When I was a kid (c. 1988) I taped a song off the radio which
contained the following lyrics:


What you gonna do when the night breaks down around you?
When you've got no one for the first time
Where you gonna run so the midnight sun can't find you
And you're freezing cold 'cause you're on your own
I know you think you got it all together
You feel you're in control
Let me tell you now

Only love, only love will set you free
Only love, only love will set you free

What you gonna do when the rain tears into your life?
And you're feeling scared but no one cares
When the radio video song of a hero can't turn you on
Can you get it back, like the last time

I know you think you're gonna last forever
But nothing ever changes
Let me tell you now

Only love, only love will set you free
Only love, only love will set you free
Only love (When the rain stops falling, when your heart is calling)
Only love will set you free
Only love (when you want to make up, when you need to break up)
Only love will set you free
Can you get that feeling, can you get it back
Can you make it happen ...
Remember ... (Don't bite the hand that feed you)

(When the fire stops burning, when the wind stops turning)
Only love will set you free
Only love (When the rain stops falling, when your heart is calling)
Only love will set you free
Only love (when you want to make up, when you need to break up)
Only love will set you free



Recently, I found a version of this song by Elkie Brooks. While it is
definately the same SONG, it's not the same VERSION of the song I
taped in 1988.

Was this song ever performed by another group or singer besides Elkie
Brooks, especially around the mid to late 1980's?

Hello aqualung-ga,

The title of this song is "Only Love Will Set You Free."  Australian
singer Tracey Arbon recorded a song of the same title in 1989.


Tracey Arbon
http://www.users.bigpond.com/kjfandtla/
(Click on "Discography". Scroll to the bottom of the page.)


THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
http://www.governmentgazette.sa.gov.au/1999/July/1999_095.pdf
Arbon, Tracey. ONLY LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE [SOUND
RECORDING]. [Sydney]: Festival Records, 1989.K 960.



I haven't been able to find a clip of the song, or the lyrics so I
can't confirm that this is the song you are looking for.


Googlenut

Where were you when you originally heard this?

http://www.djcraig.net/disneyland_wedding.html

Probably in my room ... in Newfoundland. It was played on the local AM
radio station -- so very likely it's probably quite obscure.