Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt

Something to Sing About: We are Women; Watch Us Roar!

Singing the songs that keep us strong

Yes, it’s cold outside.

But that won’t keep us down.

This coming weekend, the world will witness the eighth annual Women’s March in cities and towns large and small.

It all started in 2017.

On the day after the presidential inauguration, five million people — not just women — braved the cold and marched across the country, across the globe, in every state, and on every continent, many of us proudly sporting our pink pussy hats.

We were (and still are!) five million strong! Making that march the largest single-day protest in history. So let’s remember our power.

And know that, once we get started, there’s no stopping us.

You know what they say: you can’t keep a good woman down. And we are all great women. And now that we’ve found our voices, we won’t stay quiet.

Which is why singer-songwriter MILCK’s song, Quiet, became the unofficial anthem of the Women’s March.

In the above video, she sings at award-winning journalist, Tina Brown’s 8th Annual Women in the World Summit. That Summit spanned ten years of women in journalism coming together, sharing their strengths, stories, and talents to empower themselves and each other.

Let these quick snippets of “Greatest Hit’ moments from these Summits inspire you to sing your song in the key of you.

And if no one listens, sing louder.

We are women, and no matter what life throws our way, we are survivors. Just ask Gloria Gaynor.

She recorded her ironic hit song with only thirty-five minutes of studio time while wearing a back brace after a fall. Not only that, she was still grieving the recent death of a loved one. As she told Billboard Magazine, “That’s why I was able to sing the song with so much conviction.”

All over the world, women want, need, and deserve respect. And that’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T, by the way. Thanks, Aretha, for taking an Otis Redding song and turning it on its head to give us way more than a spelling lesson.

And never forget, you are a Queen!

Who you are and how you look is perfect. What? You don’t believe me? Well, take a lesson from India.Arie:

Let’s underscore her message:

I’m not the average girl from your video And I ain’t built like a supermodel But I learned to love myself unconditionally Because I am a queen.

Speaking of Queens, there’s a song from another queen I just have to include here.

It’s from the 2007 film version of the 2002 Broadway musical Hairspray — the one where John Travolta plays the mom. Queen Latifa plays record store owner, ‘Motormouth’ Maybelle Stubbs, who inspires Tracy and her friends not to give up their fight to integrate Corny Collins’ TV Dance Party.

Maybelle knows where she’s going because she knows where she’s been.

Just as the song starts low and builds, their march through the streets of 1962 Baltimore starts small and builds as more and more people join in, singing, of course! When night falls, they carry candles to light the way and march to a crescendo ending. I Know Where I’ve Been was a surprise scene steeler in John Waters’ otherwise campy spoof of teenage angst in the sixties.

I don’t usually do this, but…

There was a TV version made in 2016 called Hairspray Live! In it, Jennifer Hudson plays Maybelle. So even if you just watched Queen Latifa, check out this clip as well.

Are you ready to roar yet?

Did you know that Helen Reddy’s iconic anthem was not initially a hit?

According to U Discover Music.com,

“Once the 70s burgeoning second-wave feminist movement found it, ‘I Am Woman’ evolved into so much more than just a song: it became a symbol of profound change, one that lives on decades after its release.

“‘I thought about all these strong women in my family who had gotten through the Depression and world wars and drunken, abusive husbands,” Reddy told Australia’s Sunday Magazine in 2003. ‘But there was nothing in music that reflected that. The only songs were ‘I Feel Pretty’ or that dreadful song ‘Born A Woman.’ These are not exactly empowering lyrics. I certainly never thought of myself as a songwriter, but it came down to having to do it.’”

Now enjoy Helen singing her hit in 2013 at the Arcada Theater in DesPlaines, Illinois.

Okay, now it’s your turn.

Which brings us to this week’s Middle-Pause Pump Priming Prompt: What is/are the song(s) that keep you strong?

You know which ones I mean.

The ones that keep you keeping on when you’re tired, cranky, and want to give up. But instead of giving up, you pull up your special song. And within minutes, you’re singing, snapping your fingers, maybe even up on your feet, dancing down your own yellow brick road.

Any song that does that for you just has to be shared. So sing about it, and write about it, and send it to us.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Marilyn Flower’s a sacred fool who writes every day — fiction, poetry, and blogs — inspired by a process called SoulCollage®. She’s the author of Creative Blogging and Bucket Listers: Get Your Brave On. Follow her Sacred Foolishness or SoulCollage® for Writers, and Stay in touch!