WEBVTT

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(\"We Are a Gentle,
Angry People\")

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♪ We are a gentle,
angry people ♪

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♪ And we are singing,
singing for our lives ♪

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- I believe that through
the gentleness of song,

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one can, under that
gentleness, say,

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I invite you to your best self,

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but if you\'re not
ready to go there,

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we\'re going to move on
towards the best of humanity

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whether you come with us or not.

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- She lets you
experience the need

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to fight and defend
and persevere,

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but in a way that
unlocks your heart.

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♪ We are a land of many colors ♪

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♪ And we are singing,
singing for our lives ♪

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- Holly was my first
experience of music

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as a communal experience,
a movement experience.

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I mean, I was just
totally knocked out.

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- She has a gift for
bringing radical, edgy ideas

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in a very all-American
package to an audience,

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that changes them and inspires
them as nobody else ever has.

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♪ Singing for our lives ♪

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- She\'s had a constant ripple
effect for 40 or 50 years.

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Holly is like an
oar in the water.

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It\'s hard to know where
you\'d be without the oar.

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♪ Mm, mm, mm, mm mm ♪

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- [Holly] I grew up in
Northern California,

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a little farm town
called Potter Valley.

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- This ranch we grew up on,
it was like it was paradise.

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It was the most beautiful
place I\'ve ever seen.

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(\"Water Come Down\")

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♪ Children in the pastures
Where the water flows ♪

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♪ Sunshine turning
shirtless backs to brown ♪

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♪ Oh, my daddy\'s hat
tipped back to see ♪

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♪ All his kids go running wild ♪

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♪ It\'s summertime, and
the water\'s coming down ♪

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- At that mix of kind of primal,

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animal life and the primal
beauty of growing up,

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and you see that in her
songs, I think, all the time.

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♪ And the water\'s coming ♪

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♪ Water come down,
water come down ♪

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♪ Water come down ♪

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- My parents didn\'t
have a television,

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so we started listening to
music that they brought in.

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And my dad built a special
mailbox, a 12x12 mailbox

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down at the end of the lane

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so that it would hold
records when they arrived.

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And somehow or other,
they found catalogs,

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and these extraordinary
records that my parents ordered

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introduced me to the best
singers in the world.

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And I would actually
put these records on

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and stand in front of
the mirror and lip-sync

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to every great singer, feeling
what their voice was like

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coming through my little body.

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And I learned about the world.

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I learned about Paris
from Edith Piaf.

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(singing in foreign language)

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I learned about Africa
from Miriam Makeba.

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(singing in foreign language)

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I learned about
what was going on

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across the street
from Patsy Cline.

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♪ I fall to pieces ♪

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♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh ♪

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♪ Each time someone
speaks your name ♪

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- And then, along
came The Weavers.

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And first of all, they
just sounded spectacular.

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But in the midst of
that spectacular sound

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was this woman singer,
Ronnie Gilbert,

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and she was so powerful.

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(singing in foreign language)

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There was a hugeness
about her presence

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as a singer and an enthusiasm.

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- We had this odd background

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of folk music and musical comedy

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from Broadway shows
in New York and opera.

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- My mother grew
up with privilege,

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so she went to every musical

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and every museum and
that could possibly do.

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Her mother was an artist.

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So she was very
encouraging in the house

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when we were growing
up, of creativity.

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And when we didn\'t
have television,

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we became our own
form of entertainment.

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I was asked to sing in
our town all the time,

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at garden clubs,
Soroptimist clubs,

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the Lions Club, any club
that there possibly was.

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And I took it very seriously.

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- From the beginning, she kind
of acted like she already was

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a kind of celebrity.

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I mean that in a
really nice way.

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Her vocal coach in Ukiah was
a woman named Connie Cox.

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She, back in the early \'50s,

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gave Johnny Mathis free lessons.

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(\"Unforgettable\")

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♪ Unforgettable ♪

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(audience applauds)

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♪ That\'s what you are ♪

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- She just taught
me a repertoire,

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and she taught me
how to interpret

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and to think about
the lyric and what,

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and then performing what
to do with my hands.

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And it was a wonderful
training ground.

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Well, from \'64, \'65, \'66,
\'67, I was in high school,

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and I was in a
rural high school.

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So we had much less access
to political activism

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than one might have had,
say, in New York City.

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We were dealing
with things like,

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why did girls have to
wear dresses to school?

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And it was my senior year
that we actually got it

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so that girls could wear
pants to school on Friday

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if there was a football game.

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(laughing) Those
were the limitations.

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- I mean, wouldn\'t each
of you rather design

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your own band uniform?

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It\'d be fantastic, it\'d be you.

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And when you\'re marching along

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in the rigid line of the band,

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you\'d be what we all
wanna be, individuals.

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Be proud!

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Be free.

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(audience cheers and applauds)

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- I was in school government.

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I was a football princess.

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I went to every prom.

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- What is it?

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- (inhales) Bobby Bazar
just asked me out.

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(audience laughs)

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- I worked so hard to
be pretty all the time.

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I was so caught up
in all of that stuff.

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- Lo and behold,
her senior year,

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she became homecoming queen.

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And sometimes, she dated guys

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I can\'t remember all the
details, but they\'d be guys

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who had gone to private
schools outside the area.

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I can\'t remember why she knew
them, but she\'d date guys

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who were maybe a couple
years older and...

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- Being asked out and all.

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I may even be a sex symbol.

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(audience laughs)

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- Just, uh, a little bit
more sophisticated, maybe,

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than your average
Ukiah kid at the time.

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- I went to UCLA my
first year in college,

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and I only lasted for a year
because I got work right away.

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- Mostly B kinds of movies
that were coming out.

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Some of them C movies or worse.

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(dramatic music)

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- I\'ve been finished.

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That\'s finishing school.

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And untouched by human hand.

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- But none of them
were great films.

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They were all kind
of grade-B films.

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But I was quite fortunate to
have many reviews that said,

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although they didn\'t
like the film,

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there\'s this young woman
in there, you know?

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So I was kind of
encouraged to keep going.

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- Holly was being cast a
lot as a character actress.

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She was slightly, she was plump.

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She would say that herself
she was a little overweight.

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- I don\'t think
I was really fat,

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but I wasn\'t thin
enough for Hollywood.

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So when I was
acting in Hollywood,

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I was getting character parts.

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- That\'s just great.

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How come you\'re keeping
it such a secret?

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(audience laughs)

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Ah, congratulations, Papa!

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- Oho!

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- But it definitely
defined my sexuality

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and my dating habits
and my behavior

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all through high school and
into the early part of my 20s.

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♪ Let the sun shine ♪

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♪ Whoa, let it shine ♪

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♪ Let the sunshine in ♪

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♪ Come on ♪

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♪ The sun ♪

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- I did \"Hair\" on Broadway.

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It had been running
for two years,

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and I just went in for
a short period of time.

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But while I was there,

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the students were
killed at Kent State.

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- [Crowd] Strike,
strike, strike, strike!

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(guns firing)

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- I met Dean Kahler,

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who was one of the survivors
of the Kent State shooting,

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and he asked me if I
would write a song.

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And then \"It Could Have Been
Me\" is what became the song.

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♪ Students in Ohio
200 yards away ♪

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♪ Shot down by a nameless fire ♪

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♪ One early day in May ♪

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♪ Some people cried out angry ♪

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♪ You should\'ve shot
more of them down ♪

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♪ But you can\'t bury
youth, my friend ♪

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♪ Youth grows the
whole world \'round ♪

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♪ It could\'ve been me ♪

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♪ But instead it was you ♪

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♪ So I\'ll keep doing the
work you were doing ♪

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♪ As if I were, too ♪
(crowd shouting)

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- Kent State was the incident
that catalyzed, you know,

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mass walkouts in
the student movement

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and the anti-war movement.

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- We felt connected to the
people who had perished,

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and I think and
hope we all remember

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Holly\'s putting emotion
and sound and music

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to that feeling of,
it could\'ve been me.

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I could\'ve been her.

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We all could\'ve been the
people who perished there.

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♪ Freedom, freedom, freedom ♪

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♪ If you can die for
freedom, I can, too ♪

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- And there were all kinds
of actors and actresses

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and musicians trying to
figure out how to have

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an entertainment industry
response to the war.

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And that\'s where I first
heard Jane Fonda speak

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about the Free the Army work

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that she was doing
with soldiers,

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soldiers who were opposing the
war from within the military.

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- And the holidays
are so emotional here.

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I saw one big tough Marine
kiss another Marine.

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(audience laughs and applauds)

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No, he said, he said,

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\"I can\'t help it,
he\'s my replacement.\"

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- It was routine
for entertainers to
entertain the troops.

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The foremost entertainer was
a comedian named Bob Hope,

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who was very conservative,
very Republican.

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It was well-known as the,

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that\'s the Army tour
is the Bob Hope Tour.

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\'68, \'69, 70, Jane
Fonda comes out

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as a revolutionary
anti-war activist.

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And it occurred to her that
she would do the opposite,

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the un-Bob Hope tour.

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♪ But their problems
I can\'t solve ♪

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♪ \'Cause my sanity\'s involved ♪

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♪ And I\'m tired of
bastards fucking over me ♪

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(audience laughs)

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- We were rehearsing,
and in walked this angel

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with this long kind
of rose-colored hair.

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And then she sang,
and it was like, wow.

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That voice was so pure.

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♪ What is on his mind? ♪

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♪ I\'m a pretty piece, and
he\'s just trying to score ♪

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♪ They whistle for
me like a dog ♪

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- The single-most
forgotten thing

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about the anti-war movement
was that Free the Army show.

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If it was ever
shown now on CNN--

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♪ And I\'m tired of
bastards fucking ♪

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- People would not believe
what they\'re seeing.

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♪ Never felt diviner than to
be in Indochina making money ♪

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- 5,000, 10,000, 18,000
troops are all cheering.

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(audience cheers and applauds)

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- I was the baby in the bunch.

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As it turned out,
most of the sketches,

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the part that I was
playing was the feminist

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or the one that was
making fun of the woman

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who wasn\'t the feminist.

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I mean, it was kind of
Those were the parts I got.

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So, in saying the lines,

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I was reading the
script of a feminist,

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and that\'s how I became one.

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And talking to the
women in the military

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and talking to the women in
the Philippines, the Filipinas,

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the Hawaiian women,
the Japanese women,

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the Okinawan women,
they made me a feminist.

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So I came into feminism
through a global door,

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and when I got home from that,

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I just had to rethink
everything in my life.

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- It was the late
summer of 1972,

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and Nixon had convinced
most Americans

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that he was ending the war.

