Madame and the Census Man
1Leave me and my name
2Just like I am!
3Furthermore, rub out
4That MRS., too-
5I'll have you know
6I'm Madam to you!
221
Dream Boogie
1Good morning, daddy!
2Ain't you heard
3The boogie-woogie rumble
4Of a dream deferred?
5Listen closely;
6You'll hear their feet
7Beating out and beating out a-
8You think
9It's a happy beat?
10Listen to it closely;
11Ain't you heard
12something underneath
13like a-
15Sure,
16I'm happy!
17Take it away!
18Hey, pop!
19Re-bop!
20Mop!
222
Parade
1Seven ladies
2and seventeen gentlemen
3at the Elks Club Lounge
4planning planning a parade:
5Grand Marshal in his white suit
6will lead it.
7Cadilacs with dignitaries
8will precede it.
9And behind will come
10with band and drum
11on foot... on foot...
12on foot...
13Motorcycle cops,
14white,
15will speed it
16out of sight
17if they can;
18Solid black,
19can't be right.
20Marching... marching...
21marching...
22noon till night...
23I never knew
24that many Negroes
25were on earth,
26did you?
223
Parade
Children's Rhymes
1When I was a chile we used to play,
2One-two-buckle my shoe!
3and things like that. But now, Lord,
4listen at them little varmints!
5By what sends
6the white kids
7I ain't sent:
8I know I can't
9be President.
10There is two thousand children
11in this block, I do believe!
12What don't bug
13then white kids
14sure bugs me;
15We knows everybody
16ain't free!
224
Children's Rhymes
17Some of these young ones us cert'ly bad-
18One batted a hard ball right through my window
19and my gold fish et the glass.
20What's written down
21for white folks
22ain't for us a-tall;
23Liberty And Justice-
24Huh-For All.
25Oop-pop-a-da!
26Skee! Daddle-de-do!
27Be-bop!
Sister
1That little Negro's married and got a kid.
2Why does he keep on foolin' around Marie?
3Marie's my sister-not married to me-
4But why does he keep on foolin' around Marie?
5Why don't she get a boy-friend
6I can understand-some decent man?
7Did it ever occur to you, son,
7the reason Marie runs around with trash
7is she wants some cash?
8Don't decent folks have dough?
225
Sister
9Unfortunately usually no!
10Well, anyway, it don't have to be a married man.
11Did it ever occur to you, boy,
12that a woman does the best she can?
Preference
1I likes a woman
2six or eight and ten years older'n myself.
3I don't fool with these young girls.
4Young girl'll say,
5Daddy, I want so-and-so.
6I needs this, that, and the other.
7But a old woman'll say,
8Honey, what does YOU need?
9I just drawed my money tonight
10and it's all your'n
11That's why I likes a older woman
12who can appreciate me:
13When she conversations you
14it ain't forever, Gimme!
226
Necessity
1Work?
2I don't have to work.
3I don't have to do nothing
4but eat, drink, stay black, and die.
5This little old furnished room's
6so small I can't whip a cat
7without getting fur in my mouth
8and my landlady's so old
9her features us all run together
10and God knows she sure can overcharge-
11Which is why I reckon I does
12have to work after all.
Question
1Said the lady, Can you do
2what my other man can't do-
3That is
4love me, daddy-
5and feed me, too?
6Figurine
7De-dop!
227
Buddy
1That kid's my buddy,
2still and yet
3I don't see him much.
4He works downtown for Twelve a week.
5Has to give his mother Ten-
6she says he can have
7the other Two
8to pay his carfare, buy a suit,
9coat, shoes,
10anything he wants out of it.
Juke Box Love Song
1I could take the Harlem night
2and wrap around you,
3Take the neon lights and make a crown,
4Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
5Taxis, subways,
6And for your love song tone their rumble down.
7Take Harlem's heartbeat,
8Make a drumbeat,
9Put it on a record, let it whirl,
10And while we listen to it play,
11Dance with you till day-
12Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.
