Langston Hughes

Poète, nouvelliste, dramaturge et éditorialiste américain 

qui participa au mouvement culturel la "Harlem Renaissance".

Final Curve

When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned
All the corners that are left

1er Février 1902, Joplin, Missouri- 22 mai 1967 New-York

The Weary Blues

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.

Langston Hughes with Leonard Feather's All-Star Sextet

The Backlash Blues

Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just who do think I am
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages
And send my son to Vietnam

You give me second class houses
And second class schools
Do you think that alla colored folks
Are just second class fools
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues

When I try to find a job
To earn a little cash
All you got to offer
Is your mean old white backlash
But the world is big
Big and bright and round
And it's full of folks like me
Who are black, yellow, beige and brown
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues

Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just what do you think I got to lose
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
You're the one will have the blues
Not me, just wait and see

texte: Langston Hughes, Piano et chant: Nina Simone 

Song for a Dark Girl

Way Down South in Dixie

(Break the heart of me) 

They hung my black young lover 

 To a cross roads 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. 

Texte: Langston Hughes, chant et guitare: Leyla McCalla

Charles Alston "Cucifix" 1953, huile

My People

The night is beautiful,

So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,

So the eyes of my people

Beautiful, also, is the sun.

Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

     Langston Hughes