The song's first ever live public performance took place at the 1983 Toronto Pride parade. As well, the song's reggae and soca-influenced rhythms made it the first significant commercial breakthrough for Caribbean music in Canada. It remains the band's most famous song, and has been adopted as an activist anthem for causes as diverse as gay rights, feminism, anti-racism and the New Democratic Party. Īccording to Segato, the song was not written with any one individual group in mind, but as a universal anthem of freedom and equality Fernie described the song's lyrics as having been inspired in part by West Coast First Nations rituals in which young girls would 'rise up' at dawn to adopt their adult names as a rite of passage. Rise Up rises right up and breaks down the wall. Rarely does one experience a piece of music in white North America where the barrier between participant and observer breaks down. It was produced and engineered by Daniel Lanois, and written by Parachute Club members Billy Bryans, Lauri Conger, Lorraine Segato and Steve Webster, with additional lyrics contributed by filmmaker Lynne Fernie.Īn upbeat call for peace, celebration, and 'freedom / to love who we please,' the song was a national hit in Canada, and was hailed as a unique achievement in Canadian pop music:

' Rise Up' is a pop song recorded by the Canadian group the Parachute Club on their self-titled 1983 album. 'Rise Up (Canadian Video Version)' on YouTube Billy Bryans, Lauri Conger, Lorraine Segato, Lynne Fernie, Steve Webster

Rise up song lyrics