Music amplifies and animates our experience. Who can think of Rocky without hearing the theme song Gonna Fly Now? Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis’ horizontal silhouettes from Top Gun will forever excite my mind with Take My Breathe Away beat-beating in the background. An Irish rock band provided healing to my American heart after 9/11.
Most couples can identify “their” song—a song that stirred their emotions during limerence or that was powerfully present during a “DTR” moment in their coupling (reference the boombox scene in Say Anything).
Similarly, music provides a context and a narrative to the political, cultural, and philosophical movements of our time. People who made it through the hippy era (and ended up as the founding fathers and mothers of the collaborative care movement—you know who you are) have a number of anthems from the era: Blowin’ in the Wind, Love the One You’re With, Turn Turn Turn. The feminist and gay pride movements both embrace “We are Family”. Lee Greenwood’s retirement comfort is made possible by the revival of “Proud to be an American” whenever our courageous soldiers defend us in war.
And, of course, recent political campaigns have linked themselves to music. Can you name which candidates used which songs?
1. Barack Obama A. You and I
2. John McCain B. Signed, Sealed, Delivered
3. Sarah Palin C. You Can Call Me Al
4. Al Gore D. Barricuda
5. Bill Clinton E. Don't Stop
6. Hillary Clinton F. Take a Chance on Me
The denizens of collaborative care world don’t have a theme song. Perhaps someone who was present at the first CFHA conference in 1995 in Washington DC can tell me if a song crystallized the moment for them, but I’m not aware of it.
This is to our detriment. We need a rallying cry to blast at our national conferences, to boost our steps as we scurry between exam rooms, to wail over beer when healthcare reform evaporates in the August heat, and to chant in the boardrooms of the powerful interests. Unfortunately, I can’t say that the perfect song has come to mind yet, so I’m asking for your recommendations.
In the absence of a serious option, here are a few tongue-in-cheek suggestions:
Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby, the only song to successfully incorporate the word collaborate in it’s lyrics ("Stop, Collaborate, and Listen!")
My kids suggest that if we’d just replace the word “Wonderpets” with “Collaborate” in their favorite cartoon’s theme song, we’d have a great possibility that embodies our underdog spirit ("What’s gonna work? Teamwork! Collaborate! Collaborate! We're on our way, To help a friend and save the day. We're not too big and we're not too tough, but when we work together we've got the right stuff. Go, collaborate, yeah!”)
And, of course, you can never go wrong with John Lennon (“You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one.”)
What song or passage would you recommend?
