I TOO SING AMERICA
THE BLUES ACCORDING TO LANGSTON HUGHES
SCRIP SAMPLE
Words: Langston Hughes Book and Music: Danny Ashkenasi
*NOTE: Lyrics in parentheses run concurrently with lyrics not in parentheses.
Original Hughes titles are not italicized.
I
PROLOG
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
ENSEMBLE
I’ve known rivers
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human
veins
My soul has grown deep like the rivers
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and
I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset
I’ve known rivers
Ancient dusky rivers
My soul has grown deep like the rivers
Laughers
ENSEMBLE
Dream-singers, story-tellers,
Dancers
Loud laughers in the hands of fate
My people
Dish-washers, elevator-boys,
Ladies’ maids, crap-shooters
Crooks, waiters, jazzers, nurses of babies, loaders of ships,
Rounders, number-writers, comedians in vaudeville and bandmen in circuses
Dream-singers all
My people
Storytellers all,
My people
Dancers
God! What dancers!
Singers
God! What singers!
Singers and dancers
Dancers and laughers
Laughers?
Yes, laughers, laughers, laughers
Loud-mouthed laughers in the hands of fate
SOUTH
Daybreak in Alabama – (Croon)
SOLO
When I get to be a composer
I’m gonna write me some music about daybreak in Alabama
And I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew
I’m gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
VARIOUS
(I don’t give a damn/For Alabam’/Even if it is my home)
SOLO
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
VARIOUS
(I don’t give a damn/For Alabam’/Even if it is my home)
SOLO
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white people
VARIOUS
(I don’t give a damn/For Alabam’/Even if it is my home)
SOLO
And I’m gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
VARIOUS
(I don’t give a damn/For Alabam’/Even if it is my home)
SOLO
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers
And touching each other natural as dew
In that dawn of music
When I get to be a composer
And write about daybreak in Alabama
VARIOUS
(Ooo…)
Uncle Tom
WOMEN
Uncle Tom is a legend and a dream
Uncle Tom is a groan and a scream
Uncle Tom is a lash on the back
Uncle Tom is a man who’s black
Uncle Tom is a legend and a dream
Uncle Tom is a groan and a scream
Uncle Tom is a lash on the back
Uncle Tom is a man who’s black
TENOR
But Uncle Tom was long ago
(WOMEN
Uncle Tom is a legend and a dream
Uncle Tom is a groan and a scream
Uncle Tom is a lash on the back
Uncle Tom is a man who’s black)
TENOR
Gone is the lash
And the slaver’s blow
Ours is the freedom
Tom did not know
So
TEN OR & WOMEN
Tend your freedom that the lash and the pain
And his head bowed down be not in vain
WOMEN
Uncle Tom is a legend and a dream
Uncle Tom is a groan and a scream
Uncle Tom is a lash on the back
Uncle Tom is a man who’s black (repeat)
BASS
Within
The beaten pride
Without
The grinning face
The low, obsequious
Double bow
The sly and servile grace
Of one the white folks
Long ago
Taught well
To know his place
WOMEN
Uncle Tom is a legend and a dream
Uncle Tom is a groan and a scream
Uncle Tom is a lash on the back
Uncle Tom is a man who’s black (repeat)
BASS AND TENOR
But Uncle Tom was long ago
Gone is the lash
And the slaver’s blow
Ours is the freedom
Tom did not know
So
ALL
Tend your freedom that the lash and the pain
And his head bowed down be not in vain
Tend your freedom that tomorrow may see
Uncle Tom’s children wholly free
Freedom
SOLO
Freedom will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my own two feet
And own land
I tire of hearing people say
Let things take their course
Tomorrow is another day
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread
VARIOUS
Freedom is a strong seed
Planted in a great need
SOLO
I live here, too
VARIOUS
(Freedom is a strong seed)
SOLO
I want freedom/Just as you
VARIOUS
(Planted in a great need)
I tire of hearing people say
Let things take their course
Tomorrow is another day
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread
Freedom is a strong seed
Planted in a great need
SOLO
I live here, too
VARIOUS
(Freedom is a strong seed)
SOLOS
I want freedom/Just as you
VARIOUS
(Planted in a great need) (repeats twice)
Merry-Go-Round – (Cross)
TWO WOMEN
My old man’s a white old man and my old mama’s black
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
My old man died in a fine big house
My ma died in a shack
I wonder where I’m gonna die
Being neither white nor black?
