The Red Album: Crow Women’s Story

We’re the Crow Women, a Goddess-focused women’s circle that has had a long, rich life as a pagan coven as well as a parallel identity as an award-winning pagan choir. We’re feminists, and that informs our political actions, our spiritual practice and our music. When a group of pagan musicians from across the USA decided to create an album to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we joined in eagerly. This is the story of our journey as part of The Red Album: Pagan Voices for Reproductive Rights.

For this article, each Crow Woman shared her thoughts and memories about the creation of our song. I (Alane) knitted it all together into this article about our passionate, powerful experience of stepping up as pro-choice pagan musicians.

Tara puts it well. “Our coven has traditionally aligned ourselves strongly with feminist values, so I think the Supreme Court decision felt particularly like a stab to the gut and a huge loss of women’s rights. We all felt the need to do something other than just lament. The Red Album was a way for us to use our talents to do something REAL—namely ensure that organizations who were providing abortion access to people across the USA could continue and expand their work.”

The genesis of The Red Album

I was at Pagan Spirit Gathering, one of the USA’s oldest and strongest pagan festivals, in June 2022. When the news that Roe v. Wade had been overturned was announced, ripples of outrage and grief spread across the campground where hundreds of paganfolk were gathered to celebrate summer solstice. Later that day, I was running a workshop on songwriting, featuring several of the Pagan Song blog writers who were performing at PSG.

The musicians were answering the question; “Why do you write songs?” One answer was, “to express our feelings and inspire emotion in listeners”. And on that day when such a terrible blow had been dealt to women in America, we had a lot of feelings. Anger, sorrow, betrayal, shock. One of the participants said, “we should write about that.” By the end of the conversation, several of the presenters and workshop participants shared a resolve: we would make music to make change.

During that festival week, conversations continued, and by the end of the festival we had a project name: The Red Album. Taking inspiration from The Green Album, a compilation of songs by pagan artists that promotes environmental action, we decided to reclaim the color red–the color of blood, the color of anger, the color of the Goddess. We would make a Red Album and donate the proceeds to nonprofits working to protect reproductive freedom in the United States.

Many of the musicians and bands that had been at Pagan Spirit Gathering in 2022 followed through and donated a song to the rich tapestry of viewpoints that became The Red Album: Pagan Voices for Reproductive Rights. Those were Pagan Song bloggers Spiral Rhythm, Krista Chapman Greene, Louis Garou, and Crow Women, as well as Mr. E, Meren King, Spellsinger, Kira Lang, Sydney Michael and Richard Williamson, who were all there when the idea first blossomed. After the festival, invitations were send to other pagan bands, and the group swelled further. Pagan song bloggers Mama Gina, Alexander James Adams, Celia Farran, Ginger Ackley, Alexian and Brian Henke committed to the project, as well as S. J. Tucker, Pan Fried and Sue Balaschak of Primal Rhythm. That’s 19 different pagan artists, each of whom created a song and donated it to the project. What a lineup!

Why the Crow Women decided to become part of The Red Album

In late summer of 2022, the Crow Women met to talk about whether to commit time and money to creating a song for The Red Album. There would be no compensation for the costs of recording the song. Since all proceeds go to nonprofits working to keep abortion health care available to all, there would be no income coming back to the band as a result of sales after release. It would truly be a gift.

It was an easy “yes”.

Deb said, “I didn’t have to decide to become part of the Red Album; as soon as I heard about it, I was in. Health care decisions cannot be made for any individual by the government or any other outside force. Clearly, this is wrong.” Carole agrees. She said, “My motivation was outrage at the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority canceling women’s nationwide right to control their own bodies. I was happy to join the Red Album project.”

Marilyn had similar feelings. “Being part of the Red Album is a privilege! Finding out about the initial idea was exciting and energizing. So many of us were and are outraged by the decisions of the Supreme Court, and of the various states
that are passing vile legislation to deny women their right to control their bodies! To be part of The Red Album
is to have a voice in responding to this conservative madness.”

The Crows choose what to write about

When the Crow Women create an album, like our most recent one, Seasons: A Pagan Journey Around the Wheel, each song is composed by one of our members, and she directs us as we rehearse it. She makes the artistic decisions about arrangement and recording. But, for The Red Album, we would have just one song to represent all six Crow Women who are active in the choir right now. We really wanted everyone to have input–for everyone’s voice to be heard. So, for the first time, we embarked on writing as a group.

The collaboration began right away. We met together to brainstorm about our song. Ideas flew in abundance and notes were taken.

Tara recalls, “I remember three main elements we wanted to express: women’s outrage at this denial of our rights; the stories of women/people directly impacted by the decision; and (as pagans) the Goddess giving us strength and succor to heal our wounds and fight the fight.”

