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about

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is another Langston Hughes poem, by his
own account written in the fifteen minutes it took him to cross the Mississippi River on a boat. A powerful poem that has been described as “suffused with the image of death and simultaneously the idea of deathlessness,” it is matched by the powerful music of Howard Swanson (1907–1978). The song’s premiere by Marian Anderson on January 15, 1950 in Carnegie Hall, proved to be a career-changer for Swanson. The next two songs by Swanson are set to texts by Hughes, followed by one by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Like Florence Price, Swanson consulted with Hughes while composing both “Pierrot” and “Night Song.” “Pierrot” is a musically witty ride through the unbalanced mind of the clown Pierrot. With “A Death Song” we return to the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, set as a peaceful, slowly-rocking lullaby. The narrator’s wish is to be buried in a place that is familiar and loved.

lyrics

Pierrot
(Langston Hughes)

I work all day,
Said Simple John,
Myself a house to buy.
I work all day,
Said Simple John,
But Pierrot wondered why.

For Pierrot loved the long white road,
And Pierrot loved the moon,
And Pierrot loved a star-filled sky,
And the breath of a rose in June.

I have one wife,
Said Simple John,
And, faith, I love her yet.
I have one wife,
Said Simple John,
But Pierrot left Pierrette.

For Pierrot saw a world of girls,
And Pierrot loved each one,
And Pierrot thought all maidens fair
As flowers in the sun.

Oh, I am good,
Said Simple John,
The Lord will take me in.
Yes, I am good,
Said Simple John,
But Pierrot’s steeped in sin.

For Pierrot played on a slim guitar,
And Pierrot loved the moon,
And Pierrot ran down the long white road
With the burgher’s wife one June.

credits

from Wide as Heaven: A Century of Song by Black American Composers, released March 1, 2024

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New World Records Brooklyn, New York

Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

We are dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies.

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