“People Get Ready” A Reason To Smile Dan Rather and Team Steady Nov 1 Credit: Getty Images As we head into what is shaping up to be an anxious week, awaiting election results and bracing for presidential tantrums and shenanigans, we thought about what kind of reason to smile might help ease some of that understandable trepidation. The song “People Get Ready” quickly came to mind. The title is an astute description of the anticipatory feeling many of us have… we are getting ready, ready for change. In 1965, singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield wrote the freedom song and recorded it with his group, The Impressions. Soon after, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called it the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. He played “People Get Ready” to get people marching and to calm and comfort them. The song feels like a musical refuge, embracing grace and dignity. The metaphor of the train, a common theme in Black spirituals, portends good things coming, like freedom and justice. Mayfield spoke of the song’s gospel-influenced religious origins. “That was taken from my church or from the upbringing of messages from the church. Like there’s no hiding place and get on board.” There are few videos of Mayfield, who passed away in 1999, singing the song. It has been covered by some of music’s biggest names: Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck. I am partial to this lesser-known but perfectly poignant version by Eva Cassidy. We will be with you on Monday with a new Steady, and throughout Tuesday on Substack’s Notes. I don’t need to remind you, but I will: polls can be wrong. So please, go vote. Thank you. Please consider supporting my team’s efforts to protect our democracy through the power of independent journalism by becoming a paid subscriber. It’s one of the best deals on Substack. I thank you for your support. No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading, watching, and listening. Stay Steady, Dan