Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post provides information about African American singer/songwriter Bill Withers as well as information about his 1972 song "Lean On Me". A 1973 video of Bill Wither singing "Lean On Me" is showcased in this post.
This pancocojams post also showcases four videos of participants at anti-police brutality protest rallies in the United States (June 2020) singing Bill Withers' song "Lean On Me". Notice that I've found no documentation of this song being sung by people marching in protest demonstrations.
Selected comments from the discussion thread for one of these videos are included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Bill Withers for composing and performing "Lean On Me". Thanks to all those who have participated in peaceful protest rallies and marches. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of all those videos that are included in this post.
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INFORMATION ABOUT BILL WITHERS
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Withers
"William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician.[1] He recorded several major hits, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977), and "Just the Two of Us" (1980). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill.[1] He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.[2][3] Two of his songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Withers worked as a professional musician for just 15 years, from 1970 to 1985, after which he moved on to other occupations."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT BILL WITHERS' SONG "LEAN ON ME"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_on_Me_(song)
“ “Lean on Me" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bill Withers. It was released in April 1972 as the first single from his second album, Still Bill. It was a number one single on both the soul singles and the Billboard Hot 100; the latter chart for three weeks in July 1972.[1] Billboard ranked it as the No. 7 song of 1972.[2] It is ranked number 208 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[3] Numerous other versions have been recorded, and it is one of only nine songs to have reached No. 1 on the US Singles Charts with versions recorded by two different artists.[4]”...
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SHOWCASE VIDEO - Bill Withers - Lean On Me (1973 live)
Old Jazz, Oct 4, 2019
-snip-
Click https://genius.com/Bill-withers-lean-on-me-lyrics for the lyrics to Bill Withers' song "Lean On Me". I don't know if the entire song is sung at these protest rallies. However, "Lean on me" is a relatively familiar R&B song whose first verse, chorus, and bridge perfectly fit the underlying theme of those rallies that regardless of race, creed, or color people should be able to depend on others in times of difficulty.
"[Verse 1]
Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow
[Chorus]
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
[....]
[Bridge]
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on"...
Click https://genius.com/Bill-withers-lean-on-me-lyrics for the complete lyrics for this song.
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SHOWCASE PROTEST VIDEOS
Video #1: Protesters sing “Lean on Me” at Asbury Park demonstration
NJ.com, Jun 1, 2020
-snip-
Asbury Park is a city in New Jersey (United States)
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Video #2: Richmond Protestors Sing Lean On Me | June 2, 2020
VPM, Jun 2, 2020
Thousands of protestors in Richmond, Virginia sang Lean On Me minutes after curfew broke. The marchers were gathered at the Robert E. Lee Monument, protesting police brutality and chanting "tear it down" in reference to the monument. The evening before, marchers at the same location were met with tear-gas, which sparking community outrage.
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Video #3: Thousands of Peaceful Protesters Sing "Lean on Me" Outside White House
Kryptospotted, Jun 3, 2020
Just over a week after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, thousands of peaceful protesters sing the late Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" in front of the White House, as 10 buses of military personnel descend on the area blocks away.
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Video #4: Washington Voices stand upto Trump & sing 'Lean On Me'
Tony Dortie - 24/7 Eyes, Jun 4, 2020
Washington Voices stand upto Trump & sing 'Lean On Me'
-snip-
Washington here means "Washington D.C." , the capital of the United States and not the state of Washington.
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this video's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only. Unless otherwise noted, these comments are from June 4, 2020.)
1. serpentinefire77
"Thank you, the late and visionary Bill Withers for this modern day hymn of solidarity. I can still hear my mother singing around the house when l was child. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾"
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2. Sf Bentley
"Beautiful to see all races come together. Peaceful protest for justice."
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3. Ana Carrera
"I love how people have come together in union as one from all kinds of backgrounds, color, race, gender, religion, ethnic and aged as humans to plea for change and to end the horrible abuse of power, social injustice, inequality, racial discrimination because under the eyes of God we all are precious and equal and we are commanded to love one another as we love yourself."
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4. Ruthie Monroig
"This is touching 💗this is what the American people should continue to do..lets stand together like brothers and sisters 💯"
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REPLY
5. Aleta Mize, June 5, 2020
"Amen my family of awesome colors of Americans . We are in this all together."
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6. Universal acoustic radio
"I think this is fantastic....but have ye forgotten about the virus..?..all of the best of people out mixing close..?
