With some kind of protest happening seemingly every day during these perilous times, one might get (secretly) tired of telling people what democracy looks like. In NYC, a couple of organizations, with similar names, have added a twist, inviting protesters to voice their rage, concern, determination, and more through song.
Last Saturday, about an hour before the noon start of the big rally, pink-accessorized members of Sing Out, Louise! — with its tag line “Vote, resist, sing” — stood with a small group near one of the famous New York Public Library lions. Reading from lyric sheets and accompanied by a kazoo, they were practicing “Faith,” the George Michael song but with new lyrics: “Well I think it would be nice, if we could ditch you Donny / Maybe commit you Donny, cuz you got a loose screw-ew-ew.” (Other songs included “Mar-a-Lago!,” to the tune of “Oklahoma!,” and “Resist & Shout.”)
Nearby, Gary Baker, from the Sing Out! Protest Choir, wearing an Uncle Sam hat and carrying a small PA, arrived with his own set of lyric sheets, with selections ranging from the gospel song “We Shall Overcome” to Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” (“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”). Soon, joined by his associate Rob Hornsby in a Cat in the Hat chapeau — the hats help people find them — he led an ever-expanding circle in singing along with Pete Seeger’s recording of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” (When it ended, a middle-aged woman moved to the center and began singing, a capella, another, darker verse about getting “crumbs from the rich man’s table.”)
In the meantime, the throng had grown exponentially, with many activists standing on the library steps facing Fifth Avenue and holding up signs expressing their outrage and demands. Behind them, a group of drummers assembled, lending a sophisticated beat to such chants as “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state.” The signs were mirrored, in sentiment, hundreds of times over on Fifth Avenue, which was packed. (Speaking of yellow taxis, I watched a couple of them carefully maneuvering through that crowd.) As usual, the signs — and occasionally, the outfits — were creative, funny, vulgar, heartbreaking.… ❖
Mary Lyn Maiscott has conducted interviews, covered the arts, and written personal essays for the Village Voice, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, and New York Woman, among others.
