Love Grows One by One

Words and music by Carol Johnson
©1981 Noeldner Music, BMI

I grew up performing with four sisters throughout my native Wisconsin. Later, I wrote songs profusely, as a ’60’s troubadour, a club entertainer, and as a voice for peace and justice. I found great joy in writing songs for my own two growing children, songs that were not only fun to sing, but that also taught important concepts: Be kind to one another, to the earth, and to all living things.

“Love Grows One by One” was written as a wedding gift for two extraordinary teachers at a small alternative school where my two children were enrolled. I “got” this song literally on the way to the wedding, having failed to find a gift I felt worthy of the couple. During the space between the wedding and the reception, I rounded up the children from the school, quietly shuffled them off to another room, taught them the song, came back to form a circle around Dave and Hildi, and surprised them with it.