228
Ultimatum
1Baby, how come you can't see me
2when I'm paying your bills
3each and every week?
4If you got somebody else,
5tell me-
6else I'll cut you off
7without your rent,
8I mean
9without a cent.
Warning
1Daddy,
2don't let your dog
3curb you!
Croon
1I don't give a damn
2For Alabam'
3Even if it is my home.
New Yorkers
1I was born here,
2that's no lie, he said,
3right here beneath God's sky.
229
New Yorkers
4I wasn't born here, she said,
5I come-and why?
6Where I come from
7folks work hard
8all their lives
9until they die
10and never own no parts
11of earth nor sky
12So I come up here.
13Now what've I got?
14You!
15She lifted up her lips
16in the dark:
17The same old spark!
Wonder
1Early blue evening.
2Lights ain't come on yet.
3Looky yonder!
4They come on now!
Easy Boogie
1Down in the bass
2That steady beat
3Walking walking walking
4Like marching feet.
230
Movies
1The Roosevelt, Renaissance, Gem, Alhambra:
2Harlem Laughing in all the wrong places
3at the crocodile tears
4of crocodile art
5that you know
6in your heart
7is crocodile:
8(Hollywood
9laughs at me,
10black--
11so I laugh
12back.)
231
Tell Me
1Why should it bemyloneliness,
2Why should it bemysong,
3Why should it bemydream
4deferred
5overlong?
Not a Movie
1Well, they rocked him with road-apples
2because he tried to vote
3and whipped his head with clubs
4and he crawled on his knees to his house
5and he got the midnight train
6and he crossed that Dixie line
7now he's livin'
8on a 133rd.
9He didn't stop in Washington
10and he didn't stop in Baltimore
11neither in Newark on the way.
12Six knots was on his head
13but, thank God, he wasn'r dead!
14And there ain't no Ku Klux
15on a 133rd
232
Neon Signs
1WONDER BAR
2WISHING WELL
3MONTEREY
4MINTON'S
5(ancient altar of Thelonious)
6MANDALAY
7Spots where the booted
8and unbooted play
9SMALL'S
10CASBAH
233
Neon Signs
11SHALIMAR
12Mirror-go-round
13where a broken glass
14in the early bright
15smears re-bop
16sound
Numbers
1If I ever hit for a dollar
2gonna salt every dime away
3in the Post Office for a rainy day.
4I ain't gonna
5play back a cent.
6(Of course, I might
7combinatea little
8with my rent.)
What? So Soon!
1I believe my old lady's
2pregnant again!
234
What? So Soon!
3Fate must have
4some kind of trickeration
5to populate the
6cullud nation!
7Comment against Lamp Post
8You call it fate?
9Figurette
10De-daddle-dy!
11De-dop!
Motto
1I play it cool
2And dig all jive.
3That's the reason
4I stay alive.
5My motto,
6As I live and learn,
7is:
8Dig and Be Dug
9In Return
235
Dead in There
1Sometimes
2A night funeral
3Going by
4Carries home
5A cool bop daddy.
6Hearse and flowers
7Guarantee
8He'll never hype
9Another paddy.
10It's hard to believe,
11But dead in there,
12He'll never lay a
13Hype nowhere!
14He's my ace-boy,
15Gone away.
16Wake up and live!
17He used to say.
18Squares
19Who couldn't dig him,
20Plant him now--
21Out where it makes
22No diff' no how.
Situation
1When I rolled three 7's
2in a row
3I was scared to walk out
4with the dough.
236
Dancer
1Two or three things in the past
2failed him
3that had not failed people
4of lesser genius.
5In the first place
6he didn't have much sense.
7He was no good at making love
8and no good at making money.
9So he tapped,
10trucked,
11boogied,
12sanded,
13jittered,
14until he made folks say,
15Looky yonder
16at that boy!
