cope with that. This is two bad tastes that taste bad together. Once this is over, I'm going to need to listen to so much Johnny Cash.

I think this song deserves an angry list of things about it I hate:

• The twangy, soft rhythm guitars
• The anemic drums
• The passionless vocals
• The obvious metaphors ("let your love flow like a mountain stream" and "let your love fly like a bird on the wing)
• The weak metaphors ("let your love grow with the smallest of dreams"
• The whiny synthesizer track in the background
• The structure of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, fadeout. There's supposed to be a bridge, or another verse and chorus pair at least. That's how pop music works, and if you're going to break the pattern, you need to do so in an interesting way, not a lazy way. Or at least in a short way, but somehow this song manages the unique achievement of both being too long and ending too early.

To be fair, this song isn't truly awful. It's pleasant enough if you don't listen to it too closely, if you just let it wash over you. The bass line is pretty compelling, and whenever they actually let the lead guitar out to drown out everything else, the song is pretty okay.

My verdict: Don't like it. Save me, Johnny.