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- And Jane and I
were really certain

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that this was a plan to keep
the war going in secret,

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and that only some
kind of performance,

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some outcry from activists
and intellectuals

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and artists and musicians
could bring public attention

00:14:12.750 --> 00:14:14.998
to the secret
escalation of the war.

00:14:14.999 --> 00:14:17.499
So we called it the
Indochina Peace Campaign.

00:14:17.792 --> 00:14:19.624
- Okay. So, who
should go on this?

00:14:19.625 --> 00:14:20.916
Well, obviously, it\'ll be me.

00:14:20.917 --> 00:14:21.916
I\'ll attract people.

00:14:21.917 --> 00:14:24.165
Tom, because he has
the people who know him

00:14:24.166 --> 00:14:26.666
across the country as
the organizer that he is,

00:14:27.959 --> 00:14:29.998
who would be interested in this.

00:14:29.999 --> 00:14:31.999
We need songs.

00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:33.165
We need music.

00:14:33.166 --> 00:14:35.666
And Tom had seen the movie
we did of the FTA show,

00:14:38.542 --> 00:14:41.042
and we wanted Holly.

00:14:41.083 --> 00:14:42.583
So it was me and Tom and Holly.

00:14:42.583 --> 00:14:45.083
- I think what was interesting
or unique about Holly

00:14:45.250 --> 00:14:47.750
is that she would tap
into the everyday stories

00:14:49.417 --> 00:14:50.958
she would hear on the road,

00:14:50.959 --> 00:14:52.998
and she was always
writing lyrics.

00:14:52.999 --> 00:14:54.290
She was always writing songs

00:14:54.291 --> 00:14:56.791
that tried to express the
occasion that we were in.

00:14:58.709 --> 00:14:59.457
- I eventually learned

00:14:59.458 --> 00:15:01.958
that what he was really
trying to teach us

00:15:02.208 --> 00:15:04.708
was the catastrophic effects

00:15:04.999 --> 00:15:06.999
of the military
industrial complex.

00:15:06.999 --> 00:15:09.499
And from that moment
on, once I got that,

00:15:11.375 --> 00:15:13.875
I never did anything after
that where I didn\'t think

00:15:15.709 --> 00:15:18.209
about what I was doing
through that lens.

00:15:19.667 --> 00:15:22.167
- The sexual
revolution of the \'60s,

00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:24.750
you know, really meant
men were on top. (laughs)

00:15:26.083 --> 00:15:28.583
You know, for the most part,
it was very male-dominated,

00:15:32.583 --> 00:15:35.083
and that kind of bled into
the anti-war movement.

00:15:35.792 --> 00:15:37.582
It was a pretty macho crowd.

00:15:37.583 --> 00:15:40.083
- The women\'s movement came
out of the civil rights

00:15:40.999 --> 00:15:43.499
and the peace movement, because
if, even in those movements

00:15:45.999 --> 00:15:47.374
we loved with all of our hearts,

00:15:47.375 --> 00:15:49.416
still we were mimeographing,

00:15:49.417 --> 00:15:50.998
there\'s a word from
the past, (chuckles)

00:15:50.999 --> 00:15:53.499
or not recognized or not allowed
to lead, then we realized

00:15:57.333 --> 00:15:58.998
there had to be an
autonomous women\'s movement.

00:15:58.999 --> 00:16:01.499
- We started to have a
sort of economic freedom

00:16:01.792 --> 00:16:03.998
so that we didn\'t
have to get married

00:16:03.999 --> 00:16:05.499
in order to stay alive.

00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:07.416
It was okay to be in the
workplace in the \'60s,

00:16:07.417 --> 00:16:08.916
so when you have
economic freedom,

00:16:08.917 --> 00:16:10.998
you don\'t have to get married,
you\'re not tied to men,

00:16:10.999 --> 00:16:13.040
and having that freedom
allowed a freedom

00:16:13.041 --> 00:16:14.998
of a lot of different
things to take place.

00:16:14.999 --> 00:16:17.499
- I started meeting women who
were singing feminist songs,

00:16:21.291 --> 00:16:23.791
singing songs from
that came specifically

00:16:23.999 --> 00:16:25.332
from a woman\'s perspective.

00:16:25.333 --> 00:16:27.833
♪ She was propped
up on a pillow ♪

00:16:28.667 --> 00:16:31.167
♪ Rockin\' in a rockin\' chair ♪

00:16:31.583 --> 00:16:34.083
♪ Never had such good talking ♪

00:16:34.166 --> 00:16:36.457
♪ I knew that she really cared ♪

00:16:36.458 --> 00:16:38.958
♪ I wanted to make
her young again ♪

00:16:39.999 --> 00:16:42.457
♪ But all I could do was cry ♪

00:16:42.458 --> 00:16:44.958
♪ I love that old time woman ♪

00:16:47.041 --> 00:16:49.541
♪ Till I die ♪

00:16:55.583 --> 00:16:58.083
- I met Meg Christian and Cris
Williamson and Margie Adam.

00:16:59.999 --> 00:17:02.499
- Some of us felt very strongly
that this particular tool,

00:17:06.333 --> 00:17:07.874
this women\'s music tool,

00:17:07.875 --> 00:17:10.082
was a way to communicate
feminist values

00:17:10.083 --> 00:17:12.583
far out into the world,
way beyond the speeches,

00:17:13.999 --> 00:17:16.499
way beyond any
intellectualizing.

00:17:17.041 --> 00:17:19.541
♪ Why don\'t you
sing this song? ♪

00:17:21.625 --> 00:17:24.125
Why don\'t you sing along

00:17:25.999 --> 00:17:27.999
And we can sing

00:17:27.999 --> 00:17:30.499
for a long, long time

00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.500
(lighthearted acoustic music)

00:17:38.291 --> 00:17:40.791
♪ What do you do
for your living ♪

00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.500
♪ Are you forgiving ♪

00:17:44.500 --> 00:17:46.791
♪ Giving shelter ♪

00:17:46.792 --> 00:17:47.624
- Women on Wheels,

00:17:47.625 --> 00:17:50.125
the fact that it was the
four big women\'s music stars,

00:17:51.125 --> 00:17:53.625
that it was a concert
tour across California,

00:17:55.208 --> 00:17:57.708
reached, what, 120,000
people or something.

00:17:58.125 --> 00:17:58.998
- The word went out.

00:17:58.999 --> 00:18:01.332
People who had seen
me alone, Cris alone,

00:18:01.333 --> 00:18:02.082
Holly and Meg alone,

00:18:02.083 --> 00:18:04.583
or just the two of us or
maybe the three of us, said,

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.500
the four of them, they
called us the Fab Four,

00:18:07.999 --> 00:18:10.499
the Fab Four are
performing together.

00:18:11.250 --> 00:18:12.165
They\'re doing this concert.

00:18:12.166 --> 00:18:14.666
Women flew in from
all over the country

00:18:15.250 --> 00:18:17.207
to see the four of us play.

00:18:17.208 --> 00:18:19.290
- And we did one
concert every night

00:18:19.291 --> 00:18:21.582
that was for the general public,

00:18:21.583 --> 00:18:23.999
and we did one concert
for women only,

00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.500
which was very controversial.

00:18:27.792 --> 00:18:29.082
Women was also a code word.

00:18:29.083 --> 00:18:31.583
I mean, it was a
lesbian concert.

00:18:31.709 --> 00:18:34.209
♪ Sing this song ♪

00:18:34.291 --> 00:18:36.791
♪ Why don\'t you sing along ♪

00:18:38.083 --> 00:18:40.583
♪ And you can sing for
a long, long time ♪

00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:48.000
- In terms of new feminism
and new gender identity,

00:18:48.999 --> 00:18:51.499
I had just walked
into the beehive.

00:18:51.917 --> 00:18:54.374
And it was really exciting.

00:18:54.375 --> 00:18:56.332
I mean, these songs
were being sung

00:18:56.333 --> 00:18:57.998
in the privacy of living rooms

00:18:57.999 --> 00:18:59.833
in the same way
that lesbian novels

00:18:59.834 --> 00:19:01.332
were being wrapped in
brown paper packages

00:19:01.333 --> 00:19:03.833
so the postal worker wouldn\'t
see what was being delivered.

00:19:04.333 --> 00:19:06.499
- We were creating
an environment

00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:09.000
for women to express their
full humanity in whatever way

00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:11.833
seemed appropriate to them,

00:19:11.834 --> 00:19:14.334
as opposed to being defined
by the dominant culture

00:19:14.999 --> 00:19:16.332
that said you have
to be this way,

00:19:16.333 --> 00:19:18.374
and you have to
love this person.

00:19:18.375 --> 00:19:20.875
- I always had a heterosexual
expectation of myself,

00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:23.040
and I moved in the
world that way.

00:19:23.041 --> 00:19:25.541
So the press would say, well,
aren\'t you heterosexual?

00:19:26.999 --> 00:19:27.749
Why are you in this?

00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:30.250
And I would say, I\'m
here for the music.

00:19:31.166 --> 00:19:32.374
I\'m here for these women.

00:19:32.375 --> 00:19:34.833
I\'m here because I\'m learning.

00:19:34.834 --> 00:19:37.334
♪ I\'ve been waiting so long ♪

00:19:39.500 --> 00:19:41.666
♪ So long ♪

00:19:41.667 --> 00:19:44.167
♪ For another song ♪

00:19:44.417 --> 00:19:46.417
- Holly had just done a concert.

00:19:46.417 --> 00:19:47.666
She was a mess.

00:19:47.667 --> 00:19:49.998
All of a sudden, she\'s in tears,

00:19:49.999 --> 00:19:52.499
and out comes this
story, you know,

00:19:52.667 --> 00:19:55.167
\"I\'m having a relationship
with a woman.\"

00:19:55.250 --> 00:19:57.750
And she tells me this
story for the first time.

00:19:57.792 --> 00:20:00.292
She didn\'t even, I mean,
I was in the next room.

00:20:00.333 --> 00:20:02.833
It wasn\'t even a conversation
we could sit down

00:20:02.875 --> 00:20:04.499
and face-to-face talk about.

00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:06.998
She was too hysterical for that.

00:20:06.999 --> 00:20:08.708
- Meg was my first lover.

00:20:08.709 --> 00:20:10.998
Meg was my Valentine.

00:20:10.999 --> 00:20:13.332
She just knocked my socks off.

00:20:13.333 --> 00:20:15.833
I was seduced by the idea
that I might be lovable

00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:20.250
not just as somebody who
was cute to go out with,

00:20:20.999 --> 00:20:22.332
but deep down lovable.

00:20:22.333 --> 00:20:24.833
The music that we made together
was so filled with passion,

00:20:26.625 --> 00:20:29.125
and it was erotic just in the
fact that it was happening.

