Today’s song is ‘Love Me with All of Your Heart’. This is a popular song, based on the Spanish language song ’Cuando calienta el sol’. The music was written by Rafael Gaston Perez, a Nicaraguan songwriter and bandleader. The song was made famous first with Spanish lyrics written by the Los Hermanos Rigual. The English lyrics are sometimes credited to Michael Vaughn (or Maurice Vaughn) and sometimes to Sunny Skylar. The song was published in 1961. Although both the Spanish and the English versions are love songs, the lyrics are not translations of each other. The Spanish title translates as ‘When the sun heats (or warms) up’.
A version recorded by ‘The Ray Charles Singers’ went to Number 3 on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ and spent four weeks at Number 1 on the ‘Pop-Standard Singles Chart’ in June 1964. Karl Denver’s version also charted in the UK in 1964.
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The most memorable recording of this song for me was by the late Ken Dodd. ‘Doddy’ had an unforgettable face and in my memory bank, that face of his will forever be entwined with his beautiful rendition of ‘Love Me with All of Your Heart’. Both remain inseparable.
The words of the song say it all, ’Love me with all of your heart, that’s all I want, love. Love me with all of your heart or not at all’. Each of us who seek love hope to find it unadulterated, total and unqualified. Just as Ken Dodd gave every person who came to see him perform, their money’s worth by his three-hour shows, the words and message of this beautiful song also seek to ‘give all’.
I dedicate my song today to three groups of people and one special individual, Sally Codman from Huddersfield, whose birthday it is.
I dedicate my song today to every newly married couple starting out on their journey of life together. Please God, give them the insight to know in advance that their lifelong path will not always be smooth, but will be passable if they walk it hand in hand and side-by-side. Please God, give them the courage to occasionally step into the unknown by placing their trust in others. Give them the wisdom to know when they are being led up the garden path, and please God, give them the strength of conviction to discover the depth of their love for each other that is found only in the well of understanding, toleration and forgiveness.
I also dedicate my song today to every married couple who are still together after thirty year’s relationship and longer. By your example, the younger couples who get married today, can see that though waters are sometimes stormy in the sea of matrimony, they can be navigated by partners who trust each other, are sensitive to the needs of each other, communicate honestly with each other, and are prepared to understand, tolerate and forgive each other. They can see by your example that it is a wise character trait to know when to leave something unsaid, even if it means momentarily biting one’s tongue. They can see that stormy seas are best travelled facing the same choppy waters jointly, by doing the right things that need to be done ‘together’; and by following one’s marriage vows ‘For better or worse, in sickness and in health’ for the full voyage, instead of 'jumping ship' at their first port of call.
I also dedicate my song today to all those people who lost a marriage partner of theirs to fatal accident, suicide, a deliberate crime of violence, old age or terminal illness over the past twenty years. Society often forgets the quiet loneliness of the widow and widower, after a seemingly respectable gap of six months or a year has elapsed since Fred lost Fran or Fran lost Fred (or indeed, Fran and Fred lost their young child or grandchild). While the precise details relating to the death of one’s marriage partner naturally matters in the mind of the bereaved spouse, what really matters to them for the first couple of years is the sense of ‘loss’ in one’s life the bereaved person has to come to terms with.
Their health and happiness factors are invariably governed by their absence of that ‘get-up-and-go’ spirit. The bereaved person often experiences the daily sensations of an amputee; they feel the absence of a vital limb or body part, and the gap that is left void by a loss of meaningful companionship. No longer is there another person within earshot to console and place a concerning arm around you when you bang your head on the corner of the kitchen door you had left opened ‘yet again’. You even miss their mild reprimands and dark forbodings for ‘yet again’ leaving that cupboard door open and thereby awaiting an accident ‘in the making’.
After the first six months of bereavement, all your ‘good friends’ and close friendly neighbours who were forever visiting you at inconvenient times and popping their heads around your door as you were both planning to go out, suddenly stop bothering you altogether. It makes you feel like shouting out, “Hi, everyone out there. It’s Fred/ Fran here, on my own! Why don’t you visit anymore or pick up the phone? I’m still here, you know. It was Fred/Fran who died; not me!”
Of course, it will matter to how badly or even partially relieved the bereaved partner/person feels after the funeral. It matters whether it was old age, a freak accident, suicide, a deliberate violent act or a terminal illness that lead to the death of one’s loved one. It also matters if the person's death was sudden or half-expected, if they were in pain or not, and if in pain, how long it had to be endured before death? All these aspects of a person’s dying are important and will have some bearing on the degree of bereavement period required by the person left behind.
The final dedication of my song today is for my Facebook friend, Sally Codman from Huddersfield whose birthday it is. May your special day, Sally, be filled with all the love in the world and the lavish attention of your husband, Nigel, and your loving family; plus, lots of cake and wine also. Thank you for being my Facebook friend. Love and best wishes.Bill x
My good wishes, my deep respect and my commiserations go out to all three of these dedicated groups, plus, my good Facebook friend, Sally Codman. God bless you all. Bill x
Love and peace Bill xxx