Something to Sing About
While sharing this birthday with my twin Chris is reason enough to celebrate, this Saturday is especially joyful. The confirmation that Joe Biden is indeed our next president has given the air a kind of effervescent energy unlike any I’ve felt before.
The emotions I’m feeling are complicated. In part, they’re what I imagine African-Americans, women or gay/transgender people must feel after the rare righting of long-standing injustice. Yes, I recognize that as a white (albeit gay) male, I am far from disenfranchised. But I can’t ignore the feeling... and it speaks to the overwhelming sense of helplessness and distrust (if not downright fear) Trump instilled in so many Americans. At the same time, I’m overcome by the kind of can’t-keep-from-singing happiness one associates with movie musicals. I find I’m half expecting to hear a New Orleans second line, gospel choir, or Ethel Merman breaking into “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from around the next corner.
Music has always been the filter through which I (like many of us) experience small, personal victories and large/shared milestones. So as “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” blares from a nearby apartment window, I’m sharing my own mini playlist. A back-in-the-day mix that celebrates a brand new day:
“Ain’t No Stopping Us Now,” McFadden & Whitehead
“Tell Me Something Good,” Rufus/Chaka Khan
“Higher Ground,” Stevie Wonder
“I’ll Take You There,” The Staple Singers
“Lovely Day,” Bill Withers
“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Michael Jackson