A song for ME: Blowin' in the wind

Some of you may recall that a few months ago I was asking for volunteers to sing in the chorus of an alternative version of Blowin' in the Wind that I had written (https://www.s4me.info/threads/protest-song-about-me-angel-on-the-water.1891/)

Here it is the finished result:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BncUDXRA1v4

I am hoping that people may play and/or sing the song at the #MillionsMissing protests on 12 May. For those who would like to, I have produced a printable lyrics sheet and a printable chords sheet.

To request a free MP3 file of the song to play at a protest, please email asongforMEcfs@gmail.com


YouTube description:

Originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan for his breakthrough 1963 Freewheelin’ album, I started working on my alternative lyrics for Blowin’ in the Wind in 2016. It wasn’t until the end of last year that I stumbled upon the idea of recording it with other people with ME from around the world.

Having posted messages on forums and social media, I was encouraged by the number of replies I received from people who were interested to take part. Sadly, several volunteers had to drop out because they were not well enough to record themselves singing. However, the final recording includes the voices of 18 people from 7 different countries – most of whom have never met or communicated with each other.

Originally, I was only going to use the extra voices for the choruses, but Kaeley’s harmony was so beautiful that I couldn’t not use it throughout the song. I had no experience of doing anything like this before. I have never sung in a choir or been well enough to play my guitar in public, and I’d never tried mixing more than one person’s voice, so I had no idea if it would work or not. But I am very pleased with the final result.

It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to work with so many talented and motivated people from the international ME community. As well as all the singers, I am indebted to Anna and Jonas for providing me with the images for the video from their ME Perspective website, and for their help and enthusiasm throughout the project. I very much hope that our combined efforts will help to raise awareness of our struggle, the ignorance and injustices we face, and the desperate need for a huge increase in investment in biomedical ME research.

The song is dedicated to Anne Örtegren. I never knew Anne, or had any contact with her, but I had just read her beautifully written and deeply moving Farewell Letter when I recorded the song, and she has been very much in my mind throughout the process of production.

NB: It has been suggested that it might have been better to use gender-neutral lyrics rather than referring to a man. This is a valid point, not least because ME affects at least three times as many women as men. However, when I tried using gender-neutral alternatives I didn’t feel they worked so well lyrically. I also wanted to echo Dylan’s original lyrics (“How many roads must a man walk down”) and decided that the masculine form was acceptable as I was writing about my own situation.

Credits:

Guitar and vocals: Robert Saunders (aka Robert McMullen; West Sussex, UK)
Harmony: Kaeley Pruit-Hamm (Seattle, WA, USA)
Chorus: Christina Kalinen (London, UK); Nikki Franklin (West Sussex, UK); Leela (USA); Maya Leutwiler (Zürich, Switzerland); Darla Nagel (Flushing, Michigan, USA); Lorna Robinson (West Sussex, UK); Olivia Rowe (North Cornwall, UK); Noa Henrietta Ruscheweyh-Sternberg (Hamburg, Germany); Barbara Saunders (West Sussex, UK); Emma Shorter (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK); Richard Shorter (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK); Simas (Lithuania); Becky Taurog (St Paul, MN, USA); Jen “Gemma” Taylor (Hagerstown, Maryland, USA); James Wallace (Hokkaido, Japan); Zoë Williams (Oxfordshire, UK)
Video images: Anna and Jonas, ME Perspective (Switzerland)
Arrangement, production and alternative lyrics: Robert Saunders
Original music & lyrics: Bob Dylan

 

@Robert 1973

Fantastic! What a great job Robert.
May we share on social media?

 

Yes, please share as widely as possible, on social media and beyond. We need the message to reach as many people as possible.

 

beautifully done. I shared to my face book page which means just a hand full of people may bother to listen and few will understand the politics. but I am both grateful and impressed by your talent and hard work. thank you.

 

Beautiful work @Robert 1973 well done! I don’t use social media but will forward the video to everyone I know.

 

Heartbreaking, and beautiful at the same time.

 

Great job! Your voices blend really well and yes, the harmonizing is really lovely. I love your guitar playing too. It brought a tear to my eye - and I don't do tears! I hope this reaches far and wide.

 

Absolutely beautiful and equally heartbreaking.

 

Beautiful!

A big well done to everyone who contributed.

It takes a lot of guts to put yourselves on the internet, especially if you've not done it before.

Well arranged, edited and mastered Robert! It one heck of an achievement to get a lot of different voices onto one track without it sounding really weird. Very nice playing and singing too.

 

Wow, it is beautifully done, as well very moving and powerful and will appeal to all generations. What a wonderful achievement!

 

An amazing achievement. Emotive. Perfect. Well done.

 

Beautifully written and put together. This brought tears to my eyes. Well done @Robert 1973

I always get so sad for all the people I see in the photos, and then only after a while do I remember that this is my life too, I’m lying here in bed too. Still feels so unreal that this is happening to people, that this is our life.

 

Nice job; but aren't there some copyright issues?

 

So beautiful @Robert 1973 . Particularly loved your and Kaeley's vocals. The combination with images from people's rooms and quotes is very powerful. Congrats to all.

This brought tears out of my eyes!

 

Wow, that is so beautiful, both the music and images, and the quotes used. So very touching, it brought tears to me too. Wonderful job.

 

Ah, reminds me of my old signature on Phoenix Rising.

 

There always used to be a link to a youtube song I could copy and include in an email to group that needs plain text but this showed the pic itself - I cant get a link on the ipad and so came here to PC but still cant.
Not sure if just me or has something changed as I would like to email it on email groups I belong to.

 

I managed to find one elsewhere!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BncUDXRA1v4

 

but it didn't stay as a link on here!