The Doobie Brothers

"Listen to the Music" is a song recorded by The Doobie Brothers on their second album Toulouse Street, released in 1972. It was written by Tom Johnston, the band's lead vocalist and guitarist. The song was their first big hit in 1972 and it remains a concert staple for the band. Johnston told Songfacts, that Listen To The Music "was all based around this somewhat Utopian view of the world. The idea was that music would lift man up to a higher plane, and that world leaders, if they were able to sit down on some big grassy knoll where the sun was shining and hear music - such as the type I was playing - would figure out that everybody had more in common than they had not in common, and it was certainly not worth getting in such a bad state of affairs about. Everybody in the world would therefore benefit from this point of view. Just basically that music would make everything better. And of course I've since kind of realized it doesn't work that way."