Anthem
or, New American Songs of Inclusion
ongoing

In this ongoing project, Raybon’s original anthems of inclusion and healing are revealed. Some may feature old American tunes and texts, and some may be completely new. Either way, these anthems underscore the work our country has to do and envision the justice-for-all America to which we aspire. These original works appear below, most recent first.

"It Finds an Echo”
Words: Robert Lowry (?) and revised by C. Leonard Raybon
Music: C. Leonard Raybon
Performers: LMEA District VI Virtual Honor Choir
Piano, Graphics, Mixing, Editing: C. Leonard Raybon
May 20, 2021

I am so thrilled that LMEA District VI asked me to create a piece for their Virtual Honor Choir. I decided to take the traditional folk hymn that some say was written by Robert Lowry, and adapt it. The updated text creates more internal rhymes, and contains themes about diversity. Instead of using Robert Lowry's well-known and well-loved tune, I decided to write my own, as there are already so many arrangements of that tune. For any of you who think it might be misguided to mess with the original text, I would remind you that the "prison cell and dungeon vile" verse was not added to the nineteenth-century original until around 1950, by Doris Plenn. I believe this current iteration of the hymn pays homage to the original, while adapting it to present issues. It has indeed been a pleasure! Be mindful that these young people signed on for choir, not sitting in their rooms making videos in isolation! I applaud them for investing in this project, and helping in this call for inclusion.

“It Finds an Echo”

My life flows on in endless song 
Above earth’s lamentation.
Though pain is vast, the will is strong
To hail a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my life—
How can I keep from singing?

My brothers, sisters call to me
(And all who would attend them)
To honor their humanity,
To value and befriend them.
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
Although their pleas are stinging;
May Love rain down its healing psalm!
How can I keep from singing?

I lift my eyes, the cloud grows fine;
I see the blue behind it;
I see all peoples intertwine,
That world: I trust we’ll find it.
To those who hurt, we’ll learn to show
Compassion ever springing:
A heaven fashioned here below—
How can I keep from singing?

“Easter, Remind Us”
Words and Music: C. Leonard Raybon
Performers: Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church Chancel Choir
-Trumpets: Vance Woolf, Stever Orejudos
-Trombones: Matt Wright, Evan Conroy
-Timpai: Jim Atwood
Piano, Graphics, Mixing, Editing: C. Leonard Raybon
April 4, 2021 (Easter)

“Easter, Remind Us”

Were they anxious and perplexed?
Would Christ rise day after next?
None could cite that ancient text.
Easter, remind us.

Lies were Satan’s stranglehold:
“Was it true what you were told?
You’ll be left here unconsoled.”
Easter, remind us.

But their faith would soon resume
When they found an empty tomb.
Naught but linen to exhume.
Easter, remind us!

***

Am I Thomas, who denied
All accounts his friends supplied?
Must I see His hands and side?
Easter, remind us.

Am I Mary Magdalene,
Who, expecting, freed from sin,
Brought her oils and spices in?
Easter, remind us.

+Children, do we hold The Creed?
Do we have the faith we need?
Mountain-mover?  Mustard seed?
(Easter, Remind us!)

***

Seems we’re in a God-Eclipse.
Words of worry on our lips,
Restless, drumming fingertips.
Easter, remind us.

Can we keep our brave veneer
*When our “Third Day” makes a year?
Will the Faithful’s faith adhere?
Easter, remind us.

Easter, when we feel unmoored,
Give us hope to climb toward;
Signal to the Risen Lord!
Easter, remind us!

+or: Christians,
*or: Does it end with nails and spear?

“The Forehead-Cross”
Words and Music: C. Leonard Raybon
Performers: Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church Chancel Choir
Piano, Graphics, Mixing, Editing: C. Leonard Raybon
February 17, 2021 (Ash Wednesday)

“The Forehead-Cross”

Ash to Ash and Dust to Dust:
Frail from our own power-lust,
We come bowing, weak and wan.
Kyrie Eleison

Help us, Lord, to know your core,
Cede this Christian culture war,
Your true essence center on.
Kyrie Eleison.

Now I see my outer gloss.
Ousted by The Forehead-Cross
Till the plumes of pride are gone.
Kyrie Eleison.

May my grief your grace enact,
Cancel my Ulysses pact
Since the hard-fought battle’s won!
Kyrie Eleison.

“Carol of the Cloth”
Words and Music: C. Leonard Raybon
Performers: Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church Chancel Choir; viola: Luke Fleming
Piano, Graphics, Mixing, Editing: C. Leonard Raybon
December 24, 2020

“Carol of the Cloth”

We humbly serve as warp and weft.
We’re swaddled ‘round His right and left.
Our common cloth will never fray.
Lully, lulla, lully lullay.

Our Lord should have a regal silk,
Or something finer in that ilk,
And yet the Savior bids us stay.
Lully, lulla, lully, lullay.

For His is not a worldly reign;
He’ll cling to fibers pure and plain
To bear His purpose on its way.
Lully, lulla, lully, lullay.

So let us weave a taut embrace
As siblings of each rank and race;
Our Little Lord turns none away.
Lully, lulla, lully, lullay.

