A few people have asked for the list of songs and readings performed at last week’s Secular Solstice. Here they are, with authorship information and links.

This set list was compiled by me, Chelsea Voss, James Babcock, Jeff Kaufman, and Julia Wise. Raymond Arnold, the creator of Secular Solstice, advised us throughout the process, and the program follows the traditional six-part Secular Solstice arc. The event itself was last Friday, December 11, at the MIT Chapel. Jeff, Chelsea, and Demetri Sampas provided piano accompaniment; Julia led the majority of the songs, with various others also leading songs and performing readings. The total duration of the Solstice was a little under two hours.

This post will be updated when the the text of the Moment of Darkness speech has been published online.

Light

• “Opening Speech from Boston Secular Solstice 2015” (me, 2015)
• “Joy to the World” [lyrics] (Hoyt Axton, 1970)
• “Garden Song” [lyrics] (David Mallett, 1975)
• “With a Little Help from My Friends” [lyrics] (Lennon–McCartney, 1967)
• “Imagine” [lyrics] (John Lennon, 1971)

Twilight

• “Move the World” (Raymond Arnold, 2011)
• “Pale Blue Dot” (Carl Sagan, 1994)
• “Uplift” (Andrew Eigel, 1999)

Eve

• “Howl” (Allen Ginsberg, 1955)
• “Meditations on Moloch” (Scott Alexander, 2014)
• “Hymn to Breaking Strain” (poem by Rudyard Kipling, 1935; music by Leslie Fish, 1983)
• “No One Is Alone” [lyrics] (Stephen Sondheim, 1986)
• “Sinner Man: Pandemic” (traditional African-American spiritual, as interpreted by Les Baxter and Will Holt, 1956; new lyrics by Jeff Kaufman, 2015)

Night

• “Malthusian Trap Song” (music by David Mallett, 1975; lyrics by James Babcock, 2015)
• “The Goddess of Everything Else” (Scott Alexander, 2015)
• “Moment of Darkness Speech from Boston Secular Solstice 2015” [awaiting publication] (James Babcock, 2015)

Dawn

• “Brighter Than Today” (Raymond Arnold, 2011)

Light

• “Snoopy’s Christmas” [lyrics] (George David Weiss and Hugo & Luigi, 1967)
• “Lean on Me” [lyrics] (Bill Withers, 1972)
• “What a Wonderful World” [lyrics] (Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, 1967)
• “500 Million, But Not a Single One More” (Jai Dhyani, 2014)
• “Old Devil Time” [lyrics] (Pete Seeger, 1969)