Music Notes – Sunday, November 17th:
This Sunday’s musician is UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley
Prelude: Gathered Here – Porter
#389 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Gathered Here” was written in 1990 by Phil Porter (b. 1953), an artist, dancer and arts educator and United Church of Christ lay minister who is known for his work as an LGBTQ+ activist. The simple, overlapping melody and haunting harmonies have made “Gathered Here” a longtime favorite in both UU and UCC worship services.
Song: Lean on Me – Withers
First released in 1972, “Lean on Me” was the first and only number one hit for R&B singer Bill Withers (1938-2020). In 1987, a remake by the reggae band Club Nouveau won Withers a Grammy Award for Best Song and made “Lean on Me” one of only a handful of songs to have reached #1 both in its original form and then later as a cover version. The song was notably performed by Mary J. Blige at the concert celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, and is also #1021 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook.
Centering Music: Jar of Hearts – Perri, Lawrence, and Yeretsian
“Jar of Hearts” was the debut single from American singer/songwriter Christina Perri (b. 1986). The song, co-written by Perri with producer/songwriters Drew Lawrence and Barrett Yeretsian, was first released in 2010 on an episode of So You Think You Can Dance, and went on to become a top twenty hit in the U.S., U.K., and several other countries.
Offertory Music: Broken – Collins, Medice, and DeRosa
First released in 2017, “Broken” was the debut single from the Los Angeles-based indie pop group lovelytheband, who later included the song on their 2018 album Finding It Hard to Smile. “Broken” was a hit both in the United States and internationally, spending nine weeks at number one on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart, and staying on that chart for a record-breaking 76 consecutive weeks. The song was written by lovelytheband’s lead singer Mitchy Collins, along with songwriter Sam DeRosa and producer Christian Medice. In an interview with Atwood Magazine, Collins said of the song: “”We all have our demons we fight every day. It’s about finding someone whose problems complement yours. Perfectly imperfect. Everyone is a little broken inside, trying to find their band aid”.
Closing Song: Return Again – Carlebach
Written by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1925-1994, also known as Reb Shlomo), “Return Again” (#1011 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook) comes from a musical village that Carlebach founded in Israel. The Hebrew word “tshuva,” often translated as “repentance” during Yom Kippur, literally means “return.” This has a deeply spiritual sense of coming back to the source of our being to re-establish right relationship with yourself.
Postlude: The Long and Winding Road – McCartney
Appropriately enough, “The Long and Winding Road” was the last of the twenty songs that would become number 1 hits for The Beatles in the United States. Although John Lennon received album credit as a co-writer of the song, it was written entirely by Paul McCartney, who composed “The Long and Winding Road” as a reflection on the musical journey he had taken with the other members of The Beatles, whose breakup felt inevitable to McCartney at the time. The song was recorded for Let It Be, the Beatles’ final studio album, and was released as a single in May of 1970, a month after the band publicly announced their breakup. The lush orchestration and choir heard on the final version of the song were both added by producer Phil Spector without McCartney’s knowledge or consent. McCartney tried unsuccessfully to prevent Spector’s arrangement from making it to the album, and has since released his own stripped-down version of the song.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director