00:20:33.375 --> 00:20:35.875
♪ Imagine my surprise ♪

00:20:35.999 --> 00:20:37.916
♪ Imagine my surprise ♪

00:20:37.917 --> 00:20:40.332
♪ Now that I have found you ♪

00:20:40.333 --> 00:20:42.165
♪ But I ache all over ♪

00:20:42.166 --> 00:20:44.666
♪ Wanting to know
your every dream ♪

00:20:46.999 --> 00:20:48.999
- I wrote a song called
\"Imagine My Surprise!\"

00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:51.500
which I wouldn\'t be
lying or exaggerating

00:20:52.542 --> 00:20:55.042
if I said that there
weren\'t thousands of women

00:20:55.250 --> 00:20:56.916
who came out to that song.

00:20:56.917 --> 00:20:58.416
- And I just remember
playing that thing,

00:20:58.417 --> 00:21:00.917
playing that song over
and over and over,

00:21:00.959 --> 00:21:02.998
playing the tape
over and I probably,

00:21:02.999 --> 00:21:04.040
I probably wore it out.

00:21:04.041 --> 00:21:06.541
- And I know so many
women who have told me

00:21:06.583 --> 00:21:08.998
that they changed their
lives, they came out,

00:21:08.999 --> 00:21:11.499
they quit their jobs, they
did all kinds of things

00:21:12.417 --> 00:21:14.917
because they went to
a Holly Near concert.

00:21:15.375 --> 00:21:17.875
It was a religious experience.

00:21:18.999 --> 00:21:20.791
- [Woman] Dear Holly,
I want you to know

00:21:20.792 --> 00:21:23.292
that you eased my pain for a
few short hours Friday night.

00:21:24.542 --> 00:21:27.042
I felt proud to be gay
and proud to be a woman.

00:21:28.208 --> 00:21:29.165
- [Woman] \"Imagine My Surprise!\"

00:21:29.166 --> 00:21:31.666
will forever remain
my favorite song.

00:21:32.875 --> 00:21:33.791
That was a big song for me

00:21:33.792 --> 00:21:36.292
because I finally decided
to come out at school.

00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.500
- Holly probably,
in my life, anyway,

00:21:40.542 --> 00:21:43.042
was the first person
to sing love songs

00:21:44.291 --> 00:21:46.791
that were obviously
to another woman.

00:21:46.999 --> 00:21:49.499
I don\'t know of any
revolutionary change on Earth

00:21:50.999 --> 00:21:53.499
that hasn\'t come from
telling the truth

00:21:54.375 --> 00:21:56.207
about our lives
in the beginning.

00:21:56.208 --> 00:21:58.708
- For the first time,
being able to hear songs

00:21:59.625 --> 00:22:02.125
about intimate connections
with other women,

00:22:02.583 --> 00:22:05.083
about love, affection, that
contribution to the culture

00:22:08.999 --> 00:22:10.999
was like water in the desert.

00:22:10.999 --> 00:22:13.499
- I think every social-change
movement has a music.

00:22:15.917 --> 00:22:17.666
So it\'s not
surprising to me that,

00:22:17.667 --> 00:22:20.167
when the feminist and then
lesbian movements came along,

00:22:21.166 --> 00:22:23.040
that there wouldn\'t be
an explosion of music.

00:22:23.041 --> 00:22:25.082
- So you started,
you started seeing

00:22:25.083 --> 00:22:27.040
all of these
collectives spring up.

00:22:27.041 --> 00:22:28.624
- We had our own
Woodstocks you know,

00:22:28.625 --> 00:22:29.874
the Michigan Women\'s
Music Festival.

00:22:29.875 --> 00:22:32.375
I co-produced the West Coast
Women\'s Music Festival.

00:22:32.999 --> 00:22:34.874
People were banging down walls

00:22:34.875 --> 00:22:36.165
to come and hear this music.

00:22:36.166 --> 00:22:38.666
They wanted to
legitimize themselves.

00:22:38.999 --> 00:22:41.499
They no longer wanted to
be in those private novels

00:22:43.375 --> 00:22:45.875
where people were killing
themselves for being gay.

00:22:46.375 --> 00:22:48.875
There was also films and
literature and coffee houses

00:22:50.999 --> 00:22:53.416
and record companies and
distribution companies.

00:22:53.417 --> 00:22:55.917
I mean, it was really
an amazing time.

00:22:56.875 --> 00:22:59.375
- [Nancy] Thousands of women
all over the United States

00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:02.000
found their voice
through women\'s music

00:23:02.458 --> 00:23:04.958
and particularly the
contribution that Holly made.

00:23:06.999 --> 00:23:09.499
♪ Something about the
women in my life ♪

00:23:11.834 --> 00:23:13.998
- [Woman] Holly\'s music
and concerts awakened me

00:23:13.999 --> 00:23:16.332
to not only the value
we possess as women,

00:23:16.333 --> 00:23:18.833
but also that music was an
agent for social change.

00:23:20.083 --> 00:23:21.999
- Holly and Meg
would come to town,

00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.457
they\'d do a 3,000-person
concert, and then,

00:23:24.458 --> 00:23:26.458
the next day, there\'d
be a workshop,

00:23:26.458 --> 00:23:28.207
kind of Organizing 101.

00:23:28.208 --> 00:23:28.998
What can you do?

00:23:28.999 --> 00:23:31.499
And 400 women would show up
and learn how to organize.

00:23:32.999 --> 00:23:35.499
So those concerts
were always connected

00:23:35.875 --> 00:23:38.375
to some kind of
ongoing political
organizing, if you will.

00:23:39.709 --> 00:23:42.082
- If women can figure out
how to use their music

00:23:42.083 --> 00:23:43.998
in a constructive
and political way,

00:23:43.999 --> 00:23:46.499
it would be one of our
greatest tools to work with.

00:23:47.999 --> 00:23:49.666
Marching bands have
sent men off to war,

00:23:49.667 --> 00:23:52.167
and parents have sung their
kids to sleep with lullabies.

00:23:52.583 --> 00:23:54.332
So if it can send
people off to war,

00:23:54.333 --> 00:23:56.833
it can turn people around and
make them revolutionaries.

00:23:57.999 --> 00:23:59.332
- I think her career suffered

00:23:59.333 --> 00:24:01.833
because she became involved
with the next potent movement.

00:24:04.041 --> 00:24:05.998
- [Man] Dear Holly, I\'m feeling

00:24:05.999 --> 00:24:08.290
both disappointed and resentful.

00:24:08.291 --> 00:24:09.998
Resentful because, as a man,

00:24:09.999 --> 00:24:12.499
I felt nearly totally
excluded from what your songs

00:24:13.834 --> 00:24:15.332
related to the audience.

00:24:15.333 --> 00:24:17.457
- [Woman] Please be
more gentle to the men.

00:24:17.458 --> 00:24:19.958
Some of them want like
hell to be on our side.

00:24:20.834 --> 00:24:21.749
- [Holly] When I first came out,

00:24:21.750 --> 00:24:22.998
I think they
thought, oh, my God.

00:24:22.999 --> 00:24:23.998
This is one of the voices

00:24:23.999 --> 00:24:26.124
that really speaks to
the anti-war movement

00:24:26.125 --> 00:24:28.416
and the solidarity community,
and we just lost her.

00:24:28.417 --> 00:24:30.917
She\'s gone bananas and
has come out as a lesbian.

00:24:31.417 --> 00:24:33.417
- You know, men had been
having exclusive groups

00:24:33.417 --> 00:24:35.917
since time immemorial and
calling it the Harvard Club

00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.500
or something, but (chuckles)
nobody minded that.

00:24:38.834 --> 00:24:41.334
But to have an
exclusively female concert

00:24:42.166 --> 00:24:44.666
was viewed as undemocratic,
exclusionary, and so on.

00:24:45.750 --> 00:24:48.250
- At the beginning
of any movement,

00:24:48.999 --> 00:24:50.874
whether it\'s gay liberation

00:24:50.875 --> 00:24:52.833
or the women\'s
movement or whatever,

00:24:52.834 --> 00:24:53.998
people are really angry

00:24:53.999 --> 00:24:56.499
because they\'re starting to
understand how bad it is.

00:25:00.458 --> 00:25:02.290
They\'re finally
confronting what it is

00:25:02.291 --> 00:25:03.457
that they\'re fighting against.

00:25:03.458 --> 00:25:05.958
It closes out, it locks
out a lot of people.

00:25:06.166 --> 00:25:08.666
- I had to go back to the
drawing board and say,

00:25:09.625 --> 00:25:12.125
well, what is it that women do?

00:25:13.458 --> 00:25:14.582
Who are we?

00:25:14.583 --> 00:25:15.332
What do we think?

00:25:15.333 --> 00:25:17.833
And in some ways, I
believe that separatism

00:25:18.208 --> 00:25:20.582
is a way to help
answer that question.

00:25:20.583 --> 00:25:23.083
Any group of people can
separate themselves for a moment

00:25:24.125 --> 00:25:25.541
from dominant culture and say,

00:25:25.542 --> 00:25:28.042
how would I think if nobody
had their foot on my neck,

00:25:31.999 --> 00:25:34.499
you know, if I was independent
of a cultural identification?

00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:36.958
And then, when you get that,

00:25:36.959 --> 00:25:39.459
then you can bring it back
into the circle more informed.

00:25:43.125 --> 00:25:44.499
There were kind of
regular music outlets,

00:25:44.500 --> 00:25:45.708
like Tower Records here in L.A.,

00:25:45.709 --> 00:25:48.082
which started selling
women\'s music right away.

00:25:48.083 --> 00:25:50.165
You had about 25 record labels

00:25:50.166 --> 00:25:52.666
that were owned by
women, mostly lesbians.

00:25:53.875 --> 00:25:55.040
So it was really radical,

00:25:55.041 --> 00:25:56.666
it was really outside
the mainstream.

00:25:56.667 --> 00:25:59.167
Over a million units were
sold with no radio air play.

00:26:02.250 --> 00:26:03.165
It was pretty amazing.

00:26:03.166 --> 00:26:05.666
- Well, it meant that we
had to press our own records

00:26:05.999 --> 00:26:08.499
and lug them with us as
we went from town to town,

00:26:09.625 --> 00:26:12.125
and that wasn\'t fun
you know, all the time.

00:26:13.792 --> 00:26:14.833
It meant that our parents

00:26:14.834 --> 00:26:17.334
had to become a
distribution house.

00:26:17.417 --> 00:26:19.917
- Holly was doing all these
shows around the country,

00:26:21.917 --> 00:26:23.833
and people wanted her music.

