By Tom Quiner
Renown British novelist, Kingsley Amis, once drolly observed: “Nice things are nicer than nasty ones.” This obvious truth is belied by the radical replacement of the nice by the nasty in popular music. Which is why Pulse presses on with ‘The Greatest Love Songs Ever’ series. Number forty-eight on our list is the Beatle’s hit song, “And I Love Her.”
Why on earth have nice love songs like “And I Love Her” been replaced by nasty ones like “Love is Embarrassing” by Olivia Rodrigo?
The Claremont Institute’s Chairman, Thomas D. Klingenstein, explains:
“In order for any revolutionary regime to succeed, it must supplant not just the political order but the cultural order of the regime that preceded it … If we hope to defend and restore the American regime, and the West more broadly, we must reclaim both the moral and the aesthetic sensibilities on which they have long been founded.”
The decline began in the 90s
Pulse Life Advocates has tracked the beginning of the precipitous decline of aesthetic sensibilities in popular music to around 1994. That marked the entrance of the Roe v Wade generation into the world of popular songwriting.
This generation grew up in a milieu that degraded the sex act from an expression of mutual self-giving that produces something beautiful, a child, to one of self-taking that viewed the fruit of the sex act as an interloper to their pleasure, and in need of eradication when inconvenient.
These young songwriters weren’t much interested in writing love songs, and the output of love-themed arias dropped like a songbird in free fall. Their songs were increasingly characterized by an alarming degradation of the aesthetic sensibilities to which Mr. Klingenstein refers.
That leads us to the sweetness of one of Paul McCartney’s early hits. Written when he was but twenty-two, the song is a classic of the young-love genre. There’s nothing sophisticated about the lyric, because it’s all about that beautiful, first blush of love:
“I give her all my love, that’s all I do,
And if you saw my love, you’d love her, too.
I love her.”
Contrast these lyrics, written when McCartney was but twenty-two, with those of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Love Is Embarrassing,” written last year when she was twenty:
“An now it don’t mean a thing,
G*d, love’s f*&%ing embarrassin’,
Just watch as I crucify myself
For some weird second string
Loser who’s not worth mentioning.
My G*d, love’s embarrassing as hell.”
How sweet. Rodrigo and her mentor, Taylor Swift, specialize in break-up songs. Rodrigo, in particular, loves to be profane, which only dissipates any aesthetic sensibilities she hopes to bring to the table. Sadly, these ladies have more influence over our daughters and granddaughters than most parents do.
What a contrast to “And I Love Her.”
Writing credits attribute the song to both Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Lennon claims he wrote the middle section:
“A love like ours, could never die,
As long as I have you near me.”
But McCartney says Lennon only helped out on that section. Unlike his earlier entry to our list (#52, “Silly Love Songs”), “And I Love Her” has been recorded by a diverse group of singers over the decades, something that is unlikely to happen with Rodrigo’s “Love Is Embarrassing.”
Harry Connick Jr. sings “And I Love Her”
A choral arrangement of “And I Love Her”
Pulse believes that love songs are important to softening the hearts of a hardened culture. We’ll be back next week with a wildly popular love song written by a song writing team you’ve probably never heard of. But you’ll certainly know this song and the singer who took it to #2 on the Billboard charts.
Thanks for checking in to this week’s installment of the 52 Greatest Love Songs ever. We’re counting down these songs a week at a time to spread a little love. Love is the greatest antidote to abortion, so be sure to encourage your friends to subscribe to our blog.
[If you like this blogpost, be sure to share it. Then donate to help spread pro-life love.]
By TOM QUINER
As far as I’m concerned, there are three types of religious movies:
- Biblical/Religious narratives.
- Movies about faith and inspiration.
- Movies that aren’t about faith and inspiration, but really are, without coming right out and saying it.
The weakest of these categories tend to be #2. Sometimes Christian movie makers try so hard that they forget about artistry and storytelling in their zeal to pound a message into your skull. In fact, there are not one of these in the list that follows (although some made my list in previous years, such as “The Case For Christ”).
On the other hand, Category #3 has produced some great films that invoke Judeo/Christian themes without being about religion. These film makers focus on the story first and foremost. A classic of the genre would be “Grand Torino” listed below.
I’m a sucker for category #1. I love a good Biblical epic. Some are clunkers, such as Netflix’s “Mary,” which I wrote about a few months ago, or the 2014 movie, “Son of God.” But the ones on my list below are solid gold.
I try to mix the list up a little bit every year. As a result, you’ll find five new entries this year. Some will surprise you. It’s possible you’ll even be scornful of a pic or two. That’s what’s fun about this blogpost. Different films move different people in different ways.
Some of the films address themes especially relevant to this age, exploring them with wildly different artistic approaches.
Ultimately, good artists, regardless of the genre, draw us closer to the good, the true, and the beautiful. And the movies are special, as they combine light and sound, a combination that is irresistible in the hands of a good director. What an art form for drawing us deeper into our faith this Lent!
Put the popcorn on. It’s showtime!
Top Ten Religious Movies for Lent 2025
#10. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. This isn’t the Jim Caviesel version from 2002, although I loved that one, too. This beautiful, new adaption (2024) comes to us from France, starring Pierre Niney as the Count of Monte Cristo. It’s three hours long, but it didn’t seem like it. The story is that good. The casting is spot on. The script is outstanding, as is the soundtrack. It’s subtitled, which might deter some readers. But I think it’s worth it, as the story explores man’s primal impulse for revenge verses God’s will for forgiveness. Frankly, most viewers are probably cheering for revenge as the film progresses. Christianity’s call for justice and mercy often seems to pit these two virtues against each other. This film will hold you in its grip to the very last minute as you weigh the ethical implications of the Count’s actions.