15Hey!
16But being no good at lovin'--
17the girls left him.
18(When you're no good for dough they go.)
19With no sense, just wonderful feet,
20What could possibly be all-reet?
21Did he get anywhere? No!
22Even a great dancer
23can't C.P.T.
24a show.
237
Advice
1Folks, I'm telling you,
2birthing is hard
3and dying is mean--
4so get yourself
5a little loving
6in between.
Green Memory
1A wonderful time--the War:
2when money rolled in
3and blood rolled out.
4But blood
5was far away
4from here--
5Money was near.
Wine-O
1Setting in the wine-house
2Soaking up a wine-souse
3Waiting for tomorrow to come--
4Then
5Setting in the wine-house
6Soaking up a new souse.
7Tomorrow...
8Oh, hum!
238
Relief
1My heart is aching
2for them Poles and Greeks
3on relief way across the sea
4because I was on relief
5once in 1933
6I know what relief can be--
7it took me two years to get on WPA.
8If the war hadn't come along
9I wouldn't be out the barrel yet.
10Now, I'm almost back in the barrel again.
11To tell the truth,
12if these white folks want to go ahead
13and fight another war,
14or even two,
15the one to stop 'em won't be me.
Ballad of the Landlord
1Landlord, landlord,
2My roof has sprung a leak.
3Don't you 'member I told you about it
4Way last week?
5Landlord, landlord
6These steps is broken down.
7When you come up yourself
8It's a wonder you don't fall down
239
Ballad of the Landlord
9Ten Bucks you say I owe you?
10Ten Bucks you say is due?
11Well, that's Ten Bucks more'n I'll pay you
12Till you fix this house up new.
13What? You gonna get eviction orders?
14You gonna cut off my heat?
15You gonna take my furniture and
16Throw it in the street?
17Um-huh! You talking high and mighty.
18Talk on--till you get through.
19You ain't gonna be able to say a word
20If I land my fist on you.
21Police! Police!
22Come get this man!
23He's trying to ruin the government
24And overturn the land!
25Copper's whistle!
26Patrol Bell!
27Arrest.
28Precinct Station.
29Iron cell.
30Headlines in press:
31MAN THREATENS LANDLORD
32TENANT HELD ON BAIL
33JUDGE GIVE NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL
240
Corner Meeting
1Ladder, flag, and amplifier
2what the soap box
3used to be
4The speaker catches fire
5looking at their faces.
6His words
7jump down to stand
8in listeners' places.
Projection
1On the day when the Savoy
2leaps clean over to Seventh Avenue
3and starts jitterbugging
4with the Renaissance,
5on that day when Abyssinia Baptist Church
6throws her enormous arms around
7St. James Presbyterian
8and 409 Edgecombe
9stoops to kiss 12 West 133rd,
10on that day--
11Do, Jesus!
12Manhattan Island will whirl
13like a Dizzy Gillespie transcription
14played by Inez and Timmie.
15On that day, Lord,
16Sammy Davis and Marian Anderson
17will sing a duet
18Paul Robeson
19will team up with Jackie Mabley
20and Father Divine will say in truth,
241
Projection
21Peace!
22It's truly
23wonderful!
Flatted Fifths
1Little cullud boys with beards
2re-bop be-bop mop and stop
3Little cullud boys with fears,
4frantic, kick their draftee years
5into flatted and flatter beers
6that at a sudden change become
7sparkling Oriental wines
8rich and strange
9silken bathrobes with gold twines
10and Heilbroner, Crawford,
11Nat-undreamed-of Lewis combines
12in silver thread and diamond notes
13on trade-marks inside
14Howard coats
15Little cullud boys in berets
16oop pop-a-da
17horse a fantasy of days
18ool ya koo
19and dig all plays.
