Orlando was heavy with heartache this summer after the tragic and violent loss of life at Pulse nightclub on June 12. Immediately, Central Floridians were selflessly giving of themselves to mourn in unity. For some, that meant donating blood. Others gathered in hospital waiting rooms to pray, and nearly fifty thousand gathered at Lake Eola to put their arms around each other, whether friend or stranger, as a declaration of solidarity. Local Sanford songwriter Shadow Pearson let the heartbreak draw up a communal cry for healing in the form of a song . . . a City Song.
“June 12, 2016, started up like most Sundays for me,” she said. “I was taking a drive out to the country to drift and dream and write. This was interrupted by news of a mass shooting in our beloved Orlando, the City Beautiful.”
Immediately on that drive, Pearson’s creative process began. When she turned back toward her Sanford home, “City Song-Finger on the Pulse” began to take shape. Just two days later, she gathered her band, the Actomatics, to learn and rehearse the tune. Right away, she knew the song was asking for something more.
“I knew this work we were taking on was for one collective voice,” she said. Pearson started sharing her heart among the Orlando music community, and within a week, more than one hundred people came together to represent that united voice that Pearson has named “The People’s Voices Choir.” Pearson said the hours were long, with all the musicians working pro bono to accomplish something that proved our strength is truly in numbers, in unity with one another. This song not only serves as a declaration of that unity and hope for healing for the listener, but also as an expression of love by its participants.
As the voices gathered, so did other creatives who are contributing their talents in videography and documentary film. On October 17 at the Dr. Phillips Center, a music video for “City Song,” styled by Green Frog Entertainment in Atlanta, will premiere at the After Orlando event. This anthem for a healing City Beautiful debuted on Star 1 Records on September 25 with global distribution. All proceeds will benefit the One Pulse Foundation (www.onepulsefoundation.org), the official 501(c)(3) organization incorporated by the owners of Pulse nightclub.
“This piece was written to speak our sadness, but also our resolve. ‘City Song’ is hopeful. I believe that music heals,” Pearson said. “From the beginning of mankind, mantras, chanting, rhythms, and the coming together in voice has had a strong effect on the attitude and health of the community. I believe it to be one of the more important and effective natural medicines. Sing! Sing a song.”
“City Song-Finger on the Pulse”
This city is rooted by things you don’t know
The names and the faces they’re starting to show
Orange Avenue and the heart pines letting go
This is our city, Orlando
We move as one, our pulse in time
Hearts beating fast now, blood intertwined
We run from nothing, and through the night
We stand with the 49 souls taking flight
With our finger on the pulse
These hands
Finger on the pulse
We can
Finger on the pulse
Love rules the land
The tears that we cry, they don’t fall in vain
We know this city will not be the same
We are solid—united—rebuilding our parts
You shot the light but you can’t take the heart
Cause we’ve got our finger on the pulse