Marilyn has similar memories. She says, “Our process relied strongly on the presence of The Goddess as guide and protector, and on wanting to tell personal stories of women facing reproductive decisions. The end result is a sort of dialog between us as women and children of the Goddess, and the Goddess herself as she expresses her outrage and support.”

Composition by Committee

The band delegated the task of composing the melody to Tara and I. We met and spend a whole day creating a structure for the song. By the end of the day, the pre-chorus and chorus were complete: lyrics, melody and chord sequence. In these elements of the song, the Goddess sings to women, and then the Goddess and the women angrily address those who took away the right to abortion.

The Goddess sings:
Oh my daughter, you are mine
You hold my endless strength inside
You can never be denied
Women & Goddess: We will walk this path as one

Women: How dare you try to challenge the Goddess!
Goddess: I am birth, I am death, I am mysteries untold
Women: How dare you try to limit the Goddess!
Goddess: I am choice far beyond what governments control
Women: How dare you try to hinder her power!
Goddess: I gave it to my daughters, it’s the right to rule their lives
Women: How dare you wreak this harm on her children!
Goddess: The bodies you’ve betrayed are not yours, they are mine
Women & Goddess: How dare you!

We also composed a melody for the verses, which we had all agreed would be written by the other members of Crow Women. But how to make sure verses written by various bandmates would work within the same melody and rhythms? Tara and I made up a nonsense version to demonstrate the patterns. Just like the Beatles, whose song “Yesterday” was originally composed with the placeholder words “scrambled eggs”, the verses of our song were based on these placeholders.

We sent a little mp3 recording to everyone, with these instructions:

Here’s the rhythm of the words. The bold-faced syllables are where the natural stresses of the words should fall.
And, here’s the rhyme scheme. Lines 1 and 3 rhyme. That’s rose and toes. Then lines 5 and 7 rhyme. That’s scribe and tribe. Then I suggest the last word of the first half rhyme with the last word of the second half. In the example, that’s bear and wear, marked in italics. So, the full rhyme scheme is axac bxbc
Watermelon cactus rose
Purple sneakers cozy bread
Kiss a lot of stinky toes
Honey bear

Inky fingers ancient scribe
Put your dishes in the sink
We are glad to be a tribe
underwear
I hope you enjoy the nonsense word system of getting all the verses to conform to a pattern. It worked for John Lennon!

Tara remembers that the process was not easy. “As a group, there is the constant balance of process and product. For this project, it seemed like we emphasized process over product. It was more important to have all voices represented than to have a cohesive product. And yet we needed a cohesive product! So, we developed a container into which the contributors placed their content. Sort of like having a sonnet structure into which you pour your poem. Sometimes that meant doing some coaxing and threats of stern looks to make the words and themes fit into the structure. But with some careful manipulation and a few arm wrestling matches, we convinced the different elements to submit to the song.”

Marilyn and Laura wrote what ended up as verse 1 of the song. Marilyn says, “It was wonderful to be able to compose verses to be part of “How Dare You”. It was affirming that each of us Crowwommyn made a significant contribution to our song.”

Here’s their verse:

He put something in my drink,
Forced himself on me that night.
I was helpless, could not think,
Can’t you see?

Now I’m pregnant, not my choice.
All my future options gone.
Goddess, hear my desperate voice,
Answer me!

Verse 2 came from Carole. She says, “Mary Alice was a young single woman in the 1950s when unwanted pregnancies just weren’t talked about, especially for a single woman. She could be sent to a home for unwed mothers (read sluts) or risk a back alley abortion or coat hanger self-abortion. My friend Mary Alice took the risk and lost.” Here’s how that verse goes:

Mary Alice was my friend,
In the days of Eisenhower.
Why so sad at summer’s end?
Mary cried.

“Pregnant, oh no, it can’t be!
Can’t destroy my family”
Paid someone to set her free.
But, Mary died.

Deb recalls, “When we wrote the song, I used a moving story I had heard from a friend of mine who had an abortion when very young, and who now is one of the most amazing parents I know. When we first worked on the song, with all of the parts put together, it was kind of a jumble. We had to figure out how to make it work as a unit. So, we took out some parts and rewrote some others.”

After another round of input from the group, the remaining part of the song emerged. That was a set of verses to represent the voice of Womankind. These are a pastiche of lines contributed by various members of Crow Women.

When they struck down Roe v Wade
I was in a state of shock
Never thought I’d see this day.
Choice is gone

Women worked hard for this right
Now we deal with shame and fear
Goddess, help us in this fight
Keep us strong

Rights we’d had were jerked away
By those who’ll never pay the price
Hear the voice of women’s rage
Right this wrong

What a journey! As Laura puts it, “This has been one of the most complex songs we’ve ever recorded. It was exciting watching it grow from the beginning melody and rhythm (watermelon cactus rose!) to fully fleshed out with lyrics, harmonies, backgrounds, and guitar!”