#9: HOUSE OF DAVID. King David is one of the coolest guys in the Old Testament. Shepherd boy. Musician. Hero. Renegade. King. Sinner. Try plotting his life on a graph. Talk about ups and downs!
Amazon Prime Video released an 8-episode series on the young David called “House of David.” It’s kind of like an Old Testament version of “The Chosen.” And I mean that in a totally positive way. My wife and I are loving the series.
As of this writing, only 4 episodes have been released. My understanding is that the series ends with David’s battle with Goliath, a scene with which we are teased at the outset of episode one.
The series fills out the Davidic story taking artistic license with details not revealed in sacred scripture without compromising the message.
Casting, scripting, direction, and sets are all outstanding, as is the Greek landscape that serves as the backdrop. Why do I recommend House of David? Because God is at the center of the story, and the story is packed with action.
Our faith is dynamic. House of David reveals just how dynamic. God chooses an unlikely young man to lead Israel to greatness and conquer its enemies. Why did God choose David? Because God looked beyond outward appearance and saw a passionate heart. God likes passion. As the Book of Revelations (3:16) says:
“So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
House of David tracks the life of a passionate young man on the cusp of changing the world. Here it is, 3000 years later, and we’re still talking about him!
#8: POLLYANNA. “Don’t be a Pollyanna!” is a slur that’s been around the block for over six decades. It kind of suggests that a Pollyanna is a person who incessantly promotes an unreachable level of syrupy happiness. How unfair to this marvelous lass, as portrayed by Hayley Mills in the 1960 Disney Film by the same name!
One of the joys of being a grandparent is revisiting these old movies. This a family film about a girl around twelve years of age whose parents have died. She is sent to live with her stern aunt in her attic bedroom. Despite the bad breaks life presents to Pollyanna, she always looks at the bright side of life.
Her late father had taught a game called “The Glad Game.” Here’s how it works: when life gets you down, think of something that makes you glad. Thanks to Pollyanna, the game spreads like wildfire, raising the happiness quotient in the entire town.
It makes me think of Dennis Prager’s book, “Happiness is a Serious Problem.” His thesis: each of us has a moral responsibility to be happy, because of the impact happiness has on others. Perhaps Prager viewed Pollyanna before writing his book! Says Prager:
“We do not enjoy being around others who are usually unhappy … In general, people act more decently when they are happy.”
This movie has so many great scenes. But let me tempt you with Karl Malden’s, as the town’s preacher (below), delivering a fire and brimstone sermon for the ages. Watch Pollyanna’s expression. Watch the entire movie to see how she melts the heart of his character, the reverend Paul Ford. “Pollyanna” makes you feel better about life. In fact, it reminds you that ‘life is beautiful.’ A nice thought to remember in a culture saturated with abortion.
#7: LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. This achingly wonderful film is relevant more than ever in light of the growing anti-semitism among American youth since the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023.
“Life Is Beautiful” tells the tale of Guido, an Italian-Jewish waiter in 1944 who is forced into a Nazi concentration camp along with his young son, Giosuè.
Robert Benigni co-wrote the script, directed the film, and portrays Guido.
In the camp, rather than playing “The Glad Game”, as Pollyanna does, Guido plays an imagination game with young Giosué to protect him from the reality of their dire situation. And dire it is.
There is something so profoundly moving in the father’s brilliant attempts to transform an horrific situation into one of beauty and grace. I dare you to maintain dry eyes at the film’s conclusion.
Everything you need to know about “Life Is Beautiful” is summed up in the title.
Everything you need to know about your life … or your dad’s life … or that of an unborn son … is summed up in the title. Even though life has its ups and downs (see the Count of Monte Christo; Pollyanna; and House of David above) God is in the midst of everything, whether we know it or not. [This movie is subtitled.]
#6: WILDCAT. This is a wonderfully weird film. It’s a unique telling of the life and literature of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Try reading some of her short stories. They’re weird. They suck you in with their exploration of unlikeable people who create situations so grotesque that they make you gasp. Her genre is called Southern Gothic. She wrote 31 short stories and two novels in a career cut short by an early death at thirty-nine due to Lupus. Bishop Robert Barron is a big fan of Flannery. He writes:
“Flannery O’Connor’s influence on contemporary culture, particularly literature and film, is profound. Her novels and short stories have been described as shocking, convoluted, funny, and violent, and they are filled with unforgettably strange characters. But they are also, from beginning to end, haunted by Christ. O’Connor radically changes our idea of what religious fiction can be. Her startling prose awakens us to sin and, consequently, to the need for salvation.”
Ethan Hawke (director and co-writer) collaborates with his daughter, Maya Hawke (who portrays Flannery), in fusing O’Connor’s life and characters from her writings into a single story. So Maya Hawke not only plays Flannery, she plays characters from stories to suck you into “an inquiry into the broken nature of grace.”
You may recall that one of O’Connor’s lasting quotes took place at a dinner party she attended. There, some snooty literary types denigrated Catholic’s belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, suggesting it is only a symbol, at best. To which O’Connor sniffs:
“If it’s only a symbol, to hell with it.”
The Eucharist was at the core of who Flannery O’Connor was. This scene is beautifully presented in Wildcat.
As a side note, the Georgia-born writer had an Iowa connection. She attended the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1945.
Fr. Damian Ference, writing at Word On Fire, said:
“I am convinced the primary reason Flannery O’Connor was so serious about her Catholic faith is that it was the one place where she experienced being seen and understood and loved; it was the one place in which she felt that she fit—that she belonged, because at the center of Catholicism is a crucified misfit. If Jesus is God, and if he was like us in all things but sin, including suffering and death, and then rising from the dead, well, then that means that O’Connor’s suffering can be redemptive too. It means that life is worth living and that the struggle is worth it and that somehow grace will break through even and especially when the pain and heartache is severe.”
Watch Wildcat this Lent. There’s no other film like it on this list.
#5: GRAN TORINO: Surprised to see a Clint Eastwood movie on the list? No one less than Bishop Robert Barron called Gran Torino “one of the great presentations of the Christ story.” Eastwood, who directed and starred, portrays grouchy Walt Kowalski, an old geezer whose wife just died. His kids want to move him into an old folks home. His working class neighborhood in Detroit is getting dangerous as gangs move in. Walt is a cantankerous, racist s.o.b. who hides his decency under the surface. He’s a heroic figure who uses violence to ward off violence directed at his Laotian neighbors … until he realizes it’s just not working. Violence begets violence. I really don’t want to say much more, because you need to see this film if you haven’t. Be warned that there’s violence and there’s no shortage of profanity. Suffice it to say, Bishop Barron said it was one of the best examples of what the church fathers called the “Christus Victor Theory.” Watch it.
#4: THE PASSION of the CHRIST. This was more than a movie, it was an event that either united or divided people, much like Christ Himself. Mel Gibson’s movie was controversial. The violence is grotesque. It is not a fun movie to watch. I have seen it thrice, and I will see it again … someday. Jim Caviezel was perfect as Jesus. The movie is important because it gives modern man an inkling of what Christ did for us. I heard Fr. John Riccardo once say about Christ’s crucifixion: “If this is the cure, can you imagine the disease?” This movie forces us to think about that question seriously. The scene of Christ’s scourging is horrendous. Do you know why He was lashed 39 times? Because 40 was considered “death” by the Romans. It was unsurvivable. I would recommend the edited version with some of the violence excised. After watching this film, fall to your knees and thank Christ for what He did for us.
#3: HACKSAW RIDGE. Courage and conviction are in short supply these days. So when a movie comes along about a man who stood up for his religious convictions regardless of the cost, it’s worth checking out. I finally got around to watching Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge this year (it came out in 2016). The movie marked his return to directing after a ten year hiatus. Gibson knows how to tell a story. Hacksaw Ridge tells the story of Desmond Doss, a simple man from Lynchburg, Virginia, who enlists when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He had a catch: not only would he not use a rifle, he would not even carry one. Although the ‘cancel culture’ didn’t exist in the 1940s, Doss felt the brunt of the military establishment who attempted to ‘cancel’ him via a court martial. They failed. He went on to become an invaluable member of his unit as a medic, rescuing some 75 soldiers at the brutal battle of Okinawa. His courage was contagious. Following a particularly brutal attack, Doss was wounded and exhausted after saving countless of his fellow soldiers. It was a miracle he was still alive. The soldiers were once again called to battle (the entire campaign lasted 83 days). The soldiers wouldn’t go unless Doss was with them. The commanding officer said to Doss: “These men don’t believe the same way you do. But they believe so much in how much you believe. They want a piece of it. They’re not going up there without you.” The moral: courage is contagious.
#2: JESUS of NAZARETH. This film is an epic work of cinematic craftsmanship. Robert Powell is an extraordinarily effective Jesus. It was originally broadcast as a 382 minute mini series on television in 1977. Every single minute of this film is worth it. Nothing is wasted. Director Franco Zeffirelli has created an artistic masterpiece. He is true to the Gospels and creates an ancient Holy Land that seems real to modern man. His presentation of Jesus’ telling of the Prodigal Son is a work of genius, surely inspired by the Holy Spirit! Interestingly, one of the writers was Anthony Burgess, also the author of “A Clockwork Orange.” What a cast. Each star was at the top of their game. In addition to Mr. Powell, James Farantino was a Peter for the ages. Ian McShane was a complex Judas whose motivations are slowly revealed in his deft political maneuverings. Olivia Hussey as the Virgin Mary, and Anne Bancroft as Mary Magdalene both shine. The list is endless: Christopher Plummer fleshes out the human weakness of Herod Antipas. You can’t stand him in the end. And James Mason brings Joseph of Arimathea to life. The conversation he has with Jesus about the idea of being “born again” draws you irresistibly into the essence of the Gospels. That’s why this film is so good. You feel like you’re walking right alongside of Jesus. Everything seems so authentic.
#1: THE CHOSEN: Not a movie, but rather the first original TV series about Jesus Christ. Four seasons are completed, and the fifth season will be released to theaters in weeks. Two more seasons are planned. What’s interesting is that this was made outside of the Hollywood system. It was financed via crowd funding. The writers let us get to know Jesus through the eyes of key players from scripture: His disciples, Mary Magdalene, even little children. You can watch the first four seasons free on The Chosen app. They claim over 770 million views so far! Like most of the Biblical movies mentioned above, the creators of “The Chosen” have taken some respectful artistic license with the series. Most notably, the dialogue is somewhat modernized. It works for me, but not everyone. The sound track is modern and hip. But the writing and story telling are simply outstanding, presenting the story of Jesus in a fresh new way, drawing millions of people into the faith. My personal favorite episode is titled “Matthew 4:24.” It is brilliant.
Season 5 will be in theaters on March 28th. Watch the trailer (below).
Those are my picks. What are yours? Please let me know. I want to watch some great, new faith-filled films this Lent, starting today. So let me know your favorites right away in the comment box below!
[Tom Quiner is board president of Pulse Life Advocates. If you enjoyed this essay, be sure to subscribe to our blog. Every donation helps us expand our reach!]
Photo licensed from Alamy.
Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) held a silly little placard (above) at the President’s address to Congress last week. It said, “This is not normal.” She has a point. Normalcy has changed.
On the Republican side, they talked a good game on the abortion issue for decades, but nothing would change at the federal level. Suddenly, it all changed thanks to the efforts of the 45th president of the United States, a Republican. He appointed good judges to the Supreme Court who overturned the ridiculous Roe v Wade decision that imposed human abortion on this country.
Republicans following through on their promises isn’t very normal. But it’s a good thing.
Republicans wailed and gnashed their teeth over our broken border and bloated bureaucracy for decades. Suddenly, the 47th President (the same guy as the 45th President!), a Republican, has actually fixed it. In six weeks! And at the same time, he’s whittling away at the bureaucratic behemoth through an innovative tool he invented called DOGE.
Again, Republicans following through on their promises isn’t very normal. But it’s a good thing.
Stranger yet, this 47th President doesn’t cower in the face of Hitler, Nazi, racist, homophobic, and transphobic slurs hurled at him on an hourly basis for a solid decade by his political enemies. Typical Republicans collapse at even a whiff of disapproval from legacy media types. Not this guy.
Is this the new normal for Republicans?
The other side of the aisle
The Democratic side presents a different picture. Their brand was built on ‘looking out for the little guy’ (if you don’t count the slaves). But they really began to define normalcy down in the 1970s.
In the 80s, Jimmy Carter said,
“When I was president, I announced and I still maintain that I can live with Roe v Wade.”
In the 90s, Bill Clinton said,
“Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.”
Then in the 00s and 10s, Barack Obama said,
“No one is pro-abortion.”
And in the 20s, Joe Biden said he’s …
“not big on abortion … but Roe got it right.”
The reality of Roe v Wade
And what did Roe actually get right? It stripped away pro-life laws on the books in all 50 states, essentially (along with the companion Doe v Bolton decision) allowing unfettered abortion.
In other words, the reality of these decisions, praised by the former Democratic presidents quoted above, had nothing to do with making abortion rare, it made it common. It unleashed a hellish cycle of carnage that has killed fifty-four times as many unborn American babies as all of our wars combined, 65 million aborted babies vs 1.2 million soldiers killed in our wars.
Killing off our posterity isn’t normal. At least it didn’t use to be. In fact, the Constitution calls on us to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves AND our Posterity” (emphasis added). Abortion kills liberty.
Abortion has ‘defined normalcy down’, to play off of the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s 1993 Time Magazine essay, “Defining Deviancy Down.”
In the essay, he wrote:
“By defining what is deviant, we are enabled to know what is not, and hence to live by shared standards.”
Simply substitute “abnormal” for “deviant.” It’s the same thing.
Abortion shredded shared standards
Whereas the Democratic Party once said “no one likes abortion,” now they proclaim you should “shout your abortion.”
That’s not normal.
Elected Democrats are adamant that abortion be allowed even in the second or third trimester, even though six out ten rank and file Democratic voters disagree. These leaders don’t even have shared standards with their own constituency.
That’s not normal.
They insist taxpayers should fund abortion at home and abroad. They insist Catholic doctors and nurses and other people of faith perform abortions in violation of their religious convictions at the risk of being sued or fired.
That’s not normal.
They even insist, and have changed state laws when they have large enough majorities, to allow babies to die that survived their abortions.
That’s not only not normal, it is the epitome of evil and cruelty.
Weirdness
The party’s weirdness was on full display last week when President Trump addressed Congress. Democrats didn’t even have the heart to clap for a thirteen year old boy to whom the president bestowed an honorary membership in the Secret Service. The boy is a cancer survivor. He’s had his brain operated on not once, not twice, but thirteen times.
The only people in America who weren’t wiping away the tears at that moment were the leaders of the Democratic Party sitting stone-faced as their despised President made the lad’s dreams come true.
Normalcy has been defined down since the Roe v Wade decision corrupted the ‘party of the little guy.’
Apparently, it is now the Republicans who are the party of the little guy.
[Fight back against the deviance spread by abortion. Support the pro-life group making a difference. Donate now.]
By Tom Quiner
I experienced a magical moment at the Chris Botti jazz concert at Hoyt Sherman last night. The jazz trumpeter played Ennio Morricone’s tender piece, “Deborah’s Theme,” from the 1984 gangster film, “Once Upon a Time in America.” Seldom have I seen an audience as riveted as they were hearing this haunting piece.
The ache of a love lost because of one’s own brutish actions is almost unbearable to handle in 171 seconds of exquisite melodic beauty. The audience had tears in their eyes and lumps in their throats without a single word being sung. That is the power of music.
I have not included this piece in my countdown of the “52 Greatest Love Songs Ever,” simply because that list focuses on songs with lyrics. But “Deborah’s Theme” needs recognition for its ability to conjure up such intense emotion with relatively few notes.
Before you take a listen, a few observations.
Film composers often write a piece of music that assigns a theme or riff to a particular character. John Williams and Ennio Morricone are about as good as it gets when it comes to composing these wonderful melodies for film.
Deborah’s Theme focuses on a gangster, ‘David Noodles’ (portrayed by Robert De Niro), who loved a beautiful girl in his youth, and who violently blew the relationship.
He regrets his actions the rest of his life. Deborah’s Theme almost magically expresses the intense feelings of longing, nostalgia, and regret associated with a lost love.
Ennio Morricone conducts Deborah’s Theme
The title of the piece is boring. And yet it got me thinking: do we each have our own unique theme in heaven?
We know there’s music in heaven. Angels and man sing God’s praises according to the Book of Revelations. There’s even trumpet music. (I’d be curious to know how they handle time signatures in heaven!)
We know we’re assigned a new, unique name in heaven, again according to Revelation (2:17 and 3:12).
How about our own unique theme song? Why not, especially with the likes of a the late, great Catholic composer, Ennio Morricone, who most probably resides in heaven as I type this!
And if we have our own theme, WHEN is it assigned? Surely at the instant of fertilization. And if you think of it in that light, how, in the name of God could we allow abortion, which silences the music of a unique creation of God? Heaven will hear it, but the world won’t.
So, take a listen to Deborah’s Theme. It tells a story of a life and a love in less than three heart-wrenching minutes. The album version featuring Chris Botti is at the top of the page.
Deborah’s Theme with scene from “Once Upon a Time In America”
Thank-you, Ennio Morricone. Thank-you, Chris Botti, for your performance of this work of beauty. You are two of the greats.
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By Tom Quiner
Seldom has a love song gotten more bang for the buck out of its spare lyric. Irving Gordon wrote”Unforgettable” in 1951 with two brief verses and a terse refrain. But when you put the lyrics and music together, you can’t help but be awestruck by how much emotion can be conveyed in such few words.
Nat King Cole’s version is the one that made the biggest mark, despite the best efforts of dozens of competing artists who have covered it over the decades. Let’s face it, Cole’s silky voice is one-of-a-kind. Even more, the song benefits from a tasteful arrangement by the ‘unforgettable’ Nelson Riddle. [Riddle’s handiwork will be heard in more of our explorations of the ‘Greatest Love Songs Ever.]
It reached #14 on Billboard’s Best Selling Pop Singles chart in the U.S. And the Grammy’s inducted Cole’s recording of “Unforgettable” into its Hall of Fame in 2000.
What is it that makes this song so moving? Is it just Nat’s singing style? No, it’s more than that. I think the second verse touches upon something deep in our soul:
“That’s why, darling, it’s incredible,
That someone so unforgettable
Thinks that I am unforgettable, too.
Michael Bublé recorded the song a few year’s ago, and it’s a beauty!
Michael Bublé sings “Unforgettable”
Each one us wants to love someone and be loved in return. This is a song for couples in the courtship stage of their relationship. What a great time of life that can be! What a great time to listen to a song like Irving Gordon’s masterpiece.
Forty years after Cole recorded “Unforgettable,” his daughter, Natalie, recorded a ‘virtual duet’ allowing her to sing with her dad, who died when she was a child, using his recording from 1951 with a new, updated arrangement (below).
The public loved it, boosting it to number three on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
Natalie Cole sings “Unforgettable” with her dad
Thanks for checking in for this week’s installment of the 52 Greatest Love Songs ever. We’re counting down these songs a week at a time to spread a little love. Love is the greatest antidote to abortion, so be sure to encourage your friends to subscribe to our blog.
Next week, we’ll look at lovely song written by some British lads.
[If you like this blogpost, be sure to share it. Then donate to help spread pro-life love.]
New York Times best-selling author, psychologist, and doctor, Leonard Sax, spoke at the first annual Forge Conference last Saturday in downtown Des Moines. He presented a sobering picture of the unhappy state of girls and young women in the U.S., as well as practical ways to do something about it.
Dr. Sax plunges the depths of the subject in the revised second edition of his book, “Girls on the Edge;” the second edition of “Why Gender Matters;” and “The Collapse of Parenting.”
He highlighted the issues at the conference, beginning with something most of us have observed: compared to previous generations, teenage girls are more anxious today. They are more likely to suffer from eating disorders and abuse alcohol. They are more likely to cut themselves, a practice know as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Overall, they are depressed.
Dr. Sax provided links to scholarly research, such as the Teen Mental Health Review, which shows these depressive pathologies began to skyrocket around 2011.
What changed?
The big question is why? Clearly, something changed fourteen years ago. What was it that led to this unhappy state of girls?
Instagram. The app launched in 2010, and data shows rapid upticks in the pathologies described above within a few years. Smart phones expanded the reach of Instagram to vulnerable teenage girls, who were increasingly sexualized by social media influences.
Dr. Sax referred to scholars on this subject, Susan Herring and Sanja Kapidzic, who concluded:
“In their visual presentations girls most often choose pictures that indicate a desire to appear attractive and sexually appealing.”
What can go wrong with too much social media and sexualized content?
- Lack of parental control
- Risky behavior, such as sexting and cyberbullying
- Exposure to inappropriate content
- Lack of privacy
The question is: how much social media time should parents allow their daughters each day? Dr. Sax said the answer USED to be 30 minutes or less per day. Bad outcomes kick in at about 40 minutes per day, according to research published in the Psychiatric Quarterly in June 2019.
In the intervening six years since that research was published, TikTok entered the social media milieu with profound impact.
In a piece published with the Institute for Family Studies, Dr. Sax explains that the TikTok algorithm is so intuitive that young people say it’s as if “TikTok can read my mind.” Or … “Tik Tok knew I was bisexual before I did.”
In other words, as the headline suggests, TikTok influences behavior in ways that aren’t always healthy, as Dr. Sax points out.
So what should parents do?
Dr. Sax suggests:
- Take time to have frank conversations with your daughters about the dangers of TikTok (and all social media). These platforms are not necessarily good authorities.
- Do not allow children under thirteen to use social media.
- Limit exposure to 30 minutes per or less for Instagram, and ten to fifteen minutes per day for TikTok.
- Install monitoring apps. Click some of the links above for more detail on various apps. Be aware that kids are smart. Some set up two TikTok accounts: one that their parents monitor, and another without parental oversight. Can parental oversight be a lot of work? Yes, but the health of your children is worth it.
Ultimately, Dr. Sax says that strong bonds across generations are priceless to raising healthy, happy children. Boys need a community of men just as girls need a community of women: moms, grandmas, great grandmas, aunts, family friends. We live in a culture of disrespect and intergenerational bonds help to cultivate respect. They help to avoid and overcome the unhappy state of girls.
Why some women are happier than others
In writing this piece, we ran across a recent study, also reported on in the Institute of Family Studies, which shows a happiness gap based on ideological difference in women. The study says:
“We found that 37% of conservative women reported being “completely satisfied” with life, whereas only 12% of liberal women did. Young conservative women are three times as likely to report being very satisfied with life compared to young liberal women. Moreover, liberal women are two to three times more likely to report they are “not satisfied” with their lives, compared to conservative women. And consistent with previous research, the effect of ideology on young women’s happiness held up to controls for age, education, race, and income.”
Social psychologists like Jonathan Haidt blame the divide on “technologically-induced negative thinking.” We’ve written on the devastating impact that climate hysteria has had on young women, which affects liberal women more than conservative ones.
Another difference
The Institute of Family Studies found another difference which explains half the happiness gap between liberal and conservative women. Conservative women are more likely to be married and attend church services.
This blog has written on the physical and mental health advantages of marriage, so the Institute’s interpretation makes sense.
But there’s more to the story
What defines the ideological difference between liberal and conservative women? Gratitude vs ingratitude.
Liberal American women are likely to be believe that their country is systemically racist and broken, one that should be thrown out and rebuilt in their image. They are ungrateful for the prosperity they enjoy, when compared to other countries.
Conservative women are more likely to be grateful for their freedoms, their prosperity, and their security. They’re more likely embrace the national creed of God-given fundamental rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Liberal women are more likely to embrace a secular creed of Choice, Equality, and Pursuit of Lifestyle Choice, a value system often at odds with the Judeo-Christian values from which happiness flows.
Conservative radio talk show host, Dennis Prager, wrote a delightful little book in 1998 titled, “Happiness is a Serious Problem.” He wrote:
“Yes, there is a secret to happiness, and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person.”
Perhaps this explains at least a little bit of the unhappy state of girls and women.
Check out the links in this blogpost for a deeper dive into the wisdom Dr. Leonard Sax offers when it comes to raising your families. His books are a goldmine of sound insights to dealing with this toxic culture.
[Help fund our new pro-life scholarship fund. Donate today.]
By Tom Quiner
“Don’t know why, There’s no sun up in the sky, Stormy weather, Since my man and I ain’t together, Keeps raining all the time.”
These are some of the most memorable opening lyrics to a love song I’ve ever heard. When you take these words, written by Ted Koehler, and add in Harold Arlen’s extraordinary music, you have a song that unveils the dark side of love. Sometimes love is unrequited. You love someone, but he or she does’t love you back.
Or sometimes someone you love seems to love you back, but then they leave the relationship, leaving you with a broken heart. Love is a risky proposition, and it seems an increasing number of young people don’t want to take the risk anymore. (Marriage rates have plunged from 8.2 marriages per one-thousand people in 2000 to 6.2 marriages per thousand in 2022.)
The torch song
As you can see, my list of the ‘Top 52 Love Songs Ever’ includes songs that explore the pain that love can bring to our lives. This is a sub-genre called the Torch Song. They explore the agony of lost love. Stormy Weather is a classic of the genre.
Arlen and Koehler wrote the song in 1933, and it’s been covered by a who’s who of great artists ever since, including Lena Horne (above), Frank Sinatra, and Etta James. The song was so good that MGM did a whole movie with the same title a decade later, featuring the song halfway in.
Sinatra sings “Stormy Weather”
As is almost always the case in these classic love songs, the lyrics are solid gold, plumbing the complex depths of what it means to be human and to love. God made us to love, because God IS love, and we’re made in His image. So this blog’s encouragement to young readers is simple: love is worth the risk.
Yes, sometimes we get hurt, as “Stormy Weather” presents with such aching honesty. New York chanteuse, Nellybombs, offers a stripped down bluesy version, backed by only guitar, showcasing how a great song holds up regardless of the arrangement:
Nellybombs sings “Stormy Weather”
I can’t help but think of the scripture passage where a furious storm descends upon the Disciples in their boat while Jesus sleeps (Matthew 8:23-27). Life is like that. Storms hit us. It might be a broken relationship; a death or illness; or a crisis pregnancy.
In those moments, we do the same thing the Disciples did, we cry out “Lord, save us!” (Pulse has rich resources on this website for women in crisis pregnancies. Please check them out.)
Next week, we’ll take a look at a timeless classic that was a hit song for a dad, and then again for his daughter four decades later. Pulse Life Advocates believes that love songs are an antidote for the culture of death. So keep checking back. The songs keep getting better!
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The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced that two more babies were saved thanks to the Safe Haven Law. HHS Communications Director, Alex Murphy, sent out the following press release:
Two Baby Girls Declared Safe Haven in February
(Des Moines, IA) – Through the Safe Haven Law, a baby girl, born February 8, and a baby girl, born February 12, are now in the care and custody of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and will be placed with foster families until permanent placement is determined. This brings the overall total to 76 infants since the law went into effect more than two decades ago.
Iowa’s Safe Haven Act is an option for parents in crisis who determine they cannot care for an infant up to 90 days old. Designated safe havens are locations like hospitals and police and fire stations. Iowa HHS then works to place infants in an approved foster home while awaiting permanent adoption.
If you are interested in becoming a foster parent or adopting a child, visit https://iowafosterandadoption.org/ to learn more about becoming an approved foster or adoptive family. For more information on Iowa’s Safe Haven, visit https://hhs.iowa.gov/programs/CPS/safe-haven.
By Tom Quiner
Some say it is ‘impossible’ to end abortion. I say all it takes is love. And love songs are a cultural antidote to what ails us. That’s why Pulse Life Advocates dips its toe into the arts and culture, such as sponsoring this blog series, “Greatest Love Songs Ever.”
We plan on counting down the top 52 love songs over the next year. Number fifty-one on our list is “Impossible.”
A couple dozen love songs have been composed over the years with the title, “Impossible.” One stands out, the version penned by the 20th century renaissance man, Steve Allen.
The talented Mr. Allen
Younger readers may not be familiar with the talented Mr. Allen. He was the co-creator and host of the iconic Tonight Show, which airs to this day, hosted by Jimmy Fallon (and previously hosted by Johnny Carson and Jay Leno). Allen was an amazing talent: comedian; radio personality; writer; actor; pianist; and even a prolific songwriter.
His PBS television show, Meeting of Minds, was the inspiration for two of the plays I wrote and produced (The Guy Agnostico Show and A Clash of Creeds).
Released in 1956, “Impossible” offers the perfect blend of a lilting melody with lyrics that drip with romance, both written by Allen. The songs opens with these lovely lines:
“If they had ever told me how sweet a kiss could be,
I would have said, “Impossible, impossible for me.”
And if they said, I’d find you beyond the rainbow’s end,
I would have said, “Impossible, impossible, my friend.”
The song is beautifully crafted by a songwriting pro who knows how to tug at your heartstrings. This song certainly does it to me. Take a listen to the quintessential interpretation of the song by the legendary Nat King Cole (above).
Susan Raney’s cover song of Impossible
Here’s Steve Allen’s piano solo of “Impossible”
“This Could Be the Start of Something Big”
Perhaps his best known song was, “This Could Be The Start of Something Big,” a song certainly worthy of this list. Take a listen:
Nonetheless, I like “Impossible” better, because just about everyone would like to find the kind of love expressed in this song. Sadly, too many feel love is out of their reach, an impossibility. This song ends by letting us know that there is hope, that in fact, beautiful life-changing love is very much a reality.
For those of us praying for our unborn brothers and sisters, and who sometimes get discouraged and fret that an end to abortion is ‘impossible,’ this song encourages us to keep plugging. It reminds us that not only is love worth fighting for, it is very much within reach, just as end to abortion is within reach.
God is Love, and nothing is impossible with Him.
Next week, we look at a ‘torch’ song, a subset of love songs. It’s an iconic gut-wrencher! See you then.
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By Tom Quiner
On a recent trip to Angola last December, President Biden suggested that the issue of slave reparations deserves further study. Just last week, House Democrats reintroduced a bill calling for reparations for descendants from slaves. Last summer, I attended the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis at which the co-host of EWTN’s Morning Glory show, Gloria Purvis, suggested the same thing. (You may recall that Ms. Purvis was the keynote speaker at the Pulse Christmas Gala a few years ago.) Let me make the case for reparations, although it might not be what you think.
Slavery
Here is the challenge: no one living today was a slave holder. Nor were their parents or even grandparents. Probably not even their great, great grandparents.
Take my great, great grandfather, Joseph Carpenter Quiner. He was born in 1834. He enlisted as a Union solider in the Civil War, serving in Company B, 16th Infantry Regiment in Wisconsin. He died in Tennessee on April 28, 1862 as a result of wounds suffered in the Battle of Shiloh. This was one of the bloodiest battles in the war, with 24,000 casualties on both sides.
Why were they fighting? Great, great, Grandpa Quiner was fighting to free the slaves. He died for his efforts.
We can’t duck the political element of this pox on our Democracy. One party, the Democrats, supported slavery. The other side, the Republicans opposed.
