Houston Blues Friends in Memphis with Joy and Kenne (01/23/10)
Hard Daddy
I went to ma daddy, Says Daddy I have got the blues, Went to my daddy, Says Daddy I have got the blues, Ma daddy says, Honey, Can’t you bring no better news?
I cried on his shoulder but He turned his back on me. Cried on his shoulder but He turned his back on me. He said a woman’s cryin’s Never gonna bother me.
I wish I had wings to Fly like the eagle flies. Wish I had wings to Fly like the eagle flies. I’d fly on ma man an’ I’d scratch out both his eyes.
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?
Today’s New York Times published an opinion piece written by Rep. John Lewis before he passed away last week to be published on the day of his funeral. (Click Here)
The Rev. James Lawson, a significant leader and tactician in the civil rights movement, spoke at Rep. John Lewis’s funeral today, saying Lewis practiced politics the nation “need[s] more desperately than ever before.”
Lawson ended his remarks by reading the poem “I Dream A World,” by the legendary Black poet Langston Hughes.
I Dream A World
I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!
Live Jazz In The Old Pueblo — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The Weary Blues
— Langston Hughes
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway . . . He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man’s soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more— “I got the Weary Blues And I can’t be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can’t be satisfied— I ain’t happy no mo’ And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
I been scared and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,
Looks like between 'em they done
Tried to make me
Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--
But I don't care!
I'm still here!
It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun— My dream. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall. Shadow. I am black. I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me. Only the thick wall. Only the shadow. My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall! Find my dream! Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun!
John Robert Lewis — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Lincoln, Alabama (Old Downtown Lincoln Station By The Railroad Tracks) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Live Jazz In The Old Pueblo — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Junkyard Memories– Image by kenne
House Finch — Computer Art by kenne
Low Tide At Puerto Peñasco Image by kenne
Texas Johnny Brown (February 22, 1928 – July 1, 2013) at the Big Easy, Houston, Texas (February 15, 2009)
Bayou Blues (Pete Mayes and John Broussard at Double Bayou Dance Hall, May, 2003) — Computer Painting by kenne)
