Womynsong

Ferron (via Thunder the Movie).

“Some gals said they were coming down to Michigan and I had no idea what they were talking about. They said, ‘Come on! Come on along’ … We all took off, and we got to Michigan and it was the old land … way off in the distance I could see Sweet Honey was singing … I watched them sing and I got this really funny feeling in my throat; I’ve only had it a couple of times in my life. I realized I was supposed to be on that stage. I realized it. … In '81 I finally got to go to Michigan, and then Sweet Honey, in the back tent, Sweet Honey in the Rock was there, and I was just about to go on. They say, 'Testimony’ … Bernice [Johnson Reagon] turns to me and she goes, 'That’s our song.’ … I was kind of scared of her, because they’d already kicked me out of the tent for lighting a cigarette. … First they kicked me out, and then she said 'that’s our song,’ and they asked if they could come and sing it. I’ve got photos of me, and I look stricken, because their voices were so perfect and mine was so gravelly. But they did that, and I think in some way they put me on the map. People do remember that … I was playing at around five-thirty, that’s when they used to start it, at five-thirty, and the sun was in my eyes, and I was just thrilled.

"I think I’ll confess something here. At one point my manager, Gayle Scott, and I were walking around the land looking at everything and she turned to me and said, 'What do you want from this?’ And I said, 'I want the top. I don’t know what that means, but I want the top.’ It took many years, and my top was never alone there — there is no such thing — but I did experience the height of love and respect, three encores, that kind of thing, at Michigan. And thank goodness. Thank goodness — that’s the kind of thing that keeps you going. Say on a night like tonight that’s probably not going to be that full, I just close my eyes and remember that maybe there’s just one person and you just do it, but yes, sometimes at Michigan there’s ten thousand. And that’s what keeps you going."