Disobey
“Obey” and “disobey” are not the kind of words you hear around our house, or at the preschool. When I was a kid, they were big concepts. Whether you were obeying or disobeying had a lot to do with how your day was going to go. To disobey was a very bad, dangerous thing, and the word was pronounced with a certain heavy, finger-shaking tone. When Laura says “disobey,” it’s a whole other idea. From time to time someone will tell her she can’t do something (usually a boy, but not always), and invariably when she comes home and tells the story, her face lights up, she stands up straight and says “I disobeyed.” The whole content of the term, in her world, comes from civil disobedience: “What did Dr. King do?” “He disobeyed.” This is the anarchist generation we are spawning.
When she caught on that Dr. King and his friends, in the middle of all that marching and disobeying, also sang songs, and that we could too, there was a whole new obsession. My parents became the only Republican folkies when they were working in inner-city Chicago in the early 60s. They used to sing some of these songs around the house. For a week or so I was able to dredge up one or two a day from long-term memory. “We Shall Overcome” was one of my mom’s favorites, so that was easy. I also remembered “We Shall Not Be Moved,” “I’m On My Way,” “Down By the Riverside,” “Woke Up This Morning,” and a few others like that. Laura especially likes “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” even though it’s a little harder to decipher than most. With the help of my copy of Rise Up Singing that I got from Andy for my birthday a couple of years ago, I remembered “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” “Union Maid,” “Which Side Are You On,” “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round,” and some others. Every time I pick up the guitar now, Laura asks, “Did you remember another freedom song?” She sings them with great vigor, making up verses and even occasionally whole free-verse songs of her own. She is more than happy to share them with anyone within hearing range.
Categorised as: Laura