GA06002

Lyrical Freedom Riders "Not just a history lesson"

by Rachael Whaley

BIRMINGHAM, June 15 — Do you remember who sat next to you on the shuttle bus to the convention center this morning? Maybe, maybe not. These days, riding the bus is an everyday, common experience that we take for granted.

In the not-so-distant past, though, the integrated transportation we experience today did not exist. Forty-five years ago, here in Birmingham and across the country, desegregation was the prominent issue of the day.

"Just a few short years ago, it was dangerous for whites and blacks to sit together at a lunch counter in a Greyhound bus station," begins Bryan Field McFarland’s song, "Lyrical Freedom Riders." The song features the voice of John Lewis, Freedom Rider and congressional representative from Georgia. 

McFarland's song tells the story of the Freedom Riders. They were young people who traveled on buses throughout the southeast in the spring of 1961 to protest newly illegal segregation on public transportation. They endured violence, hatred, and incarceration, "simply because they did the right thing," McFarland said. 

McFarland wrote the song for the Presbyterian Association for Collegiate and Higher Education Ministries Summit, "Space for Grace." The summit was held here in Birmingham just prior to the start of this year's General Assembly. 

McFarland heard that some of the Freedom Riders were going to attend the summit. "I have nothing against bikers," he thought. While researching the group’s history, McFarland did not find a song that quite told the story of a group that was very connected to the music of their time. "The freedom songs were so crucial to these folks," he said.

A graduate of Maryville College and Louisville Theological Presbyterian Seminary, McFarland is a familiar face to many Presbyterians. A lifelong passion for music led him to pursue singing and songwriting as an extension of his past ministry as a pastor and campus minister.

He penned "Lyrical Freedom Riders" for a concert he gave at the summit because he "felt obligated as a performer to tell and sing their story."

"What they did was pivotal to the Civil Rights movement," he said.

His admiration for the Freedom Riders' bravery also can be seen in the song’s emotive chorus:

All through the day, into the night;
Nothing had ever felt so right.
It was almost there, and almost gone.
All through the night, into the day;
Freedom to ride, freedom to stay.
They were almost there, and almost gone.

McFarland said he thinks this song is important not only to those who can remember these events happening, but to the next generation as well. "It is not just a history lesson. If more people are exposed to the story of the Freedom Riders, that’s the real success."

As for all of us who ride integrated public transit these days? "They owe a debt of gratitude to those people who put their life on the line 45 years ago," McFarland said.

Listen to the song here where it also is featured in a month-long, open-mic contest.

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