A Song For Michael -- performed by the Echo Women’s Choir
Channel: Echo Women's Choir
Date: 2022-03-08

A Song For Michael
Words and music by Vera Johnson, © Oct 29, 1969

Vera Johnson’s songs and recordings are overdue for a comeback. She was born in 1920 and there was a time in the 60s and 70s, when she circulated in all the right company: she met Malvina Reynolds in Vancouver for a peace conference, and taught one of her songs to a busload of Canadian protestors; she had a record deal with Stompin’ Tom’s company Boot Records; and audiences and music-business people loved her singing on the folk circuit. She wrote 274 songs, as well as lots of stories; she supported the co-op housing movement and was a freakishly fast typist.

There were homespun songs, crafted into great stories, with gorgeous tunes and cheerful energy: the Do-It-Yourself Divorce, the song about Trudeau-mania, love songs, the history of her dad who was a railway engineer, and the Women’s Liberation Blues. But what caught our eye first was a fabulous dream song lullaby for her grandson, A Song for Michael. She somehow knits together the modernity of the moon landing, and the tenderness of a kitten landing on its feet, in the wish for her boy’s healthy development. Spoiler alert: he did OK, and we found him on Facebook!

March, 2022 Echo started a new season online, and then a new year, still longing almost feverishly for the joys of singing together in the same place. We do have energy for those Zoom meetings and the feelings of connection, but we’re really ready to sing together. How happy we’ll be to celebrate International Women’s Day this year, with a hybrid in-person AND online rehearsal, as well as this new song gift we give to the world. Many thanks to the Echo Alumnae, guest artists and other singer friends who have joined us, virtually every week. 

Recording © 2022, The Echo Women’s Choir 

Audio and video editing: Peter Turner 

Echo 4th-Wave Pandemica Singers 
Alan Gasser, Artistic Director (and choral arranger) 
Susanne Maziarz, accompanist (and arranger)
Thanks also to section leaders Alida Doornberg and Susanne Maziarz

Lyrics:
This is a song for Michael, now that you’re nearly three;
You’re too young to get the message, but you’ll grow older and you’ll see
The reason I say I’m sorry that I can’t do more.
Wish that I could shield you from the cold and the rain,
Keep you always laughing, free of sorrow and pain,
Hide you deep in your nest, but I know it’s in vain –
Maybe you’ll understand when you’re four.

This is a wish for Michael, may you stay warm and kind,
Keep on reaching out for answers with groping fingers of your mind,
May you never finish learning and wondering why –
Why a little kitten always lands on its feet,
Why the streetlights glisten in the rain on the street,
Why in lands far away they have nothing to eat
And why soldiers are sent off to die.

This is a hope for Michael – we’ll build a world that’s new;
Hopes are sometimes pretty futile, but we can help them to come true,
So we who still hope are trying to let people know:
We have reached the moon and left our prints in its dust,
It’s an age of marvels and we have to adjust,
We can leap to the stars, but before that we must
Make a world where a boy can just grow.

Echo Pandemica Singers Videos

1) Do Not Carry a Heavy Heart, by Alison Burns -- https://youtu.be/Poay7rLwtpQ 
2) Fount, by Malcolm Dalglish -- https://youtu.be/52GRxvlMNAQ 
3) Bird Song, by Heather Masse & Nicky Mehta --  https://youtu.be/5SowPDbmqEk 
4) Big Sky, by Seth Houston -- https://youtu.be/vnpuc-5afto 
5) Hope, by Alex Bevan -- https://youtu.be/o1jq9V0SHyQ 
6) Better Times Will Come, by Janis Ian -- https://youtu.be/Cee4H6VoTfg 
7) Holding You in the Light, by Kathy Reid-Naiman -- https://youtu.be/pAUF6nHw-9U 
8) Green Shadows, by Malvina Reynolds  -- https://youtu.be/Kh9xIGfchM4
9) My Rainbow Race, by Pete Seeger –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8pJBjJruyU
10) A Song for Michael, by Vera Johnson -- https://youtu.be/-h9obbDbEQM