How Dare You! is arranged and rehearsed

Like any song, How DareYou! shifted and changed as we rehearsed it during the autumn of 2022. Marilyn says, “Once we began rehearsing, there was a natural evolution of the form of “How Dare You!”, and each iteration seemed to improve and elevate this composition.”

One challenge was to find a speed at which to perform the song. Deb remembers, “The biggest change was we slowed the tempo of the verses. We needed to be able to clearly tell the tales in a way that they could be heard and felt by our listeners.” But, with so many bands in the compilation, there was a hard limit of 5 minutes per song. So, we had to juggle quite a bit to get everything in without running over the time limit.

With 6 singers, finding rehearsal time was hard. Tara admits, “We didn’t rehearse nearly enough, and up to the final rehearsal we were still working out details that should have been decided and carefully rehearsed. But somehow harmonies and syncopations and all the things that make a Crow song a Crow song came together.”

Magic in the Recording Studio

We rehearsed the song in the fall of 2022 and recorded and mixed in January and February of 2023, finishing just in time for the Red Album submission deadline on February 26, 2023.

The first step was to record the instrumental tracks. I played rhythm guitar, while listening to a click track (metronome) to keep the song steady and on tempo. Then, my beloved partner Jeff Hibshman laid down the plaintive lead guitar part that knits together all the segments of the song into a musically coherent whole. (Our duo, called Pan Fried, also contributed a track to the Red Album. You can learn about us here.)

Then it was the vocalists’ turn to record, singing along to the guitar tracks. Crow Women are a pagan band, and Crow Women are also a women’s circle that has gathered monthly for ritual for over 30 years. That’s a lot of juju. We want our song to matter. To that end, we set up an altar in the recording studio and did a ritual before we began recording. Each of us spoke about our hopes for the song and the impact we hope it will have. Each woman asked for a blessing from the Goddess on our work. Magic radiated in the room and it was in that atmosphere that we recorded How Dare You!

After that, Issa Noor recorded percussion tracks that fit the style of the song. Issa was the percussionist for many of the tracks on our previous album, Seasons, too. He has a room chock-full of percussion instruments, and is a master of choosing just the right drum or rattle for the mood of a piece.

Tara and I worked with Doug Eagle, our sound engineer, to mix the song. Tara says, “We were mixing a monster, with more and more layers! It was interesting (i.e. challenging) finding the right sound for the final mix. So many different tones were incorporated: despair, outrage, solace, resolve. Finding a cohesive “voice” for all those different concepts took a lot of trial and error. Our first mixing had too much echo, creating more sweetness and solace than we needed. We backed off the reverb and re-recorded some strong voices to add to the outrage and urgency of the sound. Did it work? I leave that to the listener.”

Our Hopes for this Song

All of the Crow Women care passionately about our song. It is our honor to be part of this project. We hope it will give activists courage for the fight. We hope it will give solace to those affected by this painful situation. Most of all, we hope this project raises lots of money that can be given to those working on the front lines to serve people affected by the loss of reproductive freedom in the United States.

Laura says, “When I first heard of the overturning of Roe v Wade I was in disbelief. All I could think of was the decades of women fighting for personal freedoms, gaining ground…and suddenly the rug is pulled out and we are all thrown back 40 years. And I believe this will eventually affect other personal rights, not just reproductive rights.”

As Tara puts it, “This whole situation feels surreal. As a person born post Roe v. Wade, the right to choose had always seemed settled to me. It seems like the health of women and children have come in last in some ideological race that we didn’t even know we were running. This song reminds me that the Goddess is on our side in this fight. She hears our pain and anguish, and SHE WILL PREVAIL. I pity the fool who stands in Her way.”

You can purchase a physical CD of The Red Album directly from any of the 19 bands, at their concerts and on many of their websites. A digital download is available at www.redalbum.org. That site will add physical CDs and other merchandise soon. All of the project’s sales income goes to the National Abortion Federation and Elevated Access. The money you pay for The Red Album translates into transportation for women who must go to another state for abortion care. It means that when someone calls the National Abortion Hotline, there’s a comforting voice that answers. It means that abortion providers have an organization to support them as they provide direct care with courage and compassion. Enjoy our song, and the many songs on this album, while knowing you have made a difference for real people.

The Crow Women would like to thank our song sponsors, whose donations helped pay for the physical manufacture of The Red Album. How Dare You! was sponsored by Ryan Davis in honor of Ann Louise Thomas and by Kelly Raido in honor of Darlene Crance. Only a few of the songs on The Red Album are still available for sponsorship. If you’re interested, let us know through our Contact Page.

Together, we will fight to bring back reproductive freedom in the United States.

For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Alane and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.

Pagan Song hosts an information page about The Red Album, which you can find here.

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