It’s the hammer of Justice, It’s the bell of Freedom, It’s the song of love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land. (Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes)
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. (Paul McCartney)
The 1960s are considered by some, among them yours truly, to be the best decade for music in America. Perhaps we always feel that way about the music alive when we came of age, when we awakened in a different way to the world in which we live. But as a teen and young adult in the 1960s, even the names of the songs seem formative to me as I look back: Bridge over Troubled Water; If I Had a Hammer; Where Have All The Flowers Gone?; Blowin’ in the Wind . . . So many others, songs that echo not only the disillusionment, but also the idealism and possibility of the time. The social and political climate was one of turmoil and upheaval and transformation, and is rather eerily like the place we find ourselves today, 50 years later.
Maybe we need some more songs now like Hey, Jude — with lyrics about taking a sad song and making it better — enjoining us to a less divisive way of being, and offering a vision of a more positive, hopeful, coming-together kind of place. I long for that. Bet you do, too. Let’s make it happen for ourselves today. And for others.