Two professors in the political science department will give a talk, “Unintentional Activism? Finding Meaning in the Songs of Motor City Musicians,” as part of Women’s History Month on Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in room 300 Halle Library.
Beth Henschen and Edward Sidlow will explore what happens to a song once a political movement adopts it as part of its movement.
“They become anthems in of their own right,” Sidlow said. “But originally, they might have had an entirely different purpose. I think that the intersections of politics and art are interesting.”
They will talk about two songs that came out of the Motor City, “Dancing in the Street,” by Martha and the Vandellas and Aretha Franklin’s version of “Respect.”
“Our interest was trying to figure out if those singers really meant for the songs to be anthems or if that’s just meaning that’s been given to the songs by other people and in retrospect,” Henschen said.
Sidlow said that every successful moment in American history had a good song attached to it.
“Not unlike the group psychology of a fight song at a football or a basketball game,” Sidlow said. “What is it about a fight song that makes everybody stand up and sing and cheer and do whatever gestures the fight song calls for? I think that the song becomes an emotional gathering place for those people who have adopted it.”
According to Henschen, Aretha Franklin and Martha Reeves, of Martha and the Vandellas, didn’t set out to create “calls to action.”
“They wanted to be stars,” Henschen said. “They weren't saying, ‘this is a song for a revolution.’ It’s others that put the meaning into the songs and that’s what we find really fascinating.”
This event is LBC approved. For more information, contact Henschen at 734-487-1398 or by email at bhenschen@emich.edu.
“These songs last because they can mean different things to different people and different generations,” Henschen said. “That’s why they’re classics.”