00:26:23.834 --> 00:26:24.998
And so, the whole idea

00:26:24.999 --> 00:26:27.499
of being able to put
out her own records

00:26:27.750 --> 00:26:30.250
and sell them at her
performances and, you know,

00:26:32.583 --> 00:26:35.083
have control of that
was essential to Holly.

00:26:35.999 --> 00:26:38.499
- Pretty soon, producers out
there who produced our concerts

00:26:40.458 --> 00:26:42.958
got the idea, well, is
there we can help with this?

00:26:44.667 --> 00:26:45.958
So, pretty soon,

00:26:45.959 --> 00:26:48.459
these same producers were
opening record stores

00:26:49.083 --> 00:26:51.583
and were adding records
to their bookstores.

00:26:51.792 --> 00:26:54.165
And pretty soon, there
was a whole network

00:26:54.166 --> 00:26:54.998
all across the country

00:26:54.999 --> 00:26:57.165
that was willing to
carry these records

00:26:57.166 --> 00:26:59.624
so we didn\'t have to
lug them along with us.

00:26:59.625 --> 00:27:01.999
- So Holly hired me
and two other women

00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.500
out of this alternative
women\'s network.

00:27:05.166 --> 00:27:06.082
Anne and Russell, her parents,

00:27:06.083 --> 00:27:07.457
who had been running
the record company

00:27:07.458 --> 00:27:09.249
out of their house
that she grew up in,

00:27:09.250 --> 00:27:11.750
they moved to a
smaller house in Ukiah,

00:27:11.999 --> 00:27:13.541
and four lesbians moved in

00:27:13.542 --> 00:27:16.042
and took over the running of
the record company, basically.

00:27:17.875 --> 00:27:20.124
- And Redwood went on
for nearly 20 years

00:27:20.125 --> 00:27:22.541
and produced some amazing music.

00:27:22.542 --> 00:27:25.042
- I think what she\'s really
done is really given a voice

00:27:25.583 --> 00:27:28.083
to a lot of people who
didn\'t have a voice.

00:27:28.125 --> 00:27:29.999
I think that was what
was so important to me

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:32.249
about Redwood, and it was
the company that I thought,

00:27:32.250 --> 00:27:34.750
if I\'m gonna be on a label,
that\'s the one I wanna be on.

00:27:34.999 --> 00:27:37.499
They represent diversity,
cultural awareness,

00:27:38.375 --> 00:27:40.875
so Redwood really spoke
to my heart in that way.

00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:43.500
It was really based I think
so much on Holly\'s heart

00:27:45.999 --> 00:27:48.207
and her vision for
what the world could be

00:27:48.208 --> 00:27:49.374
and how it should look.

00:27:49.375 --> 00:27:51.875
♪ We live together,
still we live apart ♪

00:27:52.999 --> 00:27:55.499
♪ This great divide
is a rip in my heart ♪

00:27:56.917 --> 00:27:59.417
♪ There\'s no such
thing as colorblind ♪

00:28:00.458 --> 00:28:02.958
♪ When race has all
our lives defined ♪

00:28:05.625 --> 00:28:08.125
♪ Here comes the hard part ♪

00:28:09.417 --> 00:28:11.917
♪ Taking in the hard part ♪

00:28:12.999 --> 00:28:15.499
♪ Learning \'bout the hard part ♪

00:28:15.999 --> 00:28:18.499
♪ The hard part of change ♪

00:28:20.458 --> 00:28:22.958
- The idea of Redwood
Records, of course,

00:28:23.083 --> 00:28:25.332
was quite new at that point.

00:28:25.333 --> 00:28:27.833
I mean, there have since
been women starting record

00:28:29.792 --> 00:28:31.624
and distribution companies,

00:28:31.625 --> 00:28:34.125
not many even now, so
it was very new then.

00:28:34.458 --> 00:28:36.958
She just stood for everything
we wanted \"Ms.\" to stand for.

00:28:40.959 --> 00:28:43.459
You know, she was kind of a
life-giving force for people

00:28:44.792 --> 00:28:47.292
that was just under the
surface, not well-known enough.

00:28:49.291 --> 00:28:50.998
And so, by making a major story,

00:28:50.999 --> 00:28:53.499
we thought we could
introduce her to more people.

00:28:54.375 --> 00:28:56.875
- \"Ms.\" magazine did a
take-off on the \"Time\" magazine

00:28:57.999 --> 00:28:58.916
that had a Man of the Year,

00:28:58.917 --> 00:29:01.417
and they decided that they
would have Women of the Year.

00:29:02.458 --> 00:29:04.958
And they chose 12 women
every year, instead of one.

00:29:06.166 --> 00:29:08.666
And it led to becoming
really long-term,

00:29:08.999 --> 00:29:10.999
lifelong friends
with Gloria Steinem,

00:29:10.999 --> 00:29:12.332
which was a great perk, as well.

00:29:12.333 --> 00:29:14.833
I was the first out lesbian
to be in \"People\" magazine.

00:29:16.333 --> 00:29:18.833
There were a lot of people in
the closet who were famous,

00:29:19.417 --> 00:29:20.874
and they hadn\'t come out yet.

00:29:20.875 --> 00:29:23.375
It was a very safe,
entry-level article

00:29:24.083 --> 00:29:26.583
for \"People\" magazine, and
it was fun to be part of it.

00:29:27.792 --> 00:29:30.292
- She has an incredible
capacity to hold an audience

00:29:32.208 --> 00:29:34.708
and to bring an
audience with her

00:29:35.250 --> 00:29:37.750
wherever she goes, thematically.

00:29:38.583 --> 00:29:41.083
♪ We are gentle, loving people ♪

00:29:45.458 --> 00:29:47.958
♪ And we are singing,
singing for our lives ♪

00:29:53.208 --> 00:29:55.416
- I think the song
that probably resonates

00:29:55.417 --> 00:29:56.708
the most as an anthem

00:29:56.709 --> 00:29:57.624
is \"Singing For Our Lives,\"

00:29:57.625 --> 00:30:00.125
which she wrote when Harvey
Milk was assassinated.

00:30:01.291 --> 00:30:03.791
- The Mayor of San Francisco
was shot and killed

00:30:04.208 --> 00:30:06.708
in his office in City
Hall this morning.

00:30:06.959 --> 00:30:09.459
So was Harvey Milk,
a city supervisor.

00:30:10.291 --> 00:30:12.165
As a member of the
Board of Supervisors,

00:30:12.166 --> 00:30:14.666
Harvey Milk was a champion
of homosexual rights.

00:30:16.083 --> 00:30:17.749
- We\'re driving down
to San Francisco.

00:30:17.750 --> 00:30:19.207
It was like we had to be there.

00:30:19.208 --> 00:30:20.332
We just had to get there.

00:30:20.333 --> 00:30:22.833
I\'m driving, and I suddenly
hear this guttural noise.

00:30:24.709 --> 00:30:27.209
It was a primal sound
coming out of Holly.

00:30:28.709 --> 00:30:31.209
And she starts humming,

00:30:31.250 --> 00:30:33.750
and she hums it and she
hums it and she hums it,

00:30:34.750 --> 00:30:35.998
and then she starts singing.

00:30:35.999 --> 00:30:38.207
And by the time we
get to San Francisco,

00:30:38.208 --> 00:30:39.998
she\'s written two verses.

00:30:39.999 --> 00:30:41.708
- And that night, we all sang,

00:30:41.709 --> 00:30:44.124
we are gay and lesbian
people, and for many,

00:30:44.125 --> 00:30:46.625
it was the first time
they\'d said those words

00:30:46.709 --> 00:30:49.209
out loud about themselves.

00:30:49.250 --> 00:30:51.750
And then, the song flew out,
and allies began to sing it.

00:30:55.041 --> 00:30:55.999
And the words were changed to,

00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:58.500
we are gay and
straight together,

00:30:58.834 --> 00:31:01.334
and the song found its way
into the Unitarian hymnal.

00:31:02.458 --> 00:31:04.958
(audience cheers and applauds)

00:31:06.125 --> 00:31:08.625
And then we learned a
lot more about sexuality.

00:31:10.999 --> 00:31:12.791
And now I can\'t
fit all the words

00:31:12.792 --> 00:31:14.499
into the meter of this song.

00:31:14.500 --> 00:31:16.916
(audience laughing
and applauding)

00:31:16.917 --> 00:31:18.332
But whatever door
you walk through

00:31:18.333 --> 00:31:20.833
to your very essence,
just know that we see you.

00:31:22.834 --> 00:31:24.749
We see you.

00:31:24.750 --> 00:31:27.250
♪ And we are all
in this together ♪

00:31:31.999 --> 00:31:32.749
♪ And we are ♪

00:31:32.750 --> 00:31:34.998
- It became the anthem
of the LGBT movement.

00:31:34.999 --> 00:31:37.499
- And it\'s a song that\'s been
carried all over the world,

00:31:37.999 --> 00:31:40.499
sung by hundreds of
thousands of people.

00:31:40.542 --> 00:31:43.042
♪ We are a land of many colors ♪

00:31:45.959 --> 00:31:48.459
And we are singing,
singing for our lives

00:31:51.999 --> 00:31:54.040
- [Woman] My response
to you singing that song

00:31:54.041 --> 00:31:56.041
was immediate and so intense,

00:31:56.041 --> 00:31:57.998
and it would\'ve
overwhelmed me, except

00:31:57.999 --> 00:32:00.499
it felt instead that a calming
fire had started in me.

00:32:01.999 --> 00:32:04.499
♪ Singing for our lives ♪

00:32:04.583 --> 00:32:06.916
♪ We are gay and
straight together ♪

00:32:06.917 --> 00:32:09.417
♪ We are gay and
straight together ♪

00:32:12.999 --> 00:32:15.499
♪ And we are singing,
singing for our lives ♪

00:32:20.542 --> 00:32:21.124
(bomb explodes)

00:32:21.125 --> 00:32:23.040
- The coup had just
happened in Chile.

00:32:23.041 --> 00:32:25.541
Allende was killed, and there
was a coup led by the CIA

00:32:29.875 --> 00:32:31.833
to bring Pinochet back to power.

00:32:31.834 --> 00:32:32.999
The number of political refugees

00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:34.998
that came out of
Chile at that time

00:32:34.999 --> 00:32:37.499
had a huge impact on the
politics of the Bay Area.

00:32:39.375 --> 00:32:41.875
- Holly Near was the key for
the exchange of musicians

00:32:43.667 --> 00:32:46.167
between the United
States and Latin America.

00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:49.500
- She did a tour
with Inti-Illimani,

00:32:49.709 --> 00:32:51.499
which is a Chilean group.

