Building community: original song 'Stronger Together' sure to inspire

An original song performed during the Stronger Together Community Potluck on Saturday, April 20th was written by Robin Davison for Weyburn's community-building. It's called 'Stronger Together' and you can hear the full song at the bottom of this article.

"My dream for that song was audience involvement. There's one part in the chorus where there's space for people to shout out, 'Yes, we can!' and my dream came true on Saturday," she shared. "I made Carrie a sign, and when the time was right for the audience to shout, they all shouted, 'yes we can!' and it was so heartwarming. It was a dream come true. It was so lovely."

She said people were dancing and singing along, and some even came up and joined in using the extra microphone. 

"It was a beautiful experience."

Davison shared why she wrote the song, and how she had a little help with the music.

"I was feeling very inspired because community is very important to me. I think it's crucial to develop horizontal support systems within the community amongst neighbours, so that was kind of the theme going into it. We had decided that the theme of the potluck was Stronger Together," she noted. "I had attended part one of Dan Cugnet's Songwriting Workshop [at the Weyburn Public Library], and he said come up with an idea, and then for part two of the workshop, we'll work together and possibly put some music to the words or expand on the idea."

"So I went home and I was feeling inspired because this potluck project is very close to my heart. I think it's very important." Read more about the potluck HERE.

"I write a lot of poetry, so that's how it started. I wrote a poem and then I kind of structured it so that there was verses and the chorus, and I kept in mind that I was hoping for some audience participation," she explained. "So I took what I had to the second part of Dan's workshop, and we went out into the hall for some quiet, and he brought his guitar., and we kind of played around with a few chords, and we found some that fit. Then I went home that night and wrote the melody, and it all came together so nicely. I couldn't have done it without his help, and I'm very proud of the song." 

As for other purposes, such as the Weyburn Communithon, Davison said, "I would be so happy if my song was used to bring people together. That's that's exactly what I wrote it for. So yeah, that would be so good." 

The lyrics talk about making things better.

"I have dealt with a feeling of hopelessness at times. Sometimes it's hard not to feel alone, and it's hard to maintain hope when things keep getting more expensive, but our wages aren't increasing. It's hard to remain hopeful when we're scared of another wave of COVID happening. So just with the political climate and the cultural climate in Canada, in my home, I think community now is more important than ever."

"We need people to know that they're not alone. And I think it's so important to reach out and connect with your neighbors. It's still important to have a support system in place, and it's sometimes hard to ask, so we wanted to make this potluck a celebration. We wanted to make it a big, happy, fun party. We don't want people to come and think about all the stigma that's attached to food insecurity. We wanted them to come out and know that we were celebrating with them."

Hear the full song below and watch a video from the event by clicking the related article link.

Davison displays her joy of everyone singing along to the song.

Original song lyrics courtesy of Robin Davison.