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This year I’ve watched the British Top 40 regularly–haven’t listened to everything on it (do you think I’m nuts?) but an ambient sense of what’s going on is nice to have. Three weeks ago, on the Nov. 9 chart, there were ten new entries, most of them from usual suspects both worldwide (Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Leona Lewis, Christina Aguilera, T.I.) and local (The Script, Will Young). And then, at No. 30, was just about the last thing I figured I’d see in any 2008 chart: the Bellamy Brothers’ “Let Your Love Flow.”
A No. 1 in the U.S. in 1976–there’s something perfect about a song of such unguarded post-hippie optimism (”Let your love bind you to all living things”) hitting the top during the Bicentennial–and a No. 7 in England, this is one of the few three-decade staples of light-classics oldies radio that heavy rotation has only enhanced. It’s one of the most perfect country-pop crossover singles ever made. And it’s the star of a Barclaycard ad in the U.K., which accounts for its current chart success–No. 21 this week–and which is embedded below. The Bellamys may have played a Sarah Palin rally this fall, but it’s impossible to deny them a place in my heart for this song.
Let Your Love Flow [YouTube]
Barclaycard Waterslide [YouTube]
