Guest 28 Dec. 9:35 AM wrote

"The songs people still associate with the civil rights movement were religious for the most part, like "We Shall Overcome" which always sounded to me like the flip side to "Onward Christian Soldiers". Not a song to my liking."

As I posted today in the African American Permathread, the history of the civil rights song "We Shall Overcome", is at least partly religious. I believe it's spiritual mother is the song "I'll Be Alright" and it's spiritual father is the song "We'll Overcome".

IMO, it's the context as much as the words that makes individuals consider a particular song to be spiritually moving. I'm not nearly as fond of the slower paced "We Shall Overcome" song as I am the spirituals that birthed it. But when I think of songs that have demonstrated the potential to bring diverse people together, "We Shall Overcome" sure comes to mind. "Even" a song such as "Kumbayah" sung with a group's whole heart and soul can raise spiritual energy. While that song is now relegated to campfire sings, and is largely considered a joke, I am moved when I think of the enslaved people who sang it. Given the current state of this nation and the world, particularly in light of the horrendous natural disaster that recently occurred in Asia, a song like "Come By Here, Lord" [a translation of the USA'Gullah phrase 'Kumbayah'] is as relevent today as it was way back then.

Also IMO, what the world needs now and has always needed is more music that helps raise our spirtual energy.

I'm not sure if it's from the 1960s or 1970s, and it probably may not be considered folk, but one record that works this way for me is John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.