My Beliefs are in My Song
Engaging Black Politics through Popular Music
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12129277 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christopher Stone (0000-0002-9621-5334, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 28-32 |
| Publication date | 2006-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | OAH Magazine of History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0882-228X • E-ISSN: 1938-2340 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/maghis/20.5.28 |
| OpenAlex | W2329759649 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
With the lyric, “Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong/My own beliefs are in my song,” Sly and the Family Stone began “Everday People” (1969), the song that proved the most popular and acclaimed track by the innovative and self-destructive Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart) (1). His work encapsulates much of the spirit of the mythic Sixties. His interracial and intergender band's potent fusion of pop, rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, and soul tapped into the integrationist aspirations of many Americans (2). Stone's first hit, “Dance to the Music” (1968), which allowed band members to step forward, solo, and shine as the collective kept a tight groove, offered a working model for how to reconcile the counterculture's conflicting desires for individual autonomy and communal togetherness. The gospel-charged “I Want to Take You Higher” (1969) tapped into the yearning for spiritual transcendence that animated much of the era's cultural insurgency. “Stand!” (1969) offers perhaps the definitive statement of the central tenet of Sixties idealism: the belief that individuals can enact positive social and political change if they get informed, organized, and involved
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Counterculture · Dance · Epistemology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Soul · American Political and Social Dynamics · Music History and Culture · Race, History, and American Society · Law · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|