00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:53.998
♪ Home is where we are ♪

00:32:53.999 --> 00:32:56.499
♪ Oh, let love come
into our arms ♪

00:32:57.083 --> 00:32:59.583
♪ We will go on and on
and on and on and on ♪

00:33:00.208 --> 00:33:02.708
♪ The Gypsy dances on ♪

00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:05.500
- And what she was able to
do with singing with them

00:33:05.999 --> 00:33:08.499
is introduce a whole
audience in the United States

00:33:08.999 --> 00:33:11.499
to what was going on in
Chile, what had been going on

00:33:12.750 --> 00:33:15.250
in different parts of the
world and in Latin America.

00:33:16.417 --> 00:33:18.917
♪ On ♪

00:33:20.083 --> 00:33:22.583
(audience cheering
and applauding)

00:33:24.667 --> 00:33:27.167
- [Woman] Dear Holly, keep on
singing for freedom and peace.

00:33:28.999 --> 00:33:31.499
We are the voice of
those forks in Chile,

00:33:32.417 --> 00:33:34.917
El Salvador, Guatemala,
and everywhere.

00:33:34.999 --> 00:33:37.499
Business allows active workers.

00:33:38.250 --> 00:33:40.750
(singing in foreign language)

00:33:54.834 --> 00:33:57.334
- She was not just, you know,
of the women\'s movement.

00:34:00.999 --> 00:34:02.999
She was a person
who linked together

00:34:02.999 --> 00:34:04.999
the different social movements.

00:34:04.999 --> 00:34:07.499
(singing in foreign language)

00:34:12.999 --> 00:34:15.499
- I had been listening
to Holly\'s records.

00:34:16.375 --> 00:34:18.875
I didn\'t know anything of
really very much about Holly,

00:34:19.291 --> 00:34:21.791
but I loved her singing
and I loved her songs.

00:34:23.999 --> 00:34:26.290
And one of them
was a song called

00:34:26.291 --> 00:34:28.791
\"Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida.\"

00:34:29.083 --> 00:34:31.583
When we were filming,
when we were being filmed,

00:34:32.125 --> 00:34:34.625
the two of us began
to sing together.

00:34:35.083 --> 00:34:37.499
And we sang that song.

00:34:37.500 --> 00:34:40.000
♪ Cecilia Castro Salvadores ♪

00:34:43.667 --> 00:34:46.167
- It\'s not that, when
I sing the names,

00:34:47.250 --> 00:34:49.416
I don\'t think of the women.

00:34:49.417 --> 00:34:51.290
But coming to Villa Grimaldi,

00:34:51.291 --> 00:34:53.791
and you look at their
photos and letters,

00:34:53.999 --> 00:34:56.499
their handwriting, or a little
doll that that they had,

00:35:00.250 --> 00:35:02.750
it starts to fill out a
story for each one of them.

00:35:04.250 --> 00:35:06.457
(singing in foreign language)

00:35:06.458 --> 00:35:08.958
- There were prisons
and torture centers,

00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:11.998
interrogation centers
all over the country,

00:35:11.999 --> 00:35:14.499
and Villa Grimaldi
was one of them.

00:35:15.083 --> 00:35:16.541
♪ And the junta ♪

00:35:16.542 --> 00:35:18.542
♪ And the junta ♪

00:35:18.542 --> 00:35:21.042
♪ And the junta knows ♪

00:35:21.417 --> 00:35:23.624
- [Holly] The rose
garden was complicated,

00:35:23.625 --> 00:35:26.125
even during the time
when it was a prison.

00:35:26.208 --> 00:35:28.582
It\'s this place for
me, when I go there,

00:35:28.583 --> 00:35:30.749
I see this extraordinary beauty,

00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:33.250
and yet each of the
rose bushes has a stake

00:35:34.792 --> 00:35:37.292
and a name of someone
who just was tortured

00:35:37.542 --> 00:35:38.916
or disappeared in that place.

00:35:38.917 --> 00:35:39.833
And so there it is again,

00:35:39.834 --> 00:35:42.334
the horror and the beauty
right next to each other.

00:35:44.542 --> 00:35:47.042
(singing in foreign language)

00:35:54.291 --> 00:35:55.998
- It was incredible.

00:35:55.999 --> 00:35:56.998
There were friends who said,

00:35:56.999 --> 00:35:59.332
\"When are you two gonna
do a concert together?\"

00:35:59.333 --> 00:36:01.833
It was as if people
who saw that felt,

00:36:02.041 --> 00:36:04.541
thought that that\'s what
we were doing, you know?

00:36:04.999 --> 00:36:07.499
And that\'s how we got ourselves,

00:36:08.458 --> 00:36:10.458
we let ourselves get
pushed into that,

00:36:10.458 --> 00:36:12.958
and, boy, was that ever
a good thing. (laughs)

00:36:15.583 --> 00:36:16.999
♪ Out of the night ♪

00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:19.500
♪ Appeared a lady leading
a distant Pilgrim band ♪

00:36:23.500 --> 00:36:26.000
♪ First mate, she yelled,
pointing her hand, ♪

00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:29.500
♪ Make room aboard
for this young woman ♪

00:36:30.667 --> 00:36:33.167
♪ Saying, come on up,
mm-hmm-hmm, I got a lifeline ♪

00:36:35.125 --> 00:36:37.625
♪ Come on up to
this train of mine ♪

00:36:38.583 --> 00:36:41.083
- One of the most highly
respected collaborations

00:36:41.166 --> 00:36:43.666
and the one with the
longest relationship

00:36:44.500 --> 00:36:46.165
is her relationship
with Ronnie Gilbert.

00:36:46.166 --> 00:36:48.666
Her audience started
to expand in age

00:36:48.834 --> 00:36:49.998
as the movement went on.

00:36:49.999 --> 00:36:50.998
They both together were able

00:36:50.999 --> 00:36:52.999
to kind of bring these
two movements together,

00:36:52.999 --> 00:36:54.999
the women\'s movement
and the far left,

00:36:54.999 --> 00:36:57.499
and bring them all
together and create kind of

00:36:57.999 --> 00:37:00.499
a multi-generational experience

00:37:00.750 --> 00:37:02.998
and situation for their music.

00:37:02.999 --> 00:37:05.499
♪ Seeking every lost and found ♪

00:37:06.709 --> 00:37:09.209
♪ Setting those free
that once were bound ♪

00:37:10.333 --> 00:37:12.207
- In retrospect, I think
what moved me so much

00:37:12.208 --> 00:37:14.708
about seeing Holly
and Ronnie together

00:37:15.959 --> 00:37:17.708
was quite simple-minded.

00:37:17.709 --> 00:37:20.209
I\'d never seen two
women performing who
were different ages,

00:37:22.041 --> 00:37:23.290
different experiences,

00:37:23.291 --> 00:37:25.791
actually liked each
other, weren\'t rivals.

00:37:26.041 --> 00:37:28.457
(chuckles) On the contrary.

00:37:28.458 --> 00:37:30.833
♪ Mm-hmm-hmm, I got a lifeline ♪

00:37:30.834 --> 00:37:33.334
♪ Come on up to
this train of mine ♪

00:37:34.999 --> 00:37:35.874
♪ Come on up ♪

00:37:35.875 --> 00:37:37.998
- [Holly] We sold out
the Philharmonic Hall

00:37:37.999 --> 00:37:39.165
in New York City, two nights.

00:37:39.166 --> 00:37:41.082
We were selling at Carnegie.

00:37:41.083 --> 00:37:43.583
We were selling big halls
in Boston and Chicago

00:37:44.625 --> 00:37:46.582
and San Francisco and Seattle.

00:37:46.583 --> 00:37:47.998
- [Ronnie] For me,
she was the first,

00:37:47.999 --> 00:37:50.499
\'cause I was not involved in
the women\'s music movement

00:37:52.083 --> 00:37:52.998
until I met Holly.

00:37:52.999 --> 00:37:55.499
So, for me, she was the
women\'s music movement.

00:37:57.999 --> 00:38:00.499
♪ Ooh ♪

00:38:02.250 --> 00:38:04.750
(audience cheers and applauds)

00:38:05.875 --> 00:38:08.375
- I was the grownup then,
she\'s the grownup now.

00:38:10.583 --> 00:38:11.998
I look at her and I think

00:38:11.999 --> 00:38:14.499
that is a woman I
really wanna learn from.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:16.165
♪ Fired up ♪

00:38:16.166 --> 00:38:18.582
♪ Ain\'t gonna take it no more ♪

00:38:18.583 --> 00:38:19.749
♪ We\'re tied up ♪

00:38:19.750 --> 00:38:22.250
♪ Ain\'t gonna take it no more ♪

00:38:22.375 --> 00:38:23.165
- Women\'s music was

00:38:23.166 --> 00:38:25.666
a mass cultural phenomenon

00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:28.500
that helped the
women\'s movement grow.

00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:31.500
- It just started to
pick up and gain speed

00:38:32.417 --> 00:38:34.040
to where we are today.

00:38:34.041 --> 00:38:36.124
♪ Focus on the
kids with wealth ♪

00:38:36.125 --> 00:38:38.625
♪ Can\'t pick and choose
who gets the healthcare ♪

00:38:40.166 --> 00:38:42.666
♪ Take another look
at the great divide ♪

00:38:43.250 --> 00:38:45.750
♪ It looks dangerously
similar to genocide ♪

00:38:47.750 --> 00:38:48.374
♪ And we\'re ♪

00:38:48.375 --> 00:38:50.124
- Now everybody\'s talking
about equality of marriage,

00:38:50.125 --> 00:38:51.833
and there are gay
people on television,

00:38:51.834 --> 00:38:54.334
and Ellen DeGeneres has
the best talk show ever.

00:38:54.999 --> 00:38:56.791
But it wasn\'t that way.

00:38:56.792 --> 00:38:59.292
We were the generation of
women who laid every brick down

00:39:02.041 --> 00:39:03.499
before anybody could walk on it.

00:39:03.500 --> 00:39:06.000
- I think it\'s important
for young people today

00:39:08.959 --> 00:39:11.459
to know history
and to understand

00:39:13.834 --> 00:39:15.998
what didn\'t used to be there.

00:39:15.999 --> 00:39:17.999
It wasn\'t so long ago.

00:39:17.999 --> 00:39:20.499
And there were people
who sacrificed a lot

00:39:20.834 --> 00:39:23.334
to win those battles, and
Holly was a part of that.

00:39:25.875 --> 00:39:28.375
- Some things are not undoable.

00:39:29.083 --> 00:39:31.583
And that\'s what I\'m most proud
of, in terms of feminism.

