The power of music. So often, I turn to music to express things I can’t talk about any other way. Or to celebrate, or get busy, or because all I want to do is paint my room black and so I let the music drip down the walls while I cry.
And sometimes music is more than just about me. Sometimes it’s about all of us, together. That’s another power of music.
The Playing for Change Foundation wants to bring peace to the world through music. That’s not a bad idea: people who would never consider sitting down together will stand up together and dance to the same song. PFC is building community around music and committed to providing resources for musicians, music students and music schools around the world.
And they made this great video. I love the song, and I love what they’ve done with it. And right now it speaks to me particularly keenly, the way music often does: right now it seems good to remember that we all need someone to stand by us sometimes, and that when we stand by someone else we are doing good in the world.
Enjoy.
“Playing for Change”: Pete Seeger!
I fucking LOVE this! Love the song, their version of it, and what they are doing.
He’s right – at some point we all need someone, sometime to stand by us.
This reminds me of Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Loving.” I haven’t read it in a couple of decades, but the part that sticks with me is that he says that most people think that their problem is needing to be loved, finding someone to love them. They take for granted that they already know how to love someone else; Fromm suggested, and I agree (from my own experience as well as observation of others), that it ain’t necessarily so.
Right now I’d say the important thing is to stand by someone else. Take the first step, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. That’s what I’ve been doing lately, making some contributions and doing what I can, looking for more that I can do. Obama sure isn’t going to stand by you, he’s made that clear. As white progressives (or “progressives”) descend deeper and deeper into individualistic therapeutic mush, waving around empty buzzwords, I’ve largely given up on finding any place to stand with them. But there are other people I can stand with.
I think the point is that we need each other. We are all in this together.
The last part of the original lyrics says this:
“Whenever you’re in trouble won’t you stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Oh, stand by me, stand by me, stand by me”
And yes, it’s a good idea to take the first step to reach out that hand first. Someone has to.
Happy Holidays.