Whether you are getting ready to boogie down to your polling place, or have already voted and are making phone calls to friends and family to mobilize them, there should be a musical soundtrack to match and amplify your mood.
I’ve put together a playlist of fun suggestions and look forward to hearing what gets you up, moving, and motivated!
”Black Music Sunday” is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 235 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
For years, Black church folks have been organizing “Souls to the Polls” to mobilize people to vote and help them gain access to do so. My playlist today is focusing on “sweet soul music” of the dancing variety.
It made sense to me to start with “Aint’ No Stopping Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. BlackPast has their bio, written by Dr. Otis D. Alexander:
The composers, lyricists, and performers who comprised the duo McFadden and Whitehead were reared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gene McFadden was born on January 28, 1949, in Olanta, South Carolina, and John Cavadus Whitehead was born on July 10, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As teenagers, they met at Edison High School in North Philadelphia in 1964. Upon graduating in 1967 they formed the Epsilons, a band “discovered” and managed briefly by Otis Redding until Redding until 1967.
McFadden and Whitehead then became writers for Gamble and Huff’s Philly International Records where the wrote several hits including the O’Jays‘ “Back Stabbers” Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, “Wake Up Everybody.”
To get you up outta your chair or off of the couch, who better than “The Godfather of Soul”—James Brown. Though Brown released “Get Up Offa That Thing” in 1976, over the years he continued to perform it worldwide. It was difficult to pick a favorite live performance as there are so many of them, but I selected this video of him at the BBC Four Sessions on Jan. 3, 2004.
When we implore folks to “get up” no one did it better than Bob Marley, who encouraged us all to “stand up for our rights.”
Music writer, reporter Ian McCann, wrote about it for UDiscoverMusic:
There’s a reason why The Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up” sounds more militant as it progresses. To find that reason, just look ten inches up from Bob Marley in the 60s and early 70s, and it will be standing right there: Peter Tosh, co-writer of the song, and an imposingly tall man who did not pussyfoot when it came to delivering a message. […]
“Get Up, Stand Up” was apparently written in response to a visit to Haiti, when Bob saw the poverty of the island’s people. It is not easy to find concrete evidence about the details of Bob’s trip there, and he was no stranger to poverty, having grown up in the Trenchtown ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, so chances are Bob might have been moved to write the song anyway.
Whatever inspired it, Bob’s message is clear. For the first two verses, he tells the people not to wait until the next life to find fulfillment; it’s their right to be free and happy on this planet.
Yes, it is militant. It is also impossible to hear and stay still!
It’s also impossible to believe that Mavis Staples is 85 years old. We celebrated her 84th last year here at Black Music Sunday.
Staples was joined by Jon Batiste at this rousing concert at the Boston Pops in 2021. She promised to “take us there” and she sure did.
I can’t help but be uplifted by Batiste, whose “Freedom” garnered him the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Keith Spera, writing for NOLA.com, points out the uplift from the song for New Orleans, in a city that has faced so many trials and tribulations.
Feeling weighed down by the constant drumbeat of New Orleans’ shortcomings (carjackings, corruption, street flooding, potholes, boil water advisories, power outages, etc.)? Consider taking three minutes and 43 seconds to absorb the video for Jon Batiste’s “Freedom.”
In short, it is a joyful ray of feel-good New Orleans sunshine by one of the city’s favorite sons.
[…]
As an audio track alone, “Freedom” is great fun. It finds its groove immediately, with percussion reminiscent of War’s “Low Rider” as remade by Pharrell Williams. A simmering electric keyboard is goosed by horns. Batiste’s falsetto is especially smooth. Backing vocalists give the word “freedom” a gospel uplift. Toward the end, the “lemme see you wobble” dancefloor refrain is a hoot. The inherent joy throughout is absolutely infectious.
I have posted this catchy rap campaign video for Kamala before. Comedian and musician Rita Brent initially posted it for the Biden-Harris campaign, and did a remix when Kamala took up the reins of going it alone. Yes we Kam!
The Harris campaign selected Beyoncé’s “Freedom” as their theme song. Many thanks to Queen Bey for granting permission and for her endorsement. The song is not only powerful—it was and is a tribute to Black women’s strength against adversity. Black scholar and critic Salamishah Tillet wrote for The New York Times:
At the time of its initial release in spring 2016, “Freedom” appeared on what was, to that point, Beyoncé’s most politically explicit record to date. Its video paid clear tribute to Sybrina Fulton, Gwen Carr, Lezley McSpadden and Wanda Johnson, Black women whose sons — Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Oscar Grant III — had been recently killed in racially charged incidents. In the video, the women sit next to each other as Beyoncé, dressed in a tiered white dress, belts the song in a visual performance that heightened the intensity and cathartic potential of the music. It features a verse from Kendrick Lamar, who raps, “But mama don’t cry for me, ride for me/Try for me, live for me.”
I know that hundreds of thousands of people have been uplifted seeing Madame Vice President walk into her rallies to the sound of “Freedom.”
What soulful tunes get you up, moving, and motivated?
