In The Spirit Of The Season - Part III

"Rock is cool, but the struggle is better ..."

For Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, the Indigo Girls, there really is no line between the music and lives invested in trying to better the world. Amy described it in an interview this way: "I'm not able to define myself by being an activist or a musician separately, or one or the other as a priority because it's melded in my life."

Their charitable work and activism on behalf of environmental protection, equal rights and non-discrimination, native American health and education, renewable energy, nuclear non-proliferation, affordable housing and a variety of other issues has permeated the landscape of their music, the causes too many to list. They followed their full-length Honor the Earth Tour in 2000 (in which their tour bus was powered by biodiesel!), with a reprise in 2003. This coming January, they'll be in Portland, Oregon doing a benefit concert for Habitat for Humanity.

I'll be revisiting the Girls again in the future, I'm an unabashed fan and think Emily is truly talented poet. For now, I'm rounding out this topical theme with an older track. It's a simple melody that leaves room to focus on the message. In the spirit of the season ... let it be me, indeed.

Let It Be Me - Indigo Girls / Rites of Passage


Sticks and stones
Battle zones
A single light bulb
On a single thread for the black
Sirens wail
History fails
Rose-colored glass
Begins to age and crack
While the politicians shadowbox
The power ring
In an endless split decision
Never solve anything
From a neighbor's distant land
I heard the strain of the common man

Let it be me
(This is not a fighting song)
Let it be me
(Not a wrong for a wrong)
Let it be me
If the world is night
Shine my life like a light

Well the world seems spent
And the president
Has no good idea
Of who the masses are
Well i'm one of them
And i'm among friends
We're trying to see beyond
The fences in our own backyards
I've seen the kingdoms blow
Like ashes in the winds of change
But the power of truth
Is the fuel for the flame
So the darker the ages get
There's a stronger beacon yet

Let it be me
(This is not a fighting song)
Let it be me
(Not a wrong for a wrong)
Let it be me
If the world is night
Shine my life like a light

In the kind word you speak
In the turn of the cheek
When your vision stays clear
In the face of your fear
Then you see turning out a light switch
Is their only power
When we stand like spotlights
In a mighty tower
All for one and one for all
Then we sing the common call

Let it be me
(This is not a fighting song)
Let it be me
(Not a wrong for a wrong)
Let it be me
If the world is night
Shine my life like a light

In The Spirit Of The Season - Part II

Sister Hazel's Rescue Mission is a shelter in Gainesville, Florida. It's also the inspiration for a college band that took her name and made good, while doing good.

Front man Ken Block grew up watching Sister Hazel open up her house to anyone in need. Block recalls asking his mom if the people she helps pay her, and his mom answered no, she does it for free. "Even as a kid that struck me as something very cool," he says. "She gives regardless of your race or religion or anything. She has this sprirt of unconditional regard for anyone." When it came time to name his band, Ken considered what message he wanted the band to project. Sister Hazel personified that message.

Fifteen years later, Sister Hazel still feeds the hungry, clothes the poor and shelters the homeless as the Gainesville Sun reports. For its part, Sister Hazel (the band) has, from day one, encouraged their fans to support The Make-A-Wish Foundation, the American Cancer Society, STOP! Children's Cancer, Inc., Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Muscular Distrophy Association, and of course, the Sister Hazel Williams and Angel of Mercy Rescue Mission. In 2000, they founded Lyrics for Life, a non-profit organization through which they draw together other musicians for an ongoing series of concerts and auctions to benefit efforts to cure cancer and other serious illness. (With the very cool idea of auctioning off handwritten lyrics donated by tons of great artists, many scribbled on creatively chosen memorabilia).

In addition to the more polished "Change Your Mind," I've included a more obscure cut from their first (self-published) indie album entitled "Look to the Children" (full lyrics below). Much of the drive behind lead singer Ken Block's charitable work comes from his own life's intersection with cancer - his brother was diagnosed at age 14 and died at age 18. "Look to the Children" captures the his own pain and rebirth.

Change Your Mind - Sister Hazel / Fortress






Look to the Children - Sister Hazel / Somewhere More Familiar

I took a walk by the sea
Nothing else -- just for me
Yesterday was a long, long time ago
There's a man and he's sighing
It's all he's got to keep from crying
His shattered dreams
Have been worn down by life

And I wonder now
How a man gets so far down
Where's the pride and the glory
Where's the pot of gold

And I ... I look to the children

I took a walk by the sea
I'd forgotten what it meant to be me
Some things we should carry from the past
There's a boy and he's singin'
And in the wind his words are ringin'
His innocence, it is buried in us all

Now I look and see
That boy inside of me
May have seen a storm or two
But the dream is alive

And I ... I look to the children
I look to the children

I look around
So many so far down
Just search inside yourself
'Cause the dream's alive

And I ... I look to the children
I look to the children

In The Spirit Of The Season - Part I

I'll have a collection of more traditional Christmas fare in another post shortly, but in the meantime I wanted to kick off the holiday season with a different twist. My modest hope is that, in the spirt of the season, this collection not only brings you a few moments of musical enjoyment, but perhaps provides a measure of inspiration and food for the soul.

I'm normally not much for music videos, but Sarah McLachlan's World on Fire is another matter. If you're like me, once you've seen the video you'll never listen to this song the same again. The list of charities from the video is here.

World On Fire - Sarah McLachlan / Afterglow

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in these stories' pages
The light has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I'll try to hold it in
Yeah I'll try to hold it in

The world's on fire; it's more then I can handle
I'll tap into the water, try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens but I find no calling
Something I can do to change what's coming
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
I don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone

The world's on fire; it's more then I can handle
I'll tap into the water, try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

Hearts break, hearts mend, love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash, still there's talk of
Saving souls, still the cold is closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some

The world's on fire; it's more then I can handle
I'll tap into the water, try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

Earth, Wind & Fire - Versatile, Timeless

Fantasy - Earth, Wind & Fire / The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire Vol. I

Our voices will ring together,
Until the 12th of Never,
We all will live love forever,
As one ...

The material on this Greatest Hits record captures the height of EWF's popular success in the late 70s. The band was founded by Maurice White in 1969, but really only took off after the addition of lead singer Philip Bailey in 1972. From 1974 to 1979 EWF churned out six consecutive multi-platinum albums -- all the more remarkable considering in the midst of the run White had begun producing for other acts. (He is credited with launching The Emotions to stardom, among others).

But the string of multi-platinum success was finally broken, and after the label slashed funding for their elaborate concert performances, White temporarily disbanded the group. Bailey went on to a successful solo career, and a period of collaboration with Phil Collins (produced the pop hit duet "Easy Lover"). The band reunited several years later and played on and off through the rest of the 80s, 90s and into the 00s. Three months ago they released their 23rd album "Illumination."

Three things I love most about EWF: the diversity in their music, their willingness to blend of R&B, funk, jazz and soul into something all its own, and their affinity for horns. Come on, when's the last time you heard a band with a horn section?!!

If you enjoyed this track and weren't already familiar with EWF, consider moving next to three other of my favorite tracks -- the breezy "Singasong," the funky "Shining Star," and the oh-so-sexy ballad "Reasons".