For my 17,000th Post, Huddie William Ledbetter (Leadbelly)

[elshiva]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Belly


WARNING THERE IS A RACIST WORD IN HERE!

BOURGEOIS BLUES by Leadbelly

"Me and my wife went all over town
And everywhere we went people turned us down
Lord, in a bourgeois town
It's a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, me and my wife we were standing upstairs
We heard the white man say'n I don't want no niggers up there
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Home of the brave, land of the free
I don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, them white folks in Washington they know how
To call a colored man a nigger just to see him bow
Lord, it's a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

I tell all the colored folks to listen to me
Don't try to find you no home in Washington, DC
'Cause it's a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around."

http://www.lyricstime.com/leadbelly-bourgeois-blues-lyrics.html

[Droopy]

1. Here's some Langston Hughes on the same theme

Daybreak in Alabama


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
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I'm gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
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.

Langston Hughes

Congrats on your milestone.

[elshiva]

2. Thank you. I love Langston Hughes.

:hug: Didn't Hughes have a poem, which contained the line, "Me in the White House, and there never was a Black House?"

[Droopy]

3. I don't know for sure, but it sounds familiar.

And also sounds like something he'd say, but I don't know what poem it's in.

[elshiva]

5. I am having the darnest time figuring out what poem that is from...

I think I have a record of him reading it somewhere, but I don't know where. :shrug:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/democracy/

Democracy by Langston Hughes

Democracy 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 two feet
And own the land.

I tire so 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.

I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

[Droopy]

7. Great minds

That's a classic poem and it just so happens that I posted it in a poetry thread that I started earlier today. :)

[elshiva]

8. Langston Hughes is a genius.

Have you read the Jesse B. Semple stories?

[Droopy]

9. No, I've just read some of his poems

I also did a lengthy paper about him for a final exam in one of my english classes (emphasis on poetry) in college, so I know a little about his life and how his poetry changed as he aged.

[elshiva]

11. If you ever have a chance try to look at some of Hughes' short

stories, especially the ones with Jesse B. Semple. It's a great social commentary. Not all poets can be good at short stories, but Hughes was great at it. :)

[redqueen]

4. Nice...

:thumbsup:

Love his voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsfcUZBMSSg

[elshiva]

6. Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines in the pines
where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

Her husband, was a hard working man
Just about a mile from here
His head was found in a driving wheel
But his body never was found

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night

In the pines in the pines
where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines in the pines
where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me!
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through


He has a great voice. :)

[Tom Kitten]

10. Leadbelly is cool

I like his version of the Led Zeppelin song "Gallis Pole" :silly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmTNgJxlrCY

Wow, 17,000 posts! I'm only 239 away from 5,000 but I took two and a half years off... :yoiks:

[elshiva]

12. Thank you, Tom Kitten.

Yes, he influenced a lot of people.

I love your new avatar. :)

[cemaphonic]

13. His version of "John Hardy" is still the best one out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiT3W4OuOCk

And who doesn't love "Goodnight Irene?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLOualK5GP0&feature=related

[elshiva]

14. He was a great interpreter of songs as well as a great composer.

Playing with Woody Guthrie:

[cemaphonic]

15. Yep, another example is The Midnight Special

He didn't write that one, but just about everybody that came after him used his arrangement as the basis of their versions.

One of the most influential figures in American music ever.

[elshiva]

16. Midnight Special Shine it's everloving light on me.

:)

[sakabatou]

17. 17,000?

You're at 12,581 posts.

[elshiva]

18. No, look again:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=156412


Number of posts 17031
ICQ 120581

[greendog]

19. Taj Mahal does a nice cover of Bourgeois Blues

Taj:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bso4iSf9QdY&feature=related

Ry Cooder also covers it but I can't find a youtube of it.

On Edit:
Congrats on the 17,000. :toast: