: takin' it to the streets :

... the last several years I have been intrigued by what urban, and/or inner-city ministry is supposed to look like, mostly from a suburban church perspective. I think much of my wondering 'jelled' when I was able to visit Ron M in Montreal, a career street minister, and then Greg P in Toronto, founder and pastor of Sanctuary. Then, as Victoria's homeless situation grew more and more desperate, and Vancouver's gained profile in he face of development for the 2010 Olympics ( and a handful of friends working on the DTES ... Down Town East Side ), and a combination of city and provincial politicians landed a proposed shelter next door to a good friend's place of business, well ... there was no escaping it. Not that I wanted to, but I couldn't break it down into manageable, understandable, wrap-my-brain-around-it chunks. All that to say ... while a very, very visual learner/processor, every once in a while something 'audio' rings a bell, gets my attention, makes me sit up and take notice. The last couple of years I have been paying more attention to the lyrics in my generation's songs ... and seeing some kind of social conscience, or some questioning, taking place.

About a year ago I heard the Doobie Bros 1976 hit "Takin' it to the Streets" on the Q100.3 ... and yes, I do have it on a cassette somewhere. However, I heard it very differently this time around, not just Michael McDonald's catchy* tune, but something else. When I got home I downloaded it from iTunes, and listened to it carefully, again and again. Finally I wrote to a MMcD fan site, and actually got a response ( below ) to my query about Michael's motivation in writing "Takin' it to the Streets" ... so here's another challenge, following up on the Desmond Tutu quote below, as we turn the corner into 2009. With both new mayors of Victoria and Vancouver running election campaigns, and winning, on a priority platform of addressing the homelessness issue ... our posture will be critical. McDonald put it this way ... "I ain't blind, and I don't like what I think I see" ... maybe addressing the do-gooder we have the answers for you approach, which is something Canadian Food for the Hungry has beaten out of some of us, in a necessary kind of way.

Here is a YouTube version at some tribute to MMcD by some of his friends. A better one is here, but the YouTube embedding has been disabled, but you decide.



You don't know me but I'm your brother. I was raised here in this living hell.
You don't know my kind in your world. Fairly soon the time will tell.

You, telling me the things you're gonna do for me.
I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see.
Takin' it to the streets, takin' it to the streets, no more need for runnin',
takin' it to the streets.

Take this message to my brother. You will find him everywhere.
Wherever people live together, tied in poverty's despair.

Oh, you, telling me the things you're gonna do for me.
I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see.
Takin' it to the streets, takin' it to the streets, no more need for runnin',
takin' it to the streets.
Takin' it to the streets, takin' it to the streets, no more need for hidin',
takin' it to the streets.
Takin' it to the streets, takin' it to the streets, takin' it to the...

Oh, you, telling me the things you're gonna do for me.
I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see.
Takin' it to the streets,
takin' it to the streets, no more need for runnin',
takin' it to the streets.
Takin' it to the streets,
takin' it to the streets,
takin' it to the streets.

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Here's the background ...

Hi Don

You are in luck - we do have a bit of insight about "Takin' It To The Streets" from the man himself - Mike told us this one time when we met him for a fanzine interview.

"Takin' it to the Streets" was based on a paper his sister had been writing for college about urban renewal, civil rights, Martin Luther King and equality. These things were very current down in St Louis when Mike was a teenager and it is clear that they affected him deeply. I think he was saying that people - you and I - have the real power to affect change not the politicians ... we just need to take it to the people - take it to the streets.

Mike has also told us that he was moved by Steve Wonder on this subject (on such tracks as Living For The City for example) and also Marvin Gaye's seminal album - "What's Going On". Incidently, Marvin was Mike's main vocal inspiration - the layered vocal technique which Gaye invented - taking all the parts of the harmony himself with 3 or 4 over dubs. You can see this most obviously in Mike's early work for Steely Dan on tracks such as Peg (album: Aja). As a personal aknowledgement of this, Mike has regularly sung What's Goin On during his live gigs for over fifteen years.

Kind regards,

P

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