1973
From the album Be What You Are
Favourite lyric:
Love is the only transportation
To where there’s total communication
If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me) lyrics
Are you ready? Then come go with me on a journey from the darkness in the world to the joy of the light. Let’s loosen the shackles, drop the act, and create a world of connectivity and responsibility. Personal imperfection can feel burdensome, but we’re all part of one world, and can create a state of tolerance, acceptance and harmony.
When I first heard this song by the Staples Singers, I was convinced that a hand was proffered by Mavis Staples, directing a way out of the malaise I was in. Mavis is the heart of the world and her love and soul is infectious. It connects instantly. The Staple Singers mixed Gospel, spirituality and reality into a contemporary, yet seemingly continuously relevant message. Released on Stax records in 1973, the production on “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)”, is perfection. A simple groovy bassline, a soft horn section, guitar licks, a gospel choir-like call and response and sweeping strings provide the texture to back Mavis’s powerful prodding vocals. We stop at a red light briefly to pause and reflect with some gentle acoustic flourishes. But the drums are the wheels, and we chug on again, gaining momentum; the saxophone responds to the strings and we’re taken there, to the light. You feel like we’re just getting going as the music fades out, drifting into the heavens with cathartic ad-libs and emotional release.
But this isn’t a whimsical, preachy song eschewing politics, economics and the reality of life. It may sound confronting to hear words such as “genocide”, “liars” and “backstabbers” hollered with emotion in a song so upbeat, but Mavis invites the sinners and wrongdoers in the world to follow her too, as ‘love is the only transportation’ to get us to our destination. I don’t see the song as a Utopian ideal, but more as a reminder that we have the freedom and power to change our attitudes and ideas, to question the world we live in, and not take it for granted.
This recalls the line, ‘love is the only engine of survival’ from Leonard Cohen’s “The Future”, an apocalyptic song, that sees a future (or the present?) of violence, collapse and contempt. Perhaps each generation is fated to repeat the sins of the past?
Can love be the catalyst to dilute pessimism and create a societal generation that is unburdened and free to change the world? Peace, love and hope? The hippie generation of the late 1960s/early 1970s tried to create a culture based on a community of love and peace. But love asks you to make sacrifices and often brings pain too. Is this when reality kicks in and you give up on the dream?
Can we transcend the drawbacks of daily reality and attain that higher level of joy, hope and freedom. All I know is that for four and a half minutes, the Staple Singers take me there.
Are you coming too?
Music has been a part of my life since I was a little boy. From nursery rhymes and hymns to pop songs as an infant, childhood musicals, British indie music approaching my teens, singer-songwriters approaching adulthood, country, folk and a little bit of everything else in my 20s and beyond. I have vivid memories of when I heard a song for the first time, or recall special live renditions, or a particular experience or situation it is tied to. Joyful, sorrowful and everything in between. To me, they are markers in my life, yet the meanings are always shifting. They come and go but are still deeply anchored within me; just the opening notes of a song can transport me to another place in time.
I don’t want to wait until I’m old to reflect on these connections. Perspectives constantly change, and the future may never arrive. I’ve created this blog primarily for myself, to express the thoughts and experiences that can get stuck in my head and to share them with those who may be interested. I am going to use songs as a vehicle to examine the memory. What route will it take? The mind creates so many maps. I have called the blog, Song and Synapse. A synapse is a gap between neurons that allows a signal to be transmitted from one neuron to the next. A neuron is a cell that receives and delivers messages from the body to the brain and back to the body. Synapses bind connected neurons into a circuit that stores a new memory in the hippocampus part of the brain.
The songs I choose will be a springboard to wherever the mind leads me. It may be by one of my favourite artists that I already know everything about, or a song by artist I have little knowledge of. I want to discover the meaning and context behind the songs. Perhaps the song will inspire some fiction or maybe the emotion it creates needs to be examined. I find that the best songs are universal and aren’t tied to a decade.
The first time I heard “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)”, I was cooking in my kitchen, and it resonated from my radio straight into my soul. I’d recently moved out of my parents’ house into my own maisonette on the edge of Liverpool city centre. My personal space to learn how to live on my own, discover new things about myself and especially, how to cook. Music is a good companion when cooking. For one thing, it can drown out the sound of the oven and extractor fan. You can also have a mini kitchen disco and stylishly groove across the floor between the sink, chopping board, fridge and pots and pans. I now love choosing an album or playlist to satisfy the daily necessity of creating a meal.
Do you have a favourite music/cooking ritual?