https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/34249206082416d41d672f3b9a379338.pdf a270a31735286520350f5a0ca7b619a9 PDF Text Text SCRIPT ADAPTATION OF DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFROAMERICAN POEI'RY ( 'cr{tical history) by Eugene B. Redmond For Presentation at Book Party October 3, 1976: 3 p.mo to 6 p.m., Redwood Room, University Union California State University Sacramento i �MOVEMENT If I Narrator: {'< I am the poemJ • . ,::::.:b: ::: ::: J ,..... r~•- -·- s ogrog :&oiGe 1 e 19e11 er peneil ill pc:pil' n led libs ntcJs prinbbtg pz saa, 16 tbs zdrdr in drum- bosoms of ecsta ,s7. ----- - - Chorus: DRUMFEET ON THE SOIL, ON THE SANDROADS OF THE MINDI FLESH-PISTONS PRANCING, THE EARTH'S ENGINE! IT IS A COMING FORTH, THE NIGH'r WITHIN US COMING FORI'H I Narrator: r I return to JQ", magnificent and reliable archives. Chorus: That love we can depend on! (over) -· ~~~~--=- . -----=---.... _,..._.__, -.... .. - �Voice(singing ): Onoborobol Chorus: Onoborobo I Voice: Onoborobol Chorus: Onoborobol Voice: Narrator: In my dependable cultural vault is t he I dea-gram of my totem-family, the living-dead, the breathing, the unborn. I am the poetio flesh-temple with many form.s f the poem in motion. Dancer: - Rudimentary movements and other ele"ments of traditional African and Afro-American dance: isolation, use of pelvis and torso, leaps, twirls, pulls, yanvalou, vigorous stretches and thrusts.(Drum accompaniment) Narrator: America put in two different directions at the 9 on a conveyer belt ame time. My African Jubilance turned .. to anger and a song of sabatage • • As a poem, I became part of what I di and dr amed on these shores (ove r) saw �Voice: (I_ /r' Did yer feed m.y cow? Qhorus: Ye Mamf Voice: Will yer tell me how? Chorus: Yes Maxnl Voice: Oh w'at did yer give 'er? 'lliorus: Cawn an hay I Voice: Oh w'at did yer gl.ve •er. Chorus: Cawn an hay I Voice: • 1. Evahwhu.