Peace, Love And Happiness

Album: Superhero Brother (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is a reminder to be good to yourself and others. It's a very positive message, but it does come with some gripes, as G. Love gets political in the last verse, wondering why governments are spending money on bombs instead of food for the hungry.

    "It was a simple message, and that's what I wanted it to be," G. Love told Songfacts. "It works too because of the call and response, and it's a wonderful message. The music is kind of all the same chords - I just flipped the changes when I got to the breakdown. But it's just a simple song with a catchy hook and a profound message."
  • Lyrically, this song is a lot easier to navigate than many of G. Love's earlier songs, which are packed with rapid-fire lyrics. This was by design. When he toured Brazil with his Brushfire Records labelmate Donavon Frankenreiter, he noticed how the crowd was getting into Frankenreiter's songs despite the language barrier.

    "When I would get on stage, I had so many words in my songs that people would find it hard to latch on to them," G. said in his Songfacts interview. "When we went home, we went to this surf camp and we played for the kids. I wanted to write a song with a really simple message that these kids and anybody around the world could latch into, and that phrase, 'Peace, Love and Happiness,' just jumped into my head."
  • G. Love gave his buddy Allen Jasper Thomas a writing credit on this song because Thomas had a song with the same title from years earlier. The songs are different, but G. Love thinks he may have subliminally taken the title, so sharing the credit was the karmically correct thing to do.

    G. and Thomas hung out in the early '90s when they were both playing the Boston area. Both ended up with record deals: G. with Epic and Thomas with Geffen as part of his group Jasper & The Prodigal Suns.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Brenda Russell

Brenda RussellSongwriter Interviews

Brenda talks about the inspiration that drove her to write hit songs like "Get Here" and "Piano in the Dark," and why a lack of formal music training can be a songwriter's best asset.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.