242
Tomorrow
1Tomorrow may be
2a thousand years off
3TWO DIMES AND A NICKLE ONLY
4says this particular
5cigarette machine
Mellow
1Intro the lap
2of black celebrities
3white girls fall
4like pale plums from a tree
5beyond a high tension wall
6which makes it
7more thrilling.
Live and Let Live
1Maybe it ain't right-
2but the people of the night
3will give even
4a snake
5a break.
Gauge
1Hemp . . .
2A stick . .
3A roach . .
4Straw . .
5more thrilling.
243
Bar
1That whiskey will cook the egg
2say not so
3Maybe the egg
4will cook the whiskey.
5You ought to know!
Cafe: 3 A.M.
1Detectives from the vice squad -
2with weary sadistic eyes
3spotting fairies.
4Degenerates
5Some folks say
6But God,Nature
7 or somebody
6made them that way
8Police lady or Lesbian
9 over there?
10Where?
254
254
Request
1Gimme $25.00
2and the change.
3I'm going
4where the morning
5and the evening
6won't bother me.
Shame on You
1If you're great enough
2and clever enough
3the government might honor you.
4But the people will forget --
5Except on holidays.
6A movie house in Harlem named after Lincoln,
7Nothing at all named after John Brown.
255
Shame on You
8Black people don't remember
9any better than white
10If you're not alive and kicking,
11shame on you!
World War II
1What a grand time was the war!
2Oh, my, my!
3What a grand time was the war!
4My, my, my!
5In wartime we had fun,
6Sorry that old war is done!
7What a grand time was the war,
8My, my!
9Echo:
10Did
11Somebody
12Die?
Mystery
1When a chile gets to be thirteen
2and ain't seen Christ yet,
3she needs to set on de moaner's bench
4night and day.
256
Mystery
5Jesus, lover of my soul!
6Hail, Mary, mother of God!
7Let me to thy bosom fly!
8Amen! Hallelujah!
9Swing low, sweet chariot,
10Coming for to carry me home.
11Sunday morning where the rhythm flows,
12how old nobody knows --
13yet old as mystery,
14older than creed,
15basic and wondering
16and lost as my need.
17Eli, eli!
18Te deum!
19Mahomet!
20Christ!
21Father, Bishop, Effendi, Mother Horne.
22Father Drive, a Rabbi black
23as black was born
24a jack-leg preacher, a PH.D.
25The mystery
26and the darkness
27and the song
28and me.
257
Sliver of Sermon
1When pimps out of loneliness cry:
2Great God!
3Whores in final weariness say:
4Great God!
5Oh, God!
6My God!
Testimonial
1If I just had a piano,
2if I just had a organ,
3if I just had a drum,
4how I could praise my Lord!
5But I don't need no piano,
6neither organ
7nor drum
8for to praise my Lord
Passing
1On sunny summer Sunday afternoons in Harlem
2when the air is one interminable ball game
3and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns
4from the Saints of God in Christ
5on account of the Dodgers on the radio,
258
Passing
6on sunny Sunday afternoons
7when the kids look all new
8and far too clean to stay that way,
9and Harlem has its
10washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out,
11the ones who've crossed the line
12to live downtown
13miss you,
14Harlem of the bitter dream
15since their dream has
16come true.
Nightmare Boogie
1I had a dream
2and I could see
3a million faces
4black as me!
5A nightmare dream:
6Quicker than light
7All them faces
8Turned dead white|
9Boogie-woogie,
10Rolling bass,
11Whirling treble
12of cat-gut lace.
259
Sunday by the Combination
1I feel like dancin', baby,
2till the sun goes down.
3But I wonder where
4the sunrise
5Monday morning's gonna be?
6I feel like dancin'!
7Baby, dance with me!
Casualty
1He was a soldier in the army,
2But he doesn't walk like one.
3He walks like his soldiering *
4Days are done.
Night Funeral in Harlem
1Night funeral
2In Harlem:
3Where did they get
4Them two fine cars?
