Thank Goodness It's Monday #339

LIFT YOUR VOICE AND …

In 1900 a school principal in Jacksonville, Florida -- James Weldon Johnson -- wrote a song for a group of schoolchildren to sing in honor of Lincoln’s birthday. His brother, music teacher John Rosamond Johnson, helped write the music.

That song was titled Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Eventually the brothers sent the song to a New York publisher and, so the story goes, thought little more about it.

But the public found it hard to forget. Children in the South, and gradually throughout the United States, continued to sing it. It became a popular selection for church choirs -- a tradition that continues today.

Perhaps you know it or recognize it. Here’s the first verse:

     Lift every voice and sing
    Till earth and heaven ring,
    Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
    Let our rejoicing rise
    High as the listening skies,
    Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
    Sing a song full of the faith that the
    dark past has taught us,
    Sing a song full of the hope that the
    present has brought us,
    Facing the rising sun of our new day
    Begun let us march on till victory is won.

James Johnson went on to many more accomplishments: composed more poetry, wrote a novel, was appointed U.S. consul to Venezuela and later Nicaragua. In 1920, he became executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP adopted Lift Every Voice and Sing as its official song.

And during the American Civil Rights movement Lift Every Voice and Sing became even more closely associated with Dr. Martin Luther King whose contributions we acknowledge today.

Music to my ears. As MLK Jr. Day approaches, my thinking about the commemoration invariably turns musical. I recall the heyday of the struggle for racial equality as a time informed by the music it engendered as well as the anthems it put forward. People came together and expressed themselves and shared their ideas and ideals through music.

Songs of unity and songs of protest.

Songs to incite and inspire and empower.
Songs to agitate and songs to soothe.
Songs that challenged and songs of solace.
Marching  songs … Peace songs … Freedom songs.

Name that tune. You can, easily. See them as persuasion or propaganda, no matter where you were or how you felt on the issues – or “are” or “feel” even today – you can’t deny the power and influence of the musical messages, especially in the 1960s and ‘70s.

• Lift Every Voice and Sing
• We Shall Overcome
• Eyes on the Prize
• What’s Going On?
• Which Side Are You On?
• Blowin’ in the Wind
• Give Peace a Chance
• Revolution
• Peace Train

And more, of course. Many, many more.

You might even consider the Jimi Hendrix rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner or the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen in this context of “Message Music.”

And speaking of a message: So what is the TGIM/MLK Jr. Day “message” in all this?

I think it's this challenge:

What beat do you march to? What’s the meaning of the musical medley you carry in your head and heart? Do you convey it to others in your daily behavior?

Getting a message heard is hard despite being in a digitally interconnected world. The busy folk around us are deeply absorbed in their own mishegas.

In our mp3, ear-bud plugged-in world the theme songs we embrace are increasingly “for our ears only.” Sure, maybe we broadcast a bit of ourselves via a favorite ringtone or fan shout out on social media. But precious few of us, it seems to me, lift our voices anymore to share the fundamentals that we imagine define us.

So maybe Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a good time to take a cue and clue from the anthems of the Civil Rights era.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds … Won’t you help to sing, another song of freedom ...” In 1979 Bob Marley sang that in his Redemption Song (some lyrics of which were inspired by a speech pan-African orator Marcus Garvey gave in 1937.)

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Lift your voice. Go tell it on the mountain. Let your little light shine. Keep your eyes on the prize; your hand on the plow (and hold on).  A change is gonna come.

In the wide world of inspirational MLK Jr. quotes, there’s this:

“Our lives begin to end

the day we become silent

about the things that matter.”

I’ll end this TGIM heeding that wise counsel. I hope you will too.

Speak up about the things that matter to you.

Sing out! Join me. “I ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around.”

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  Shedding a little more light: If you’re not already suffering from MLK Jr. media overkill, click through here and invest 4 minutes in a visual tribute set against a very appropriate 1991 James Taylor song that’s been playing on my mental jukebox for days.