00:39:31.792 --> 00:39:34.292
There are things that women
did in the \'70s and \'80s,

00:39:35.625 --> 00:39:38.125
a consciousness raised
that cannot be unraised,

00:39:39.709 --> 00:39:42.209
the idea that when a man
forces a woman to have sex,

00:39:44.792 --> 00:39:46.916
that\'s no longer considered sex.

00:39:46.917 --> 00:39:48.874
That\'s considered violence.

00:39:48.875 --> 00:39:49.999
That\'s feminism.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.500
The idea that you could walk
into a statehouse or a Congress

00:39:55.250 --> 00:39:57.750
and expect to see
women, that\'s feminism.

00:39:59.583 --> 00:40:00.332
- We were the ones

00:40:00.333 --> 00:40:02.833
that were not seen by
the dominant culture

00:40:03.999 --> 00:40:06.499
and will not be remembered
by the dominant culture.

00:40:07.125 --> 00:40:08.582
But the next generation of women

00:40:08.583 --> 00:40:11.083
who walked right through the
door that had gotten opened

00:40:12.999 --> 00:40:13.916
will not only be remembered,

00:40:13.917 --> 00:40:16.417
but have changed the face
of culture in the world.

00:40:17.999 --> 00:40:19.416
- What\'s kind of
overwhelming to me

00:40:19.417 --> 00:40:21.917
at this stage of the game
is that we are the elders.

00:40:24.166 --> 00:40:24.998
We\'re it.

00:40:24.999 --> 00:40:26.999
There\'s nobody to call and
say, who\'s in this photograph,

00:40:26.999 --> 00:40:29.457
who are those people,
or what happened.

00:40:29.458 --> 00:40:30.998
- [Timothy] They
held the history.

00:40:30.999 --> 00:40:31.999
- [Holly] They do.

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:32.998
It\'s a lot to hold.

00:40:32.999 --> 00:40:34.791
And then we\'ve got
these extraordinary
nieces and nephews,

00:40:34.792 --> 00:40:37.292
and they seem to be
carrying on without us

00:40:38.999 --> 00:40:41.499
♪ Some will remember
every face ♪

00:40:45.792 --> 00:40:48.292
♪ How every man
who put me here ♪

00:40:51.375 --> 00:40:53.457
- Because our mothers
were identical twins,

00:40:53.458 --> 00:40:55.958
the cousins always felt a
little bit more than cousins,

00:40:56.750 --> 00:40:59.082
because we shared a
little more gene pool

00:40:59.083 --> 00:41:00.374
than we might otherwise.

00:41:00.375 --> 00:41:01.666
Something that those twins

00:41:01.667 --> 00:41:04.167
and their brother did ended
up with a big bunch of us

00:41:04.875 --> 00:41:07.375
going into the
entertainment business.

00:41:07.583 --> 00:41:10.083
♪ Any day now ♪

00:41:10.999 --> 00:41:13.499
♪ Any day now ♪

00:41:14.166 --> 00:41:16.666
♪ I shall be released ♪

00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:20.500
- My mom and Holly\'s
mom were twin sisters.

00:41:21.375 --> 00:41:23.875
So a couple years ago my
brother came up with this idea

00:41:25.125 --> 00:41:27.625
of having a Christmas
cousins concert.

00:41:29.959 --> 00:41:30.874
It was kind of a cool idea,

00:41:30.875 --> 00:41:33.375
because there\'s a lot
of musicians across
these two families

00:41:35.709 --> 00:41:37.874
and then extended families.

00:41:37.875 --> 00:41:40.375
♪ I see my life come shining ♪

00:41:42.999 --> 00:41:44.958
♪ I see my life ♪

00:41:44.959 --> 00:41:47.459
♪ From the west
down to the east ♪

00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:50.500
♪ Shining, shining, shining ♪

00:41:51.834 --> 00:41:54.334
- Holly is just, you know,
she\'s a phenomenal singer,

00:41:54.917 --> 00:41:56.998
so I always feel
completely honored

00:41:56.999 --> 00:41:59.499
to be making any kind of
music with her at all.

00:41:59.583 --> 00:42:02.083
♪ I shall be released ♪

00:42:04.583 --> 00:42:07.083
- I was so drawn to the
things that I wanted,

00:42:07.125 --> 00:42:09.625
the fame and the money and
all the shiny things that,

00:42:14.041 --> 00:42:16.541
to sacrifice even
the idea of that

00:42:17.375 --> 00:42:19.875
for something that you believe
in and something that you,

00:42:23.792 --> 00:42:26.292
you know a really, really deep,
deep sense of responsibility

00:42:29.917 --> 00:42:31.332
to the world and right and wrong

00:42:31.333 --> 00:42:32.998
is something that
I really admire,

00:42:32.999 --> 00:42:35.499
because she made that
choice, you know?

00:42:36.417 --> 00:42:37.332
She made that choice.

00:42:37.333 --> 00:42:39.040
♪ Swept across the valley ♪

00:42:39.041 --> 00:42:40.998
♪ Her body so defined ♪

00:42:40.999 --> 00:42:41.998
♪ And wet with the sweat ♪

00:42:41.999 --> 00:42:44.249
- In terms of the Dance Brigade

00:42:44.250 --> 00:42:46.332
and the Wallflower
and Holly\'s work

00:42:46.333 --> 00:42:47.666
and all their work
that they\'ve done

00:42:47.667 --> 00:42:50.167
for the women\'s movement,
I wanna help continue it

00:42:51.417 --> 00:42:53.249
in my own way, and add to it,

00:42:53.250 --> 00:42:54.998
and grow from it, and teach it.

00:42:54.999 --> 00:42:57.499
- My daughter I think
has been influenced

00:42:58.375 --> 00:43:00.875
by just watching the women
of the Near family work.

00:43:03.291 --> 00:43:04.374
♪ They are stars ♪

00:43:04.375 --> 00:43:05.833
- [Krissy] Holly\'s
music is used a lot

00:43:05.834 --> 00:43:08.334
in all of our shows that
we do for our Girl Brigade,

00:43:08.792 --> 00:43:11.292
because her music is so
good for making up dances to

00:43:12.875 --> 00:43:14.998
that the girls can identify
with and understand.

00:43:14.999 --> 00:43:17.499
So we still use a lot of
Holly\'s music in our shows.

00:43:19.375 --> 00:43:21.875
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:22.834 --> 00:43:25.334
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:26.291 --> 00:43:28.791
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:29.625 --> 00:43:32.125
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:32.875 --> 00:43:33.541
♪ Sky ♪

00:43:33.542 --> 00:43:36.042
- So many of her
songs are danceable.

00:43:36.458 --> 00:43:38.958
You know, you find yourself,
I mean, I used to put them on

00:43:39.417 --> 00:43:41.917
when I\'d been sitting at
my desk too long (chuckles)

00:43:42.667 --> 00:43:45.167
and I\'d put them on and
just dance all by myself.

00:43:45.625 --> 00:43:46.998
♪ Dances ♪

00:43:46.999 --> 00:43:49.499
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:50.291 --> 00:43:52.791
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:56.500
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:43:57.417 --> 00:43:59.917
♪ Sky dances ♪

00:44:04.999 --> 00:44:07.499
(audience applauds and cheers)

00:44:12.875 --> 00:44:14.875
- [Woman] Dear friends,
we have never written

00:44:14.875 --> 00:44:17.375
a letter like this before,
but we feel strongly

00:44:17.709 --> 00:44:18.998
about the work of Holly Near

00:44:18.999 --> 00:44:21.124
and the importance of
Redwood Cultural Work.

00:44:21.125 --> 00:44:23.625
This significant women\'s
institution is in trouble,

00:44:24.375 --> 00:44:26.082
and we are writing
our friends and family

00:44:26.083 --> 00:44:28.583
to ask you to help save
Redwood Cultural Work

00:44:28.875 --> 00:44:31.375
by giving the most generous
contribution you can.

00:44:32.125 --> 00:44:34.040
The possible closing
of Redwood would leave

00:44:34.041 --> 00:44:36.541
both a personal and political
void in all our lives.

00:44:38.999 --> 00:44:41.499
- Redwood Records went
bankrupt after about 18 years.

00:44:42.709 --> 00:44:45.209
Redwood Records produced
over 30-some recordings

00:44:47.667 --> 00:44:50.167
of out lesbians
and people that had

00:44:50.625 --> 00:44:53.125
some sort of political point
of view in their music,

00:44:53.417 --> 00:44:55.917
who never would\'ve been
recorded by the mainstream.

00:44:56.458 --> 00:44:58.374
It makes me feel very proud.

00:44:58.375 --> 00:45:00.875
The wealth of
seeing social change

00:45:01.625 --> 00:45:03.582
and hearing new music recorded,

00:45:03.583 --> 00:45:05.416
bringing people
together in coalition,

00:45:05.417 --> 00:45:07.917
that\'s really what
was my payoff.

00:45:08.709 --> 00:45:11.209
- She essentially
subsidized Redwood Records,

00:45:12.166 --> 00:45:14.666
first as a business and
then as a nonprofit,

00:45:15.333 --> 00:45:16.082
and then, I guess,

00:45:16.083 --> 00:45:18.583
it eventually went
away, but her labor,

00:45:19.583 --> 00:45:22.083
her contacts, her
Rolodex were drained.

00:45:24.417 --> 00:45:26.917
And I think there was
a lot of pain there.

00:45:27.709 --> 00:45:30.209
♪ Please ♪

00:45:30.792 --> 00:45:33.292
♪ Sit with me ♪

00:45:33.333 --> 00:45:35.833
♪ Through the night ♪

00:45:35.999 --> 00:45:38.499
♪ And tell me it\'s all
right to fall apart ♪

00:45:42.333 --> 00:45:44.833
- Holly and I
decided to do a play

00:45:44.999 --> 00:45:47.499
about based on
her autobiography.

00:45:48.333 --> 00:45:49.082
- I wrote a book.

00:45:49.083 --> 00:45:51.583
It was called \"Fire in the
Rain, Singer in the Storm.\"

00:45:53.208 --> 00:45:55.708
♪ But you know tomorrow
I\'ll be back on my feet ♪

00:45:59.999 --> 00:46:02.499
♪ It\'s not in me, my
friends, to accept defeat ♪

00:46:06.709 --> 00:46:09.209
- [Timothy] They
responded wildly.

00:46:09.333 --> 00:46:11.833
It was just a real
heart response to her
work, to her story.

00:46:15.959 --> 00:46:17.874
- [Holly] We started in San
Jose, went to Los Angeles

00:46:17.875 --> 00:46:19.998
at the Mark Taper Forum,
went back to San Francisco,

00:46:19.999 --> 00:46:22.499
and when it came to New
York, we had great previews

00:46:23.458 --> 00:46:25.958
and standing ovations, and
then we had a terrible review,

00:46:26.917 --> 00:46:29.417
and the producer
shut the show down.

