Music, Videos, Poetry that Gets Us Through

@tesseract Thank you so much for sharing your story and the wonderful clips from “Sister Act 2.” I’m smiling with tears running down my face.

@freya I cry (with joy) every time I watch the kids in the original and I've seen it a kazillian times over the ten years since Larry passed.

I also cried watching the reunion. The entire View episode was amazing. The things Whoopi did for these kids as they began their careers was eye-opening. Their love and respect for her came through with a power punch vibration. Spirit abounding. Her emotion at the end was powerful in a different way from the joy she exudes in the original. The film was acting, I know, but maybe, just a little not-acting as well and actually FEELING what "Sister Mary Clarence" was feeling. The reunion was layers upon layers of what I think of as "giving and receiving" are one motion. "Teaching and learning" are one motion. You can't do one without the other and the "one motion" was vibrant both in the original, and in the reunion.  ❤️ 

@tybin Wow. Just WOW. I had never seen that video. It was actually kind of difficult to watch, but so powerful! I knew she was against t but oh my. Words (my comfort zone) 😳 Fail me. Thank you! ❤️

https://youtu.be/p4dhIB4Ei6c?si=V0Sqga8Pb8aov2WA

Things Can Only Get Better
Song by D:Ream

You can walk my path, you can wear my shoes
Learn to talk like me and be an angel too
But maybe you ain't never gonna feel this way
You ain't never gonna know me, but I know you

I'm singing it now, things can only get better
Only get better
If we see it through
That means me and I mean you too

So teach me now that things can only get better
Only get, they only get, take it on from here
You know, I know that things can only get better

I sometimes lose myself in me
I lose track of time
And I can't see the woods for the trees
You set 'em alight
Burn the bridges as you've gone, I'm too weak to fight ya
I've got my personal hell to deal with

And then you say
"Walk my path, wear my shoes
Talk like that, I'll be an angel"

And things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
(Things can only get, can only get)
Things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you and you and you

You have shown me prejudice and greed
And you've shown me how
I must learn to deal with this disease
I look at things now
In a different light than I did before
And I've found the cause and I think that you can be my cure

So teach me to walk your path, wear your shoes
Talk like that, I'll be an angel

And things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
(Things can only get, can only get)
Things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you

Things can only get
Things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
(Things can only get, can only get)
And you and you and you baby
Things can only get better
They can only get better now I found you

https://youtu.be/0CJDPca4pTc?feature=shared

This makes me laugh.  Hopefully you will like it too.

@tesseract  Wise as always, tesseract.  I'm aware that "teaching is learning."  If more understood that simple fact the world would be an immensely better place. Glad you joined the Forum!

After I posted from my phone this morning in the Elections thread, I was scrolling through Instagram, which I use for music clips, mostly, and this popped up:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C62nF2vhi09/?igsh=aWoybXhoazkwbW1y

Loved it from the start and then Groban popped up in it! (HA! coincidence??? 😉 I think not!) wearing his FIND YOUR LIGHT (Groban's Foundation) t-shirt with one of the groups he funded. Then I went and found the YouTube of the entire production (2018?) from Playing4Change,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g4UWvcZn5U

Oh, and I have that t-shirt! 😀 I've been dancing, as I did chores, to the Everyday People YouTube all morning. & dancing is not as easy now as it once was, 🤣 but the body just would not sit still, so dance I did.

This YouTube is such a wonderful example of the Energy I now feel because of (and with) Kamala and the election.

@ana (Iridium) from your post on the election thread: I have to say that TRANSFIXED is the word I have looked for, for years, to describe my reaction at that first sight of Obama, of Mayor/Sec Pete, and how I felt the first note I heard from Josh's voice on Charlotte Church's CD as they sang The Prayer. Thanks for reminding me of it for these extraordinary, Lighted, moments.

Apparently I c/p an incorrect link to Find Your Light.org in the link in my post above. 

