On Monday 15th, 2013, I went with my son Max aged 11, my daughter Scarlet aged 16 and my father who was visiting from London, to watch the Boston marathon runners run past my road in Wellesley.
The third Monday of April is one of my favorite days of the year – it marks the real start of Spring for me. The blossoms are just coming out, and we see neighbors and friends, eat BBQ food and cheer the spirit of thousands of runners.
Of course this year’s Boston marathon will be remembered for something else, namely the twin bombings near the finish line that killed three people and wounded more than 170.
This is a song written for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. The lyrics were inspired by the excellent speech given by President Obama at the interfaith healing service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Thursday, April 18, 2013.
My vision for the song is that the choruses build until there are hundreds of voices coming together to show their support. Please send me your choruses and I’ll add you to the track.
HOW TO ADD YOUR VOCAL TO THE THIS SONG:
1. Download the song!
2. Record and mix your vocal WITH NO EFFECTS/REVERB on a separate track (if you record more than one vocal part, please mix each part as a separate track too).
3. Post your vocal track(s) to SoundCloud as a private share to me with downloads enabled.
If you have any questions or problems, please leave a comment on the song and I’ll respond asap.
I hope schools will sing this, and that we can help the OneFund onefundboston.org raise funds for the victims. At the very least, let’s show that a community of good people is stronger than the few evil ones who grab the headlines.
In the words of the youngest fatality, 8-year-old Martin Richard, holding a poster he made after after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, “No more hurting people. Peace.”
Let’s help sustain a message of strength and confidence long after the headlines about the Boston Marathon bombings have subsided.
Thanks, Stephen
UPDATE No.7:
I’d like to thank SoundCloud for posting the song to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr and @soundcloud.com/soundcloudheroes for reposting the track.
Thanks to Brian Matt, CEO of Altitude Inc for introducing me to a number of people who can make a difference. Brian you are a good man sir!
I’d like to thank the Bostonians at Sapient Nitro, most notably Chad Portas for including the song on www.unitedwestride.com (which also has links to the main charities for the victims) Pete Tschudy for the photograph I used for the album art and Matt Lindley for responding to my nagging.
Thanks to the wonderful Sacha Pfeiffer and her team At All Things Considered for taking the time to interview me about this project and repost the track. That interview and links are here: www.wbur.org/2013/05/03/wellesl…athon-healing-song
Last but certainly not least, a big thank you to the following singers for contributing to the choruses with me, and a special mention for Scarlet Delemeny’s fine ad libs.
THE SOUNDCLOUD COLLAB CHOIR IS:
Scarlet Delemeny (Boston, MA, USA)
Doug Faigel (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)
Phil McWalter (London, UK)
Simone Provenzano (Cosenza, Italy)
Marie-Aimee Pupat (Lyon, France)
Bethany Sky Whitman, (Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA)
WE WILL RUN AGAIN
Words and Music Stephen Randall
CHORUS
You will stand
And you will walk
And you will run again
On Patriot’s Day
We lined the streets
To cheer our heroes
Running to their dreams
We waved them on
From Hopkinton
Through Wellesley Hills
Then Newton straight to Boston
As they reached Heartbreak Hill
They didn’t know that they’d face
A greater heartbreak still
A greater heartbreak
CHORUS
We will stand
And we will walk
And we will run again
We come together
To reclaim
This state of grace
Our spirit will remain
And when we cross
The finish line
We show the world
That we can take the pain
And on that toughest mile,
When we think we’ve hit a wall,
Someone will be there
To pick us up if we fall
CHORUS
We will stand
And we will walk
And we will run again
We will stand
And we will walk
And we will run again
© & Ⓟ 2013 Stephen Randall