00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:35.500
- So, do you remember
asking me on our first date?

00:46:37.625 --> 00:46:39.998
- I do. (chuckling)

00:46:39.999 --> 00:46:41.666
I remember getting
half the sentence out,

00:46:41.667 --> 00:46:43.833
\"Would you like to,\"
and you said yes.

00:46:43.834 --> 00:46:46.082
I said, \"Don\'t you want to
know what we\'re gonna do?\"

00:46:46.083 --> 00:46:48.583
He said, \"No, just yes.\"

00:46:48.959 --> 00:46:51.459
- I had heard her name name as
one of the local luminaries.

00:46:52.999 --> 00:46:55.332
I was renting a room from
a friend in town here,

00:46:55.333 --> 00:46:57.833
and Holly was staying
with her sister,

00:46:57.875 --> 00:47:00.375
She was living in a tent
in her sister\'s backyard.

00:47:02.333 --> 00:47:04.833
She was still struggling
with Redwood Records,

00:47:05.417 --> 00:47:07.624
sorting out the social stuff.

00:47:07.625 --> 00:47:09.749
- [Holly] I had
no job prospects.

00:47:09.750 --> 00:47:10.874
I had no home.

00:47:10.875 --> 00:47:11.998
It\'s almost like
the universe said,

00:47:11.999 --> 00:47:14.499
okay, here are two people
who are in real need.

00:47:15.583 --> 00:47:16.998
Let\'s throw them at one another

00:47:16.999 --> 00:47:19.499
and see if they can
help each other out.

00:47:19.750 --> 00:47:21.416
And I think we did.

00:47:21.417 --> 00:47:23.917
(\"Change of Heart\")

00:47:28.583 --> 00:47:30.998
♪ Something changes in me ♪

00:47:30.999 --> 00:47:33.499
♪ When I witness
someone\'s courage ♪

00:47:34.208 --> 00:47:36.708
♪ They may not
know I\'m watching ♪

00:47:36.999 --> 00:47:39.499
♪ And I may not let them know ♪

00:47:39.999 --> 00:47:42.499
♪ That something changes in me ♪

00:47:42.792 --> 00:47:45.292
♪ That will last
me for a lifetime ♪

00:47:46.333 --> 00:47:48.833
♪ To fill me when I\'m empty ♪

00:47:49.417 --> 00:47:51.917
♪ And rock me ♪

00:47:52.041 --> 00:47:54.541
♪ When I\'m low ♪

00:47:55.250 --> 00:47:57.750
- One of the stories she
used to tell between songs

00:47:57.999 --> 00:48:00.499
was about how, when she
first came out as a lesbian,

00:48:02.792 --> 00:48:04.998
one of her heterosexual friends

00:48:04.999 --> 00:48:06.207
let her know later
in later years

00:48:06.208 --> 00:48:08.708
that she had had to go to
the bathroom and be sick.

00:48:10.125 --> 00:48:12.625
- \"Dear Holly, just got your
letter, it made me sick.

00:48:12.709 --> 00:48:14.998
\"I went into the
bathroom and threw up.

00:48:14.999 --> 00:48:16.916
\"Love, Kate.\"

00:48:16.917 --> 00:48:19.417
- And then, further
down the line,

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:22.500
when she said she
was dating men,

00:48:22.834 --> 00:48:24.791
one of her lesbian
friends told her later

00:48:24.792 --> 00:48:26.874
that she had to go to
the bathroom and be sick.

00:48:26.875 --> 00:48:29.375
So she was kind of, like,
making this point, again,

00:48:31.417 --> 00:48:33.917
as she always did,
of egalitarianism,
of embracing us all.

00:48:36.250 --> 00:48:37.791
(\"Simply Love\")

00:48:37.792 --> 00:48:40.292
♪ Why does my love make you
shift restless in your chair ♪

00:48:44.041 --> 00:48:46.541
♪ And leave you in despair ♪

00:48:47.709 --> 00:48:49.374
♪ It\'s simply love ♪

00:48:49.375 --> 00:48:51.875
And when I couldn\'t keep
it a secret anymore,

00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:54.500
then a wave of anger and
mistrust and disappointment

00:48:58.417 --> 00:49:00.917
and, uh, any other possible
things you can think of

00:49:01.750 --> 00:49:03.708
came towards me,
but I was already

00:49:03.709 --> 00:49:05.709
very well-practiced for this,

00:49:05.709 --> 00:49:07.541
because when I came
out as a lesbian,

00:49:07.542 --> 00:49:09.624
the left did that
to me, as well.

00:49:09.625 --> 00:49:12.125
♪ Perhaps there\'s something
you know you should fear ♪

00:49:13.875 --> 00:49:16.375
♪ If my love makes me
strong and makes you ♪

00:49:19.999 --> 00:49:20.791
♪ Disappear ♪

00:49:20.792 --> 00:49:22.999
Well, I was, at the time, one
of the most famous lesbians,

00:49:23.000 --> 00:49:25.500
I guess, in the world, and
so it was understandable

00:49:25.750 --> 00:49:28.040
that there was sort of
a little shock wave.

00:49:28.041 --> 00:49:28.998
It was still a time

00:49:28.999 --> 00:49:31.499
where you could name those
famous lesbians on one hand.

00:49:31.583 --> 00:49:34.083
And when that\'s the case,
it makes a lot of sense

00:49:35.709 --> 00:49:38.209
that people would be
afraid to lose one.

00:49:38.999 --> 00:49:40.582
(audience applauds)

00:49:40.583 --> 00:49:42.249
- I mean, if you
really love somebody,

00:49:42.250 --> 00:49:43.332
you want them to be happy.

00:49:43.333 --> 00:49:44.958
It doesn\'t matter
who they\'re with.

00:49:44.959 --> 00:49:47.207
And I think Holly had
been alone for a while,

00:49:47.208 --> 00:49:49.708
so I think people who
really cared about her

00:49:49.834 --> 00:49:52.334
were just happy that she
was in a happy relationship.

00:49:53.667 --> 00:49:55.667
- Timing is
everything, you know?

00:49:55.667 --> 00:49:58.167
And, um, and I think you
handled it very gracefully.

00:50:02.458 --> 00:50:03.624
And it was,

00:50:03.625 --> 00:50:06.125
I look back at it and say,
\"Well done,\" you know?

00:50:06.250 --> 00:50:08.374
- [Pat] Well, you gave me
a tremendous education,

00:50:08.375 --> 00:50:10.875
too, feminism and, and
such wonderful people

00:50:11.458 --> 00:50:12.374
you brought into my life.

00:50:12.375 --> 00:50:14.875
I mean, just an enriched
social life that we had.

00:50:15.083 --> 00:50:15.998
- [Holly] Mm-hmm.

00:50:15.999 --> 00:50:17.165
And I still don\'t
know what I want,

00:50:17.166 --> 00:50:18.708
and I\'m not sure you
know how you feel, but--

00:50:18.709 --> 00:50:21.209
- [Pat] You wanted us to be
friends after we split up.

00:50:22.999 --> 00:50:24.999
- I\'ve been with men,
I\'ve been with women.

00:50:24.999 --> 00:50:27.499
They\'ve all been
lovely relationships.

00:50:27.875 --> 00:50:30.040
So when people ask me
about my sexuality,

00:50:30.041 --> 00:50:31.958
am I gay or straight
or bisexual, I say,

00:50:31.959 --> 00:50:34.459
\"Well, to best of my
knowledge, I\'m monogamous.\"

00:50:35.750 --> 00:50:37.499
That\'s as good as it gets.

00:50:37.500 --> 00:50:39.124
I don\'t know about the rest.

00:50:39.125 --> 00:50:40.165
As long as I hung in there

00:50:40.166 --> 00:50:42.666
and continued to be an advocate
for civil and human rights,

00:50:46.583 --> 00:50:49.040
and to sing and
present lesbian culture

00:50:49.041 --> 00:50:51.541
as part of the global culture
that I was presenting,

00:50:52.542 --> 00:50:55.042
that I felt like I was
being true to myself.

00:50:55.875 --> 00:50:58.375
I was reading a statistic
a little while back,

00:50:58.999 --> 00:51:00.999
totalling up the
numbers of people

00:51:00.999 --> 00:51:02.958
who had been killed in war.

00:51:02.959 --> 00:51:05.459
For example, 3,073 killed
in terror attacks in the US,

00:51:09.166 --> 00:51:11.666
2,002 US troops
killed in Afghanistan,

00:51:14.625 --> 00:51:17.125
4,486 US troops killed in Iraq,

00:51:17.999 --> 00:51:19.666
and they weren\'t even counting

00:51:19.667 --> 00:51:22.167
all the civilians in
those two countries,

00:51:22.458 --> 00:51:24.958
as well as armies
from other countries.

00:51:28.125 --> 00:51:30.625
And then the number that
always makes my jaw drop

00:51:30.667 --> 00:51:33.167
was 11,766 American women killed
by boyfriends and husbands.

00:51:36.999 --> 00:51:39.499
I tried in the song to think
of all the ways in which women

00:51:41.875 --> 00:51:42.666
♪ Somebody\'s mama ♪

00:51:42.667 --> 00:51:45.167
Have less than glorious
lives because of violence

00:51:48.667 --> 00:51:51.167
♪ Beat down in the markets ♪

00:51:52.125 --> 00:51:54.625
♪ Stoned to death in the plaza ♪

00:51:55.500 --> 00:51:58.000
♪ Raped on the hillside under
the gun from L.A. to Gaza ♪

00:52:03.709 --> 00:52:06.209
♪ A house made of cardboard ♪

00:52:07.083 --> 00:52:09.583
♪ Living close to the rail ♪

00:52:10.750 --> 00:52:13.250
♪ Somebody\'s mama, somebody\'s
daughter, somebody\'s jail ♪

00:52:18.834 --> 00:52:19.332
♪ And ♪

00:52:19.333 --> 00:52:20.374
What is women\'s music?

00:52:20.375 --> 00:52:22.875
Maybe it\'s the music
for those who love

00:52:22.999 --> 00:52:25.499
or wanna learn to love
women amid misogyny.

00:52:26.458 --> 00:52:28.958
It represents our bravery
as well as our fear,

00:52:29.999 --> 00:52:30.916
our desire to be mothers

00:52:30.917 --> 00:52:32.998
as well as our choice
not to have children.

