(June 27, 2020) The time is definitely right for Sheila E, Sy Smith and Lynn Mabry’s remake of “Yes We Can Can.” Lee Dorsey originally sang this Allen Toussaint written classic, and The Pointer Sisters had a Top 20 Pop and R&B hit with “Yes We Can Can” in 1973. Most people connect the tune with The Pointer Sisters or as song from which Barack Obama derived his campaign’s theme in 2008.
“Yes We Can Can” was the soundtrack for a political movement then, and the new version, which comes with a funky, trap infused beat and some spoken word knowledge from civil rights icon Angela Davis, aims to be a part of today’s revolutionary spirit. Revisiting “Yes We Can Can” at this time is especially poignant with the passing of Bonnie Pointer earlier this month.
(June 27, 2020) The time is definitely right for Sheila E, Sy Smith and Lynn Mabry’s remake of “Yes We Can Can.” Lee Dorsey originally sang this Allen Toussaint written classic, and The Pointer Sisters had a Top 20 Pop and R&B hit with “Yes We Can Can” in 1973. Most people connect the tune with The Pointer Sisters or as song from which Barack Obama derived his campaign’s theme in 2008.
“Yes We Can Can” was the soundtrack for a political movement then, and the new version, which comes with a funky, trap infused beat and some spoken word knowledge from civil rights icon Angela Davis, aims to be a part of today’s revolutionary spirit. Revisiting “Yes We Can Can” at this time is especially poignant with the passing of Bonnie Pointer earlier this month.
“Yes We Can Can” has a message of tolerance love of community and self that enabled the tune to be a civil rights/black power anthem in the 1970s and the soundtrack for the Obama political movement in 2008. Mabry, Smith, Sheila E. and Mother Angela Davis return to the cut at as momentum grows, voices rise and feet march in defense of Black lives. Time has come again for a people to be reminded that we can. Actually, that message is always timely and necessary. Check out “Yes We Can Can,” 2020 here.
By Howard Dukes
Sheila E, Sy Smith and Lynn Mabry
"Yes We Can Can (Redux)"