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Here's the final video from the "We Who Believe in Freedom" album, an acoustic interpretation of Sweet Honey in the Rock's "Ella's Song," sung with my dear friends Raquel Rodriguez and Jessica Childress.
Deep respect and gratitude for Sweet Honey, for songwriter Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, and for civil rights hero Ella Baker, who inspired the song. Though its words were originally written in the context of the civil rights movement of the 60s, and put into song form in the 80s, they feel just as potent and needed today. This song calls attention to many things - a deep need for racial and gender justice (and beyond); understanding and reconciliation of privilege; intersectionality, the elevation of the collective over individual ego, and the value of wisdom sharing between older and younger generations. But perhaps my greatest takeaway comes from its refrain - the idea that in the march towards a more just and loving world, there's always more work to do; deeper work to be done. That can feel like a heavy weight to bear as one person, but it seems so much more achievable if we come together and support each other as a community.
My dream in making this album was to provide some inspiration and encouragement for our journey towards collective healing. I feel so inspired by the experience of recording these songs, and even more so in sharing them with you. Thanks for your comments, conversations, listening, sharing, and for being a part of the process. Here's the lyrics to "Ella's Song" - links to learn more about Ella, Sweet Honey, and Dr. Reagon are below.
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons
Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on
Is when the reins are in the hands of the young who dare to run against the storm
To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail
And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale
Struggling myself don’t mean a whole lot I come to realize
That teaching others to stand up and fights the only way my struggle survives
I’m a woman who speaks in a voice and I must be heard
At times I can be quite difficult, I’ll bow to no man’s word
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
Not needing to clutch for power, not needing the light just to shine on me
I need to be just one in the number as we stand against tyranny
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
For more background on Ella Baker and this song: https://bit.ly/2z36NUp
For more about Sweet Honey in the Rock: http://sweethoneyintherock.org/
and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon: https://www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/
Thanks to Nick Warner ( http://youtube.com/nickwarnermedia ) for filming and editing, to Dillan Witherow for recording and mixing the audio, and to Sam Brawner at Blue Dream Studios for having us in. Thanks to Dillan for lending me his Benson Amps and Gibson gear as well.
Hear the album -
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2ywpVro
Bandcamp: https://emilyelbert.bandcamp.com/
iTunes: https://apple.co/2q89oVV