Environmental groups have been on the phone to Belinda Carlisle and her record company, begging her to re-release one of her more successful songs, but with a change to the chorus and song title.

Time to switch off?

The 1989 hit single “Leave a Light on” has been branded as sending the wrong message due to its encouragement of leaving an energy draining lightbulb in the “on” position.

“This song represents the opposite of everything we stand for,” laments Rhett Howard of the Just Switch Off environmental activists group.

“We’re asking Belinda to release an updated version of the song which is more environmentally friendly.  We think she should be saying to the man in the song ‘leave a non-toxic chalk mark on the door’ or something similar.  Either that, or specifically mention that the light is solar powered.”

“Belinda may also want to mention in the lyrics that replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents can use four times less energy, and last eight times longer than incandescent light bulbs.”

Songwriting duo Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley who penned the original song were unavailable to comment.