I pondered how difficult the art of poetry translation is and I decided to accept the challenge my subconscious was throwing down.The song deserves no lesser sacrifice. But then I thought - what would Stevie Nicks do? If she hadn’t written it - she’d find a way to make it her own… So, I found my way in, through translation- little snippets of the lyrics started coming to me in French. I was terrified to touch this song at first - it is such an iconic classic and has been covered by so many.
“Landslide” – Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks) Sade’s voice gives me strength and hope.Ģ. I hope to have the privilege of meeting her one day. Sade lights the way for so many of us - I remember how electrified I felt the first time I heard her and saw her on television - a mixed heritage black woman like me - not fitting easily or neatly into any box- transcending them all. “By Your Side” may have lost the Grammy back in 2001 - but it has won the test of time. I’ve returned to this song almost daily during these hard months. This pandemic has been devastating for our little ones. I couldn’t get through it without crying.
I was singing this one to my seven-year-old daughter, Ida, like a lullaby. “By Your Side” – Sade – (Sade Adu / Andrew Hale / Stuart Matthewman / Paul S.Īn endlessly expansive and inclusive song of love - it could be the love between lovers, the love of a parent for a child, the love for an elder who is not long for this world…It feels like it has always existed and always will - it feels like an expression of our collective unconscious - it comforts me and invokes a melancholy yearning all at once. Sade’s voice gives me strength and hope.1. I remember how electrified I felt the first time I heard her and saw her on television a mixed heritage black woman like me, not fitting easily or neatly into any box, transcending them all. ’By Your Side’ may have lost the Grammy back in 2001 but it has won the test of time. It comforts me and invokes a melancholy yearning all at once. It feels like an expression of our collective unconscious. It feels like it has always existed and always will. “It could be the love between lovers, the love of a parent for a child, the love for an elder who is not long for this world. “Sade’s “By Your Side” is an “endlessly expansive and inclusive song of love,” says Russell. Here’s to Hope and Healing for this New Year.” May these interpretations bring some comfort. I have been missing the language of my Montreal childhood, trying to reclaim those broken years. I have taken loving liberties and translated some of their poetry into French. I have tried to do them some justice while finding my own truth within the songs. These songs each create a world that I want to visit and revisit.
These brilliant artists – Sade, Stevie Nicks – powerful writers all, make me feel brave and fully human.
Every time I listen to a modern song that moves me it feels like resistance. I discovered that I was a musician that I was a writer.
I learned that women could write music too. I ran away at 15 to escape his violence…and a whole new universe of sound opened up to me. Anything not written or appropriated by a white man was banned. Almost anything written after 1820 was banned. He was particularly tyrannical about what we were allowed to listen to. My adoptive father – my primary abuser – was intensely controlling of all aspects of my life and of our constantly shifting households. “I learned to make myself very small and very quiet in order to survive. “I grew up afraid and ashamed all of the time,” says Russell. Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell, a founding member of Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Amythyst Kiah) and Birds of Chicago (with her husband/musical partner JT Nero), has shared her cover of Sade’s “By Your Side.”īoth tracks hold special meaning for her.