Please be careful"
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7. 2011Mamamia
"People are more afraid of Trump’s very bad attitude than the Covid virus. Thats how angry USA are!"
-snip-
Read the excerpts in the comment section for this pancocojams post about coronavirus and protest marches/rallies as well as singing (and probably also chanted although that isn't mentioned) being a factor in catching the coronavirus.
Notice that a large number of protesters worn/wear face masks so they haven't disregarded the risk of getting Covid-19. However, it appears that these protesters consider the reality of police brutality and the unjust police system is more of a threat (particularly to People of Color) than the possibility of getting Covid-19.
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Here are some statements from Dr. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, regarding protests and coronavirus:
ReplyDeleteFrom https://www.businessinsider.com/dr-fauci-protests-perfect-set-up-for-spreading-covid-19-2020-6
"Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a Friday interview on D.C.-based radio station WTOP he is concerned that the widespread protests taking place across the country could raise the risk of new COVID-19 outbreaks as the country seeks to re-open.
"Every time I hear about or see the congregation of large crowds at a time and geographic area where there is active infection transmission, it is a perfect set-up for the spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips that might turn into some surges," Fauci said. "So I get very concerned."
Fauci emphasized that while demonstrators have both a constitutional right and a good reason to protest, he noted that people gathering in close proximity, shouting and chanting, and possibly being exposed to tear gas or pepper spray – crowd-controlling irritants that make people cough, sneeze, and rub their eyes — increases the risk of transmitting the virus.
"There certainly is a risk, I would say that with confidence, when you see the congregation of crowds," he said, "particularly in a situation where you have a lot of confusion and a little bit of chaos, people running back and forth, taking their masks off, being close in proximity, that does pose a risk."
Fauci, who has frequently spoken out about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black communities, acknowledged the tricky trade-off many protesters are weighing between taking advantage of a constitutional right to demonstrate and possibly heightening the risk of creating new outbreaks.
"It is a difficult situation," Fauci said. "We have the right to peaceably demonstrate, and the demonstrators are exercising that right...it's important to exercise your constitutional rights to be able to demonstrate, but it's a delicate balance, because the reasons for demonstrating are valid. And yet, the demonstration itself puts one at an additional risk."
Fauci said that public health officials like himself should caution protesters to wear a mask and keep it on at all times if they do go out to protest.
In addition to the COVID-19 crisis hitting black communities especially hard, other health experts have highlighted that police violence disproportionately affecting communities of color is, in and of itself, a public health crisis, as Insider's Canela López recently reported.
"One in every 1,000 Black men and boys can expect to be killed by police in this country," Harvard Medical School epidemiologist Dr. Maia Majumder told Vox. "To me, this clearly illustrates why police brutality is a public health problem; anything that causes mortality at such a scale is a public health problem."
"People have asked 'what do the protests mean for COVID-19 transmission?'", epidemiologist Helen Jenkins recently wrote on Twitter. "My thoughts: The issue of violence against black people & the wider issue of systemic racism is big enough and endemic enough that it needs to be addressed now & I whole-heartedly support the protesters."
Here's an excerpt about the connection between singing and the coronavirus:
ReplyDeleteFrom https://elemental.medium.com/why-singers-might-be-covid-19-super-spreaders-57607ed71b9b Why Singers Might Be Covid-19 Super-Spreaders
Choirs are a secret lifeblood of our country. It’s unclear when and how we’ll ever sing together again.
Sara Austin, May 6, 2020
...After a single (now notorious) rehearsal of the Skagit Valley Chorale in Mount Vernon, Washington, in early March, 45 of the 60 attendees fell ill with symptoms of Covid-19 and at least two have died. As Vanity Fair reports, scientists have traced other outbreaks to a funeral, church service, and rowdy bar, all involving enthusiastic group singing. Japanese scientists have reported outbreaks possibly tied to karaoke bars, says William Ristenpart, PhD, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis.
[...]
Here’s the evidence: The CDC tells us that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 chiefly spreads person-to-person via respiratory droplets that we emit when we sneeze or cough. These droplets are large enough (about 50 microns) that you can see them. But we also emit much tinier aerosol particles (as small as one micron) whenever we breathe, talk, or sing.
The louder you are, the more particles you emit and the greater risk you would infect the people near you.
...singing, according to research done on the spread of tuberculosis, may produce six times the rate of small airborne droplets as speaking does.