00:52:32.999 --> 00:52:35.499
Our lesbianism as well as our
heterosexuality, bisexuality,

00:52:36.999 --> 00:52:39.499
celibacy, women\'s music
affirms the uniqueness

00:52:40.291 --> 00:52:42.791
of what women have to say
and how we wanna say it

00:52:44.667 --> 00:52:47.167
♪ I feel the scream in my soul ♪

00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:50.500
♪ The blood as I sing
the ancient blue ♪

00:52:51.999 --> 00:52:53.999
♪ They burned in the millions ♪

00:52:53.999 --> 00:52:55.374
♪ They burned in the millions ♪

00:52:55.375 --> 00:52:57.875
♪ I still smell the fire
in my grandma\'s hair ♪

00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:01.500
♪ The war against
women rages on ♪

00:53:02.875 --> 00:53:05.375
♪ Beware of the fairytale ♪

00:53:06.125 --> 00:53:08.625
♪ Somebody\'s mama, somebody\'s
daughter, somebody\'s jail ♪

00:53:13.709 --> 00:53:16.209
♪ Somebody\'s mama, somebody\'s
daughter, somebody\'s jail ♪

00:53:22.291 --> 00:53:24.791
(audience cheers and applauds)

00:53:26.166 --> 00:53:28.666
- I feel as if there are people
like me all over the world

00:53:30.667 --> 00:53:33.167
who have spent the last
40, 60 years of their life

00:53:33.750 --> 00:53:36.250
looking at race and
gender and class.

00:53:37.792 --> 00:53:40.292
And that puts us, as elders,
in an amazing position.

00:53:41.750 --> 00:53:44.250
I\'m very interested
in legacy circles,

00:53:45.709 --> 00:53:48.209
to not let this
knowledge fall apart.

00:53:49.834 --> 00:53:52.334
- We helped organize a workshop

00:53:52.417 --> 00:53:54.917
with 12 women
songwriters from Chile,

00:53:56.166 --> 00:53:57.040
and we came together.

00:53:57.041 --> 00:53:59.541
The idea was to
generate a space to talk

00:53:59.625 --> 00:54:02.125
about gender-based violence.

00:54:02.250 --> 00:54:04.750
- 40-some women have been
killed by their husbands

00:54:05.333 --> 00:54:07.833
in this year alone,
what they call femicide.

00:54:07.999 --> 00:54:10.499
And one of the most
startling murals that I saw

00:54:11.999 --> 00:54:12.916
when I was out in the barrio

00:54:12.917 --> 00:54:15.417
was this big mural painted
along a wall that said,

00:54:16.709 --> 00:54:18.999
\"You don\'t have to like her.

00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:21.165
\"Leave her, but don\'t kill her.\"

00:54:21.166 --> 00:54:22.874
- How do you change a culture?

00:54:22.875 --> 00:54:25.375
So, one of the things
is having some songs

00:54:25.750 --> 00:54:27.290
and music the people can sing

00:54:27.291 --> 00:54:29.791
and can have melodies
that, like Holly\'s,

00:54:30.458 --> 00:54:32.958
that can be part of
people\'s movement and lives.

00:54:33.834 --> 00:54:36.334
(lighthearted acoustic music)

00:54:58.667 --> 00:55:01.167
- Holly taught to
give us a few tools

00:55:01.750 --> 00:55:04.124
to be able to write a song.

00:55:04.125 --> 00:55:05.290
- A few women got together

00:55:05.291 --> 00:55:07.791
and wrote what we think
will be an anthem.

00:56:00.917 --> 00:56:02.416
- People would say,
are you a socialist,

00:56:02.417 --> 00:56:04.917
are you a lesbian, are
you an anti-imperialist?

00:56:05.875 --> 00:56:08.375
Those are all words, but
they don\'t really represent

00:56:09.792 --> 00:56:12.292
the nature of the person
that I strive to be,

00:56:13.542 --> 00:56:15.998
that I\'m continuing
to work towards.

00:56:15.999 --> 00:56:17.416
And I would go out on any limb

00:56:17.417 --> 00:56:19.917
for any group or culture
that is being attacked,

00:56:21.999 --> 00:56:23.999
or abused, or disenfranchised.

00:56:23.999 --> 00:56:26.499
♪ There is a hurting
in my family ♪

00:56:31.250 --> 00:56:33.750
♪ And there is
sorrow in my town ♪

00:56:38.917 --> 00:56:40.249
I was trying to say to myself,

00:56:40.250 --> 00:56:42.750
why is it that we
don\'t have a word

00:56:43.999 --> 00:56:45.999
for what people like me believe?

00:56:45.999 --> 00:56:48.499
I was trying to see if I could
write about it in a song,

00:56:49.583 --> 00:56:52.083
and it kind of came down to,
I\'m open and I\'m willing.

00:56:53.999 --> 00:56:56.499
♪ I am open and I am willing ♪

00:57:00.667 --> 00:57:03.167
♪ For to be hopeless
would seem so strange ♪

00:57:08.458 --> 00:57:10.958
♪ It dishonors those
who go before us ♪

00:57:15.208 --> 00:57:17.708
♪ So lift me up to
the light of change ♪

00:57:23.458 --> 00:57:25.958
♪ May the children, may
they see more clearly ♪

00:57:29.999 --> 00:57:32.499
♪ May the elders be more wise ♪

00:57:35.041 --> 00:57:37.541
- I think she managed to say
what is the truth, which is

00:57:39.208 --> 00:57:40.916
the peace movement and
the women\'s movement

00:57:40.917 --> 00:57:42.541
is the same movement.

00:57:42.542 --> 00:57:43.998
We share a worldview

00:57:43.999 --> 00:57:46.499
in which human beings are
linked rather than ranked.

00:57:48.959 --> 00:57:51.459
I hope that we can continue
to be in her presence

00:57:53.041 --> 00:57:54.541
while she performs.

00:57:54.542 --> 00:57:57.042
♪ And I am willing
for to be hopeless ♪

00:57:58.542 --> 00:58:01.042
♪ For to be hopeless
would seem so strange ♪

00:58:02.792 --> 00:58:03.582
♪ Would seem so ♪

00:58:03.583 --> 00:58:05.998
- She\'s what every
American should be.

00:58:05.999 --> 00:58:07.916
She\'s true blue.

00:58:07.917 --> 00:58:09.332
She is what you see.

00:58:09.333 --> 00:58:10.082
She cares about people.

00:58:10.083 --> 00:58:12.583
She has tremendous
empathy, great integrity.

00:58:13.999 --> 00:58:16.499
You know, she wanted
to stick to her roots

00:58:16.583 --> 00:58:19.083
and speak from her
heart through song.

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:22.500
♪ Give me your mighty oak ♪

00:58:23.999 --> 00:58:26.499
♪ To hold my confusion ♪

00:58:27.250 --> 00:58:29.750
♪ And give me a desert ♪

00:58:30.999 --> 00:58:33.499
♪ To hold my fear ♪

00:58:34.291 --> 00:58:36.791
♪ Give me a sunset ♪

00:58:37.875 --> 00:58:40.375
♪ To hold my wonder ♪

00:58:41.333 --> 00:58:43.833
♪ And give me an ocean ♪

00:58:44.999 --> 00:58:47.499
♪ To hold my tears ♪

00:58:49.417 --> 00:58:51.917
♪ I am open ♪

00:58:52.667 --> 00:58:55.167
♪ And I am willing ♪

00:58:56.125 --> 00:58:58.625
♪ For to be hopeless ♪

00:58:59.750 --> 00:59:02.250
♪ Would seem so strange ♪

00:59:03.999 --> 00:59:06.499
♪ It dishonors ♪

00:59:06.917 --> 00:59:09.417
♪ Those who go before us ♪

00:59:10.917 --> 00:59:13.417
♪ So lift me up ♪

00:59:15.750 --> 00:59:18.250
♪ To the light of ♪

00:59:18.583 --> 00:59:21.083
♪ Change ♪

00:59:26.041 --> 00:59:28.541
(audience applauds)

00:59:31.625 --> 00:59:33.998
(upbeat music)

00:59:33.999 --> 00:59:36.499
♪ If I had a front porch
I\'d be sitting on it ♪

00:59:40.458 --> 00:59:42.958
♪ Sitting in a rockin\'
chair and I\'d be rockin\' ♪

00:59:46.959 --> 00:59:49.459
♪ If I had a sweetheart you\'d
be sitting there with me ♪

00:59:52.709 --> 00:59:55.209
♪ Sitting in a rockin\'
chair and we\'d be rockin\' ♪

00:59:59.959 --> 01:00:02.459
♪ And you would look at me
like I\'m a thing of wonder ♪

01:00:04.208 --> 01:00:06.708
♪ And I\'d look back
and smile and say ♪

01:00:07.999 --> 01:00:09.999
♪ Here comes a bit of a storm, ♪

01:00:09.999 --> 01:00:12.499
♪ Let\'s watch the
lightning and the thunder ♪

01:00:13.999 --> 01:00:16.499
♪ If I had a front porch
I\'d be sitting on it ♪

01:00:20.458 --> 01:00:22.958
♪ Sitting in a rockin\'
chair and I\'d be rockin\' ♪

01:00:28.667 --> 01:00:31.167
♪ Firefly lighting up the sky ♪

01:00:31.999 --> 01:00:34.499
♪ Humidity dripping
down my face ♪

01:00:35.709 --> 01:00:38.209
♪ Soon all the
neighbors can\'t resist ♪

01:00:38.542 --> 01:00:41.042
♪ Let\'s go hang out
at Holly\'s place ♪

01:01:09.583 --> 01:01:12.083
♪ If I had a cool drink
I\'d be sipping on it ♪

01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:18.500
♪ Apple and a sprig of
mint and I\'d be rockin\' ♪

01:01:22.458 --> 01:01:24.958
♪ If I had a big cat she\'d
be sitting there with me ♪

01:01:28.291 --> 01:01:30.791
♪ Sitting in a rockin\'
chair and she\'d be rockin\' ♪

01:01:35.417 --> 01:01:37.917
♪ And we can hear the chears
from the Little League park ♪

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:42.500
♪ As some gal rounds the base ♪

01:01:43.125 --> 01:01:45.625
♪ Game is over,
team can\'t resist, ♪

01:01:46.458 --> 01:01:48.958
♪ Let\'s go hang out
at Holly\'s place ♪

01:01:49.667 --> 01:01:52.167
♪ If I a baritone, I\'d
be strumming on it ♪

01:01:55.999 --> 01:01:58.499
♪ Sitting on a rockin\'
chair and I\'d be strumming ♪

01:02:02.375 --> 01:02:04.875
♪ If I had a front porch
I\'d be sitting on it ♪

01:02:08.208 --> 01:02:10.708
♪ Sitting on a rockin\'
chair and I\'d be rockin\' ♪

01:02:14.709 --> 01:02:17.209
♪ rockin\', rockin\',
rockin\', rockin\', rockin\' ♪