SOLO
Where is the Jim Crow section on this merry-go-round
Mister, cause I want to ride
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can’t sit side by side
Down South on the train
There’s a Jim Crow car
On the bus we’re put in the back
But there ain’t no back
To a merry-go-round
Where’s the horse for a kid that’s black?
Shoe Blues Trilogy – (Bad Morning – The Blues – Barefoot Blues)
SOLO 1
Here I sit with my shoes mismated
Lawdy mercy!
I’s frustrated
SOLO 2
When the strings break/On both your shoes
(SOLO 1
Here I sit with my shoes mismated
Lawdy mercy!
I’s frustrated) (repeat twice)
SOLO 2
And you’re in a hurry
That’s the blues
When you go to buy a candy bar
And you’ve lost the dime you had
Slipped through a hole in your pocket somewhere
That’s the blues, too, and bad!
SOLO 3
Papa, don’t you see my shoes?
Papa, don’t you see my shoes?
What you want
Yo’ little boy to do
Keep on goin’ round
Feelin’ blue?
Walkin’ with them barefoot blues
Papa, don’t you see my feet?
Looky, don’t you see my feet?
How you want
Yo’ sugar lump to walk
Pattin’ leather
On the street?
Papa, don’t you see my feet?
Papa, is yo’ money gone?
Tell me, is yo’ money gone?
I’m as cold
As cold can be!
What you gonna do
‘Bout these shoes and me
Papa, is your money gone
SOLOISTS 1, 2, 3
Here I sit with my shoes mismated/Lawdy mercy/I’s frustrated!
Georgia Dusk – (Song for a Dark Girl – Gal’s Cry for a Dying Lover – Silhouette)
ENSEMBLE
Sometimes there’s a wind in the Georgia dusk
That cries and cries and cries
Its lonely pity through the Georgia dusk
Veiling what the darkness hides
WOMAN 1
Way down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
To a crossroads tree
Way Down South in Dixie
(Bruised body high in air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer
Way down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree
ENSEMBLE
Sometimes there’s blood in the Georgia dusk
Left by a streak of sun
A crimson trickle in the Georgia dusk
Whose blood?
Everyone’s
WOMAN 2
Heard de owl hootin’
Knowed somebody’s ‘bout to die
Heard the owl a hootin’
Knowed somebody’s ‘bout to die
Put my head un’neath the kiver
Started in to moan an’ cry
Hound dawg’s barkin’
Means he’s gonna leave this world
Hound dawg’s barkin’
Means he’s gonna leave this world
O Lawd have mercy
On a po’ black girl
Black an’ ugly
But he sho treat me kind
I’m black and ugly
But he sho do treat me kind
High in heaben Jesus
Please don’t take this man o’ mine
ENSEMBLE
Sometimes a wind in the Georgia dusk
Scatters hate like seed
To sprout its bitter barriers
Where the sunsets bleed
MALE SOLO
Southern gentle lady
Do not swoon
They’ve just hung a black man
In the dark of the moon
They’ve hung a black man to a roadside tree
In the dark of the moon
For the world to see
How Dixie protects
Its white womanhood
Southern gentle lady, be good!
Be good!