You can see the dilemma. Why should the heirs of those who died in battle fighting to free the slaves pay reparations some 162 years latter?
The Democrats in the South felt so strongly about their position that they sacrificed the lives of some 490,309 young soldiers who died in their fight to preserve slavery.
The Republicans in the North felt so strongly that slavery was evil that they sacrificed 590,670 young soldiers, including my great, great, Grandpa Quiner, in the name of restoring our citizens’ fundamental right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
If reparations are a good idea, they should be paid by the oppressors, not the liberators.
Eugenics
As the U.S. grappled with the aftermath of the Civil War, the 20th century presented the country with another racist and toxic ideology: eugenics. Eugenics was a movement to “improve human heredity by the social control of human breeding.” One of the movement’s biggest proponents was Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger.
The progressives pushing eugenics found a home in the Democratic Party. They had a particularly noxious view of the Black race, as expressed by their leader, Richard T. Ely, who taught at Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin:
“Negroes, are for the most part, grownup children, and should be treated as such.”
The progressive movement viewed these former slaves as “inferior” and “unemployable.”
Ms. Sanger explained her views about eugenics in the New York Times April 8th, 1923 edition:
“It means the release and cultivation of the better racial elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extirpation (destruction) of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”
Sanger launched the “Negro Project” in 1939, an outreach intended to control and limit America’s Black population.
The Sanger legacy grew within the Democratic Party with the founding of Planned Parenthood. The prestigious Margaret Sanger Award went to a number of luminaries of the Democratic Party, including former president Lyndon Johnson, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi.
In 2015 in acknowledgement of Sanger’s racist legacy, Planned Parenthood of New York distanced themselves from their founder and expunged her name from their clinic.
Abortion
With the Roe v Wade decision in 1973, Planned Parenthood’s mission devolved from one aimed at family planning to one laser-focused on the more lucrative abortion model.
Generally, Democratic politicians have supported legal abortion while Republicans oppose it.
Democratic legislators have used their clout to give roughly a half billion dollars of taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood each year. The impact of abortion on the Black community has been catastrophic.
A thousand Black babies are aborted each day on average.
Black women get abortions at a rate 3.5 times higher than white women; 30% of all abortions are Black women even though they represent but 12.6% of the population.
Although the average Black woman averages 1.6 more pregnancies than White women, theirs are 5 times more likely to end in abortion.
Blacks’ share of the U.S. population is dropping as the Black birthrate has fallen well below replacement, largely due to abortion.
One party, the Democratic Party, not only supports abortion-on-demand, but even opposes ANY regulations on abortion, as we saw in the last election cycle, to the detriment of Black America.
The Great Society
Fast forward a hundred years from the Civil War. In an effort to redress past sins, Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, successfully launched an expansive (and expensive) social welfare program called The Great Society.
The Democratic Party had just won massive landslide victories in the 1964 election cycle, with a 259 to 176 seat advantage in the House, and a veto-proof 68 to 32 seat advantage in the Senate.
I’m amazed at how many younger people are unfamiliar with the term. The Great Society was a ‘war on poverty’ launched in 1965 to, in the words of President Johnson, “to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty.”
Today, this ‘war on poverty consists of 80 welfare programs with a historic price tag of $22 Trillion (with a capital T)! As the Heritage Foundation points out,
“Adjusted for inflation, this spending (which does not include Social Security or Medicare) is three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the American Revolution.”
The big question is: did it work?
Did this massive transfer of taxpayer’s money to erect a massive social safety net improve the lives of Black Americans? After all, around half of all Black families receive some sort of payment from one of these myriad Great Society programs.
According to the Heritage Foundation, the answer is no:
“… progress against poverty, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, has been minimal, and in terms of President Johnson’s main goal of reducing the “causes” rather than the mere “consequences” of poverty, the War on Poverty has failed completely. In fact, a significant portion of the population is now less capable of self-sufficiency than it was when the War on Poverty began.”
Why? Because too many programs replaced the father of the family with a welfare check. The out-of-wedlock rate for Black families skyrocketed from 24% at the time of the inception of the Great Society Programs to roughly 80% today. The fatherless home is the engine that drives social pathology, regardless of skin color.
When a Republican congress led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich attempted to moderate some of these counter-effective programs, Democrats pushed back hard. President Bill Clinton vetoed two such bills in 1996. A third bill finally got passed which placed work requirements and time limits on government benefits, reducing enrollment for dependency programs by 60 percent. According to the driving force of this bill, Newt Gingrich, incomes increased by 25 percent and childhood poverty dropped at a record pace.
When Democrats regained the White House, President Obama gutted the work requirement through a policy directive through the Department of Health and Human Services.
Slavery. Eugenics. Abortion. The Great Society. Each of these toxic ideas devastated the African-American community in terms of loss of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Black family is a shell of what it once was.
The wrong side of history
Each issue pitted Republicans against Democrats. And on each issue, Democrats came down on the wrong side of history, which brings us back to the issue of reparations.
IF honorable people believe that reparations are the honorable solution to the racial discord that has rocked our Republic since its inception, then honorable people should hand a promissory note to the political party that has opposed the rights of this country’s great African-American community every step of the way.
In that light, the case for reparations may not be that bad of an idea. I think great, great grandpa Quiner would agree.
[Tom Quiner is board president for Pulse Life Advocates. To support our pro-life outreach, donate NOW.]