5Insurance man, he did not pay --
6His insurance lapsed the other day --
260
Night Funeral in Harlem
7Yet they got a satin box
8For his head to lay.
9Night funeral
10in Harlem:
11Who was it sent
12That wreath of flowers?
13Them flowers came
14from that poor boy's friends-
15They'll want flowers, too,
16When they meet their ends.
17Night funeral
18in Harlem:
19Who preached that
20Black boy to his grave?
21Old preacher-man
22Preached that boy away-
23Charged Five Dollars
24His girl friend had to pay.
25Night funeral
26in Harlem:
27When it was all over
28And the lid shut on his head
29and the organ had done played
30and the last prayers been said
31and six pallbearers
261
Night Funeral in Harlem
32Carried him out for dead
33And off down Lenox Avenue
34That long black hearse done sped,
35The streetlight
36At his corner
37Shined just like a tear-
38That boy that they was mournin'
39Was so dear, so dear
40To them folks that brought the flowers,
41To that girl who paid the preacher man-
42It was all their tears that made
43That poor boy's
44Funeral grand.
45Night funeral
46In Harlem.
Blues at Dawn
1I don't dare start thinking in the morning.
2I don't dare start thinking in the morning.
3If I thought thoughts in bed,
4Them thoughts would bust my head-
5So I don't dare start thinking in the morning.
6I don't dare remember in the morning
7Don't dare remember in the morning.
8If I recall the day before,
9I wouldn't get up no more-
10So I don't dare remember in the morning.
262
Dime
1Chile, these steps is hard to climb.
2Grandma, lend me a dime.
3Montage of a dream deferred:
4Grandma acts like
5She ain't heard.
6Chile, Granny ain't got no dime.
7I might've knowed
8It all the time.
Argument
1White is right,
2Yellow mellow,
3Black, get back!
4Do you believe that, Jack?
6Then you're a dope,
7for which there ain't no hope.
8Black is fine!
9And, God knows,
10It's mine!
263
Neighbor
1Down home
2he sets on a stoop
3and watches the sun go by.
4In Harlem
5when his work is done
6he sets in a bar with a beer.
7He looks taller than he is
8and younger than he ain't.
9He looks darker than he is, too.
10And he's smarter than he looks,
11He ain't smart.
12That cat's a fool.
13Now he ain't neither.
14He's a good man,
15except he talks too much.
16In fact, he's a great cat.
17But when he drinks,
18he drinks fast.
19Sometimes
20he don't drink.
21True,
22he just
23lets his glass
24set there.
264
Evening Song
1A woman standing in the doorway
2Trying to make her where-with-all:
3Come here, baby, darlin'!
4Don't you hear me call?
5If I was anybody's sister,
6I'd tell her, Gimme a place to sleep.
7But I ain't nobody's sister.
8I'm just a poor lost sheep.
9Mary, Mary, Mary,
10Had a little lamb.
11Well, I hope that lamb of Mary's
12Don't turn out like I am.
Chord
1Shadow faces
2In the shadow night
3Before the early dawn
4Bops bright.
Fact
1There's been an eagle on a nickel,
2An eagle on a quarter, too.
3But there ain;t no eagle
4On a dime.
265
Joe Louis
1They worshipped Joe.
2A school teacher
3whose hair was gray
4said:
5Joe has sense enough to know
6He is a god.
7So many gods don't know.
8"They say" ... "They say" ... "They say" ...
9But the gossips had no
10"They say"
11to latch onto
12for Joe.
Subway Rush Hour
1Mingled
2breath and smell*
3so close
4mingled
5black and white
6so near
7no room for fear
Brothers
1We're related-you and I,
2You from the West Indies,
3I from Kentucky.
266
Brothers
4Kinsmen- you and I,
5You from Africa,
6I from the USA.
266
Likewise
2Groceries
3Suits
4Fruits
5Watches
6Diamond rings
7THE DAILY NEWS
8Jews sell me things.
