The Youth and Children’s Choirs offer songs related to the October worship theme of grief (“I Go”) and the RE monthly theme of cultivating compassion (“Swimming to the Other Side”).

“I Go” is a song of leave-taking. It can be heard as expressing feelings about transitions (relocating, missing the proximity of friendships) or of our eventual mortality within an ephemeral life. The words for the song were written by Follenite Bill Meikle (1935–2006). Those of you who were around here in the early 2000s may recall Bill. (He looked a lot like Ben Franklin!) Bill had written the poem when he had lived in the Midwest. He learned that a friend of his had submitted it on his behalf to the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest when the first-place check fell out of an envelope.

Bill was also a member of the Family Folk Chorale and many years later gave Chris E. a copy of the poem shortly before his 70th birthday, suggesting it might become a song…. Bill first heard it as a song on his 70th birthday and in the final year of his life enjoyed performing it in concert and recording it with Chris for the FFC album Songs for Living On (named after a lyric from the song).

“Swimming to the Other Side” by Pat Humphries is a song of interconnectedness. The verses illustrate individuals’ experiences of searching, working through feelings, acknowledging imperfection, and summoning guides/wisdom. The refrain swells into a “we” perspective expressing our interconnection within the human family.

“We are living ’neath the great Big Dipper, we are washed by the very same rain….”

The NPR program All Things Considered devoted a feature story to “Swimming to the Other Side,” calling it “an underground anthem” and described how, even without standard commercial success, the song became widespread and influential. Emma’s Revolution (duo including Pat and Sandy O) later performed the song many times with Pete Seeger, including at the UU General Assembly in 2005.

—Chris