“Prayer of St. Francis" by Sarah McLachlan, Friday, December 8, 2023

Time has named Taylor Swift as Person of the Year. She is the first musician to ever hold the title. The musician has certainly permeated into all facets of culture in 2023 as part of what many have called her “Imperial Phase” or maybe Imperial Era?  The biggest artists reach the “Imperial Phase” of their careers before another star rises. There is a part of the American psyche that roots for Taylor Swift--the teen star from Pennsylvania who treated her fans well to a billionaire jet-setting pop star. A big part of how Taylor won the hearts of America--and the world--has to do with fans and music lovers siding with her side of her feud with Scooter Braun. But another part of Swift’s appeal was shattering the glass ceiling which had limited female musicians in the past. Today, though, we're not talking about Swift but rather another Era-defining musician who pioneered the idea of a female-led portion of the music industry.

LORD, MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF THY PEACE. In 1997, Sarah McLauchlin was in her “Imperial Phase.” Four years after releasing her third record, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, McLauchlin released Surfacing. A hectic two-and-a-half-year touring cycle for Fumbling had both built her career and exhausted the singer to the point that she later claimed that she wanted to quit releasing music after her breakthrough record. But Surfacing was highly successful with its massive hits “Angel,” “Adia,” and “Building a Mystery,” which won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. But McLauchlin was also building a legacy. The same year she released Surfacing, Sarah founded the all-female music festival lineup Lilith Fair. McLauchlin founded the concert because she was frustrated with radio stations and concert promoters refusing to play two female artists in a row. The tour ran for three years with a revival in 2010. The tour grossed $16 million in 1997, and in the festival’s three main years (the revival was a financial disaster) the organizers donated over $10 million to various charities. McLauchlin laid the groundwork for female musicians to take control of what they could in the music industry, and we’re still seeing the impact today.

IT IS IN DYING THAT WE ARE BORN TO ETERNAL LIFE. Sarah McLauchlin first released her version of “Prayer of St. Francis” as a bonus track on early versions of Surfacing. Later it was included on her Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff, Volume 2. Although the text of the prayer has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1182-1226), it’s not in any of his writings and only appeared no further back than 1912, when it appeared in a French Catholic magazine called La Clochette, or The Little Bell. The prayer gained popularity during the First and Second World Wars. It was adapted into a song in 1967 by South African songwriter, Sebastian Temple. Sinéad O’Connor performed the song at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997. Today, we’re listening to Sarah McLauchlin’s version. The singer-songwriter has used religious imagery in many of her songs and has even performed for Pope John Paul II, she does not consider herself religious. She has said, “I don’t follow any organized religion, but I do believe in the idea of god as a verb--being love and light. And that we are part of everything as everything is a part of us.” “Prayer of St. Francis” is the prayer of a servant’s heart, and you don’t have to be religious to want to serve others. 

 

Read “Prayer of St. Francis” by Sarah McLachlan on Genius.