9Yom Kippur, no!
10Shops all over Harlem
11close up tight that night.
11Some folks blame high prices on the Jews.
12(Some folks blame too much on Jews.)
13But in Harlem they don't answer back,
14Just maybe shrug their shoulders,
15"What's the use?"
16What's the use
17in Harlem?
18What's the use?
19What's the Harlem?
20Use in Harlem
267
Likewise
21Hey!
22Baba-re-bop!
23Mop!
24On a be-bop kick!
25Sometimes I think
26Jews have heard
27the music of a
28dream deferred.
Silver
1Cheap little rhymes
2A cheap little tune
3Are sometimes as dangerous
4As a sliver of the moon.
5A cheap little tune
6To cheap little rhymes
7Can cut a man's
8Throat sometimes.
Hope
1He rose up on his dying bed
2and asked for fish.
3His wife looked it up in her dream book
4and played it.
268
Dream Boogie: Variation
1Tinkling treble,
2Rolling bass,
3High noon teeth
4In a midnight face,
5Great long fingers
6On great big hands,
7Screaming pedals
8Where his twelve-shoe lands,
9Looks like his eyes
10Are teasing pain,
11A few minutes late
12For the Freedom Train.
Harlem
1What happens to a dream deffered?
2Does it dry up
3like a raisin in the sun?
4Or fester like a sore-
5And then run?
6Does it stink like rotten meat?
7Or crust and sugar over-
8like a syrupy sweet?
9Maybe it just sags
10like a heavy load.
269
Good Morning
1Good morning, daddy!
2I was born here, he said,
3watched Harlem grow
4until colored folks spread
5from river to river
6across the middle of Manhatten
7out of Penn Station
8dark tenth of a nation,
9planes from Puerto Rico
10and holds of boats, chico,
11up from Cuba Haiti Jamaica
12in buses marked New York
13from Georgia Florida Louisiana
14to Harlem Brookly the Bronx
15but most of all to Harlem
16dusky sash across Manhattan
17I've seen them come dark
18wondering
19wide-eyed
20dreaming
21out of Penn Station-
22but the trains are late.
23The gates open-
24but the trains are late.
25The gates open-
26Yet there're bars
27at each gate.
28What happens
29to a dream deferred?
30Daddy, ain't you heard?
270
Same in Blues
1I said to my baby,
2Baby, take it slow.
3I can't, she said, I can't!
4I got to go!
5There's a certain
6amount of traveling
7in a dream deferred.
8Lulu said to leonard,
9I want a diamond ring.
10Leonard said to Lulu,
11You won't get a goddamn thing!
12A certain
13amount of nothing
14in a dream deferrred.
15Daddy, daddy, daddy,
16All I want is you.
17You can have me, baby-
18but my lovin' days is through.
19A certain
20amount of impotence
21in a dream deferrred.
22Three parties
23On my party line-
24But that third party,
25Lord, ain't mine!
271
26There's liable
27to be confusion
28in a dream deferred.
29From river to river,
30Uptown and Down,
31There's liable to be confusion
32when a dream gets kicked around.
Comment on Curb
1You talk like
2They don't kick
3dreams around
4downtown.
5I expect they do-
6But I'm talking about
7Harlem to you!
Letter
1Dear Mama,
2Time I pay rent and get my food
3and laundry I don't have much left
4but here is five dollars for you
5to show you I still appreciates you.
6My girl-friend send her love and say
7she hopes to lay eyes on you sometime in life.
272
Letter
8Mama, it has been raining cats and dogs up
9here. Well, that is all so I will close.
10Your son baby
11Respectably as ever,
12Joe
Island
1Between two rivers,
2North of the park,
3Like darker rivers
4The streets are dark.
5Black and white,
6Gold and brown-
7Chocolate-custard
8Pie of a town.
9Dream within a dream,
10Our dream deferred.
273