Hopefully this one works https://fylf.org/ in case any folks here are interested in exploring the Foundation.  They do great work keeping music, and the joy of learning, available for students across the country. ❤️ 

https://soundcloud.com/ghandigirl-756/suzanne-1?si=7f291a8d7b724b1eafafd8e0fb849527&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Cover of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne. Recorded in 1979 when I was 16. Please Enjoy :)

https://youtu.be/bEeaS6fuUoA?si=bNenhgdf2PjZ93l3

This is how I feel about all of you. ❤️

I also think it would be a great campaign song for Kamala! 🤩

Hi y'all, 

I stumbled across this video I hadn't seen for about 35 years... Genesis' "Land of Confusion". Thanks, YouTube algorithms!

Man, I  had forgotten how good this really was. Sophisticated puppets for its time and totally on point then and now.  In fact i would love to see a modern remake with today's characters.

I feel like it's so relevant right now. It made me smile and renewed me for the fight that's raging for the soul of democracy. And it's still a real banger after all these decades!

https://youtu.be/nxlFMSPdcR4?si=-nVbD2f9uW1IVt-L

@ghandigirl That is a very nice rendition of the song.

@ghandigirl In my top 5 favorite songs.  Also...Joan of Arc by Leonard Cohen....only he could make burned at the stake sound romantic.

@ghandigirl I love Suzanne. When I was a college freshman, we girls danced around the dorm singing Judy Collin's version. It was 1967.  Thanks to you and @unk-p, now I want to hear ALL the versions. But I hear it always in my head with Judy's Collin's voice. Thank you Unk-p for laying out the lyrics for us. My 18 year old self didn't fully understand the Suzanne poetry the way I do now.

It's no secret that I'm a big U2 fan, so I tend to share their songs a bit ;-)

But one of their songs has been on my mind a lot lately, especially with the upcoming US election.

This song is politically themed, and no doubt the band felt inspired to write it based on the tumultuous political events that have affected America, especially since 2016.

This is not their best live performance of the song, but I absolutely love the location they chose to perform it, with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Wow, what a view.

https://vimeo.com/253390563

I really love the lyrics of this song. I think this song is a really good motivator to keep fighting and standing up for what you believe in, especially now more than ever.

Here are the lyrics:

Get out of your own way, hey, hey
Get out of your own way, hey, hey
Love hurts
Now you've a girl who's left with no words
Your heart's a balloon, but then it bursts
It doesn't take a cannon, just a pin
Your skin's not covering, and resistance
Love has got to fight for its existence
The enemy has armies of assistance
The amorist, the glamorous, the kiss, a fist, listen to this, oh
Get out of your own way, oh, I
Get out of your own way, oh, I
I could sing it to you all night, all night
If I could, I'd make it alright, alright
Nothing's stopping you except what's inside
I can help you, but it's your fight, your fight
Fight back
Don't take it lyin' down, you got to bite back
The face of liberty's startin' to crack
She had a plan until she got a smack in the mouth
And it all went South
Like freedom
The slaves are lookin' for someone to lead 'em
The master's lookin' for someone to need him
The promised land is there for those who need it most
And Lincoln's ghost said
Get out of your own way, oh, I
Get out of your own way, oh, I
I could sing it to you all night, all night
If I could, I'd make it alright, alright
Nothing's stopping you except what's inside
I can help you, but it's your fight, your fight
Get out of your own way
Get out of your own way
Get out of your own way
Get out of your own way
Get out of your own way
Blessed are the arrogant
For there's the kingdom of their own company
Blessed are the superstars
For the magnificence in their light
We understand better our own insignificance
Blessed are the filthy rich
For you can only truly own what you give away
Like your pain

U2's advice is to fight, and I agree, we all need to pitch in. Too many people think liberty is a right that they should just be given. I agree it is a right, but we have to fight for our rights. I hope people are doing all they can to get Kamala Harris elected and keep T away. 

@luminous Thanks for posting the message and the link to U2's performance.  I loved it.  I wonder what our musical folks think. 

@lovendures @unk-p

I listen to this tape in the car a lot. This song by Happy Rhodes really speaks to me and describes our Forum Community.

Feed The Fire

Bebe and Marvin Winans perform 'Good Trouble' at John Lewis funeral

This is giving me strength. Listen at 2:16. Be willing to get in good trouble. 

love,

ghandigirl

Created this AI a few years back. The Statue of Liberty with a black eye, but her torch is lit and held high. Democracy took a beating, but we hold the torch high.