(ENSEMBLE
Ooo…)
Still Here – (Vari-Colored Song)
ALL
I’ve been scared and battered
My hopes the wind done scattered
Snow has friz me, sun has baked me
Looks like between them
They done try to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’
But I don’t care
I’m still here
SOLO
If I had a heart of gold
As have some folks I know
I’d up and sell my heart of gold
And head North with the dough
But I don’t have a heart of gold
My heart’s not even lead
It’s made of plain old Georgia clay
That’s why my heart is red
I wonder why the clay’s so red
And Georgia skies so blue
I wonder why it’s yes to me,
But yes, sir, sir to you
I wonder why the sky’s so blue
And why the clay’s so red
Why down South is always down
And never up instead
ALL
I’ve been scared and battered
My hopes the wind down scattered
Snow has friz me, sun has baked me
Looks like between them
They done try to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’
But I don’t care, I’m still here (repeats)
WOMEN
Been scared and battered
My hopes the wind done scattered
SOLO AND BACKUP
If I had a heart of gold
As have some folks I know
I’d up and sell my heart of gold
And head North with the dough
But I don’t have a heart of gold
My heart’s not even lead
It’s made of plain old Georgia clay
That’s why my heart is red
I wonder why the clay’s so red
And Georgia skies so blue
I wonder why it’s yes to me,
But yes, sir, sir to you
I wonder why the sky’s so blue
And why the clay’s so red
Why down South is always down
And never up instead
ALL
I’ve been scared and battered
My hopes the wind down scattered
Snow has friz me, sun has baked me
Looks like between them
They done try to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’
But I don’t care, I’m still here (repeats)
Migration Blues – (Final Curve – Bound No’th Blues – Lonesome Place – Po’ Boy Blues –
Homesick Blues)
ENSEMBLE
When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned
All the corners that are left
SOLO 1
Goin’ down the road, Lawd
Goin’ down the road
Down the road, Lawd
Way, way down the road
Got to find somebody
To help me carry this load
Road’s in front o’ me
Nothin’ to do but walk
Road’s in front o’ me
Walk… an’ walk… an’ walk
I’d like to meet a good friend
To come along an’ talk
Hates to be lonely/Lawd, I hates to be sad
NEXT THREE STANZAS (IN BOLD) ARE SIMULTANEOUS
SOLO 2
I got to leave this town
It’s a lonesome place
Got to leave this town cause
It’s a lonesome place
A po’ po’ boy can’t find a friendly face
Goin’ down to de river
Flowin’s deep an’ slow
Goin down to the river
Deep an’ slow
Cause there ain’t no worries
Where de waters go
I’m weary weary
Weary as I can be
Weary weary
Weary as I can be
This life’s so weary
S’bout to overcome me
I’m weary weary
Weary as I can be
Weary weary
Weary as I can be (repeat)
SOLO 1
Hates to be lonely
Hates to be lonely an’ sad
Lawd, I hates to be sad
Says I hates to be lonely
Hates to be lonely an’ sad
But ever’ friend you finds seems like they try to do you bad
Road, road, road, O!
Road, road, road, road, road, road, road, road, O!
On the no’thern road
These Mississippi towns ain’t
Fit fer a hoppin’ toad (repeat)
SOLO 3
When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold
When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold
Since I come up North the whole damn world’s turned cold
I was a good boy
Never done no wrong
Yes I was a good boy
Never done no wrong
But this world is weary
An’ de road is hard and long
Weary weary early in de morn
Weary weary early in de morn
I’s so weary
I wish I’d never been born
Weary weary
Weary weary early in de morn (Repeat)
SOLO 4
De railroad bridge’s a sad song in de air
De railroad bridge’s a sad song in de air
Ever time de trains pass I wants to go somewhere
I went to de station
Ma heart was in ma mouth
Went down to de station
Heart was in ma mouth
Lookin’ for a boxcar
To roll me to de South
Homesick blues, Lawd
‘S a terrible thing to have
Homesick blues is
A terrible thing to have
To keep from cryin’
I opens my mouth an’ laughs
(ENSEMBLE
When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned all the corners that are left)
Homesick blues Lawd
‘S a terrible thing to have
S OLO 1,2,3 & 4
(Repeat individual final stanzas concurrently)
ALL
When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself