“Let My Love Open the Door” by Pete Townshend
It would appear that the addressee of “Let My Love Open the Door” is someone who has developed a taboo to love or is currently under the impression that genuine romance is not part of her personal fate. Therefore, she is obviously reluctant to entertain the vocalist’s advances. So by instructing her to “let (his) love open the door”, that’s another way of Peter telling the addressee she should “give (him) a chance” to be her lover.
Indeed the way he sees it, she’s “lucky” to have someone like him in her life, a romantic interest who is not going to allow her to be ‘dragged down’ by depression, despite the fact that the addressee seems predispositioned towards adopting such an attitude.
Furthermore, he perceives himself as being the ‘cure to her problems’. So it reads as if the vocalist is truly smitten by the addressee and cares for her. He cares so much so that he’s not going to allow her to go through life as if no one is genuinely interested in hooking up with her.
Pete Townshend
Peter Townshend is one of the co-founders of The Who, a rock from 1960s’ London who are considered permanent A listers in the game. In the early 1970s he also embarked on a solo career that was met with some success, dropping seven studio albums between 1972 and 1993. The most successful of those efforts can be considered 1980’s “Empty Glass”, a project released on 21 April 1980. And it is this album that contains the song “Let My Love Open the Door”. Actually the song also served as one of the album’s singles, as deemed by Atco Records.
Facts about “Let My Love Open the Door”
“Let My Love Open the Door”, which peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, can also be considered one of Townshend’s most notable hits as a soloist.
This song was written by Townshend, with its producer being fellow Englishman Chris Thomas.
This song has been featured regularly in film, most notably in the comedy circuit. In fact it has appeared in a major-motion picture as recently as The Adam Project (2022), a science-fiction comedy starring Ryan Reynolds which just came out less than a week before the writing of this post.
But that does not mean that if you hear this song in a movie it will be the original version. Instead there is also what is known as E. Cola Mix (which came out in 1996) of “Let My Love Open the Door”. And that version has also been regularly utilized in pop media.
Roger Daltrey, another cofounder of The Who (who, along with Pete Townshend, is still holding the brand down to this day) dropped his own rendition of “Let My Love Open the Door” in 2016.
This song, despite its success and enduring popularity, is known not to be a personal favorite of Pete Townshend’s.
This song, according to Pete, is about spiritual love, not romantic love. I used to think the lyrics were creepy and problematic, but now I understand what he meant.
Townshend did intend it as a message about God’s love, but I think it works beautifully as a love song, as well. I don’t find it creepy, because there’s no indication that the subject doesn’t want him.
I think the author missed the boat on this one. The subject of the song doesn’t think love is taboo, but rather they “can’t seem to get enough.” The subject hungers for love and the singer is saying he can provide it for them, if they will have him. And they would in fact be “lucky” to have someone in their life who feels that way about them. Wouldn’t we all.