The Women's March
Words and music by Sarah Pirtle, © 2017, Discovery Center Music, BMI
Lyrics
My daughter’s sign read, “The Walls Must Come Down.”
Send around the earth a common call.
And my mother at my side, her sign read, “I’m terrified.”
And the rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
I looked in every face and I trusted.
Send around the earth a common call.
In pink hats on the green, half a million like sardines.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
Chorus:
We’re shouting -- Don’t give up.
We’re shouting -- Don’t forget.
Send around the earth a common call.
We come together at this hour and stand inside our power.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
My son’s sign read: “The future’s female.”
Send around the earth a common call.
He said the speakers are hard to hear.
He grabbed my elbow, we edged near.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
Chorus
Bridge melody:
There was a speaker touched my heart,
she called out -- “Say her name!
Send around the earth a common call.
It was a voice like no other. It was Sandra Bland’s mother.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
As I joined the shout for Sandra, I found your eyes.
Send around the earth a common call.
Like me your tears fell down,
you held your grandchild in your arms.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
Chorus:
We’re shouting -- don’t give up.
We’re shouting -- don’t forget.
Send around the earth a common call.
Here we are not strangers. All rights are in danger.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
She said to me, can I see, what sign is on your back.
Send around the earth a common call.
“Fear ignorance, not Muslims” are the words that I wore.
The rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
And what would you say, if you could speak into the mic?
Send around the earth a common call.
I’d bring my family to the mic, and say --
“We are what an immigrant family looks like.”
And the rise of women’s voices lifts us all.
Production: Engineered by Loren Feinstein, Colrain, MA.
Lead vocals and guitar -- Sarah Pirtle. Crowd vocal -- Caroline Joy Dubinsky.
About This Song
Resource -- Dialogue booklet to be downloaded for free.
The week before the Women’s March I wrote a 30-page booklet called KEEPERS OF THE FIRE: Dialogue to Change Sexism and Foster Gender Reconciliation — It can be downloaded on the website for Traprock Center for Peace and Justice at http://traprock.org/common-threads. It contains anecdotes, insights and information about the organizations that address gender justice.
The Story of the Song: During the march in Boston, I wrote down forty of the signs and later watched footage of as many sections of the march as I could. My friend Lui Collins went to Washington D.C. and she spoke movingly about the moment when she heard Sandra Bland’s mother and cried along with a woman in the crowd as they met each other’s eyes. This song combines true events to create a fictional family.