In fact, almost everything about singing seems to create more (potentially virus-spreading) aerosols. Ristenpart explains the mechanism: When you exhale, mucosal fluid forms a film deep in your contracting lungs. When you inhale and your lung walls expand, the film bursts, creating aerosol particles that are then breathed out into the world. “The rate at which you inhale or exhale affects the number of particles you emit,” he says. Deep, slow breathing followed by a fast exhale would produce the fewest particles. The greatest number would come from quick inhalation (causing a more violent film burst) followed by slow and prolonged exhaling. “That’s kind of a description of singing,” Ristenpart says.
A similar film-burst effect happens in the larynx as your vocal cords expand and contract — and your cords vibrate more when you sing than when you speak. Your volume also matters: The louder you are, the more particles you emit and the greater risk you would infect the people near you. For example, the UC Davis study suggested, “airborne infectious disease might spread more efficiently in a school cafeteria than a library, or in a noisy hospital waiting room than a quiet ward.”
As for a choral concert? “Would singing cause a large number of expiratory particles to be emitted? I would say absolutely,” Ristenpart says. Whether those aerosols actually transmit disease depends on additional factors — like airflow, to name a big one. Still, says Ristenpart, “if that choir in Washington had sat for two hours of meditation instead of singing, the transmission would almost certainly have been much lower.” There is abundant evidence to suggest that Covid-19 is spread via aerosols, he adds, “but a lot of people are very resistant to that idea, because the potential implications are a bit terrifying.”
For those of us who sing in choirs, the idea is almost too heartbreaking to bear. Suddenly one of the healthiest things I do for myself every week has become an agent of plague.”...
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For another article about singing and coronavirus, click https://focus.masseyeandear.org/is-singing-in-a-choir-safe-during-covid-19-a-voice-expert-explains-the-risk/ Is Singing in a Choir Safe During COVID-19? A Voice Expert Explains the Risk
THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2020
Singing used to be a central activity in civil rights marches and rallies. In earlier online comments (first in 2007 in this Mudcat Discussion thread http://awe.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=104999#2155983, and also on this pancocojams blog- Read my comment below) I wondered why singing had ceased to be a part of Black American protest marches/rallies.
DeleteGiven that singing except for on-stage performances has been almost non-existent at Black protest marches and rallies, it's ironic that singing would be reintroduced by sing alongs of Bill Withers' song "Lean On Me" during the Coronavirus.
Here's the comment that I wrote in 2014 which was a rephrasing of my comment on the Mudcat folk music discussion thread that I had started in 2007 on African American Protest Slogans & Songs
DeleteFrom http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/07/examples-of-black-civil-rights-chants.html
comment: Azizi Powell,
July 13, 2014 at 12:28 PM
"In several comments in that Mudcat thread about African American Protest Slogans & Songs, I wondered why African American demonstrations (marches/rallies) no longer included group singing. To quote a slightly corrected portion of one of those comments, "it seems to me that the use of adapted spirituals during the 1960s civil rights movement reflected Black cultural traditions. ...my question is have African American traditions changed with regard to protest marching?
Nowadays, is chanting still "in", but singing too old school? "
I mentioned in that Mudcat discussion that I've noticed that African American marches & rallies no longer include group singing , although rallies often include performers singing while the group watches. I think that the reasons for this significant change are:
In the 1960s African American demonstrators and people of other races/ethnicities who supported those causes sung civil rights songs (also called "freedom songs") to help unify them, encourage them & strengthen their will in the face of real physical danger or other potential very negative consequences to themselves and/or their families. The consequences to attending a march or rally nowadays isn't as great. Therefore, there's not as much need for those songs or other songs like them.
The mass media needs quick sound bits and chants & signage provide those sound bites better than songs.
Singing is largely reserved for professionals more than it was in the 1960s. Most African Americans (and I believe most other Americans) are used to being the audience while singing is being done. And many people would probably be embarrassed to sing in public during all but a few occasions such as during church services, and during religious or non-religious concerts.
I'm interested in your opinion about this subject."
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Notice how I wrote in in 2007 and didn't change in 2014 that Black people participating in protest rallies and marches didn't have to worry about physical danger like they had to worry about in the earlier Civil Rights marches. That may not have been true during the early 2000s and 2014, but it seemed to be true during the March On Washington that I attended in 1968 and it also seemed to be true for the Jena 6 march that I referenced in that Mudcat discussion thread.
But that definitely isn't true during the Black protest marches and rallies nowadays and some years before this.