"Build a Song"
words and music: C. Leonard Raybon
performers: "Build-a-Song Choir" and Tulane-Newcomb Choir
Soloist: Timethia Swanson
Piano, Graphics, Mixing, Editing: C. Leonard Raybon
November 30, 2020

This apprehension of whites in participating in projects like this usually has nothing to do with not wanting to create positive change; rather, many whites are afraid that they will offend People of Color, or might inadvertently trivialize issues or tackle them in a way that is tone-deaf.

After “Sundown Soul” was abandoned, I tried again. I thought if I wrote a song that was straight-forward and honest (avoiding the satire of “Sundown Soul,” then I could get people on board. Thus, “Build a Song,” was born. I put out a call on Facebook, and originally more than 100 people signed on. It dwindled a bit to over 80 people; some were scared of the technological aspect; I suspect others, when hearing the details of the project’s objective, didn’t want to make any comment on the George Floyd tragedy; still others were afraid that the project might offend.

The participants and I met on Zoom to discuss. Some were uncomfortable with part of the lyrics. Others were afraid that there were too few People of Color in the group. To address the former point, I was open to specific feedback and edited my lyrics to the final verses you see below. As for the latter point, I tried very hard to diversify the group, but didn’t have a great amount of success. I was discouraged, and began to conjecture as to why People of Color might not want to participate. Did they think this was a bad idea? Did they feel pressured to do my activism for me? Were they just tired? I reached out to several African Americans I trust, and decided to press ahead. One of my confidants was a student. I was asking her if she saw the lack of People of Color in the project as a problem. She asked me, “Well, what is the reason for the song?” I answered, “It’s a call to action.” She replied, “A call to action to whom?” I said, “To white people to recognize privilege and reach out to People of Color.” She concluded, then, that if the call to action for whites, then a relatively low number of People of Color should not be a reason to derail the song.

One of the participants referred to “Build a Song” as an “anthem of inclusion,” and that has stuck. I hope you find value in this piece.

“Build a Song”

1 In my world great griefs are swarming:
Hurt, injustice, damage, pain. 
In my heart a tune is forming:
Hopeful verses, bright refrain.
It’s a call for arms extended
Raising those we’ve driven out.
Harmony as it’s intended:
All with equal voice can shout.

REFRAIN
Build a song and sing it loudly,
Lift the love and drown the din!
Ever humbly, never proudly,
Sing to draw each other in.

2 And we know in Tune’s tradition,
Different tones hold certain sway.
May we all be on a mission
Not to see ourselves that way.
It’s convenient to disguise it:
Some of us are still ignored.
Only when we recognize it
Will we find that cosmic chord.

“Sundown Soul”
Summer 2020

May 25, 2020, when George Floyd was killed, was a bleak day in the United States. It rightly shifted national focus away from Covid and toward police brutality and white privilege.

There is a kind of “lost” Sacred Nine Project that was to respond to George Floyd’s murder. It was to be called, “Sacred Nine Project: Sundown Soul.” I chose an antebellum hymn tune (THE HEBREW CHILDREN) from Southern Harmony and wrote satirical lyrics. The premise alludes to Sundown Towns, in which Blacks were not allowed to stay in overnight. These verses are from the point of view of Sundown Soul, the well-intentioned white person who can’t see that the deck is stacked against People of Color…the heart that can’t open up quite enough to see the plight of “the other” for what it is.

I gathered a great group of singers and we Zoom’d about the project. There was a lot of hesitation that the satirical nature of the lyrics would not be apparent, and that once we had created the video and published it on-line, bad actors could misconstrue the message or even re-edit the video to say something unintended. Even though the arrangement and video graphics were done and the click tracks were ready, I scrapped the project. However, I hope for the “Sunset Soul” to be incorporated into a future project.

SUNDOWN SOUL

1 (Addressing confederate statues)
Where are our noble statues? 
Where are our noble statues? 
Where are our noble statues? 
Brave heroes from us stole.
Gleaming bronze, once highly polished
Now, with hist’ry, sore demolished,
E’en though slav’ry’s long abolished!
Lord, shield my Sundown Soul.

REFRAIN
O, Trav’ler, get thee yonder,
I don’t wish thy plight to ponder
Lest of thee find myself fonder
Here in my Sundown Soul.

2 (Addressing white privilege)
Where are the folks of priv’lege?
Where are the folks of priv’lege? 
Where are the folks of priv’lege?  
Penned on an ancient scroll.
Ages since a slave or slaver,
Everyone has equal favor.
Why should Trav’lers gain a waiver?
Lord, shield my Sundown Soul.

3 (Addressing police brutality)
Where are the brutal lawmen? 
Where are the brutal lawmen? 
Where are the brutal lawmen?
Trace sliver of the whole.
Nearly all are guarding, guiding.
Bent to joining, not dividing.
Peaceful homes and roads providing.
Lord, shield my Sundown Soul.

4 (Addressing Black Lives Matter) adobe stock
Where are the lives that matter? 
Where are the lives that matter? 
Where are the lives that matter? 
Yea, let us call the roll.
We all share the same Creator.
None be lesser, none be greater.
Trav’lers need no mediator.
Lord, shield my Sundown Soul.

5 (Addressing the unlikelihood of allyship)
Where are the Trav’lers’ allies? 
Where are the Trav’lers’ allies? 
Where are the Trav’lers’ allies? 
Who will assume that role?
Mine’s a heart of great compassion,
But they speak in bitter fashion,
My abundance they’d soon ration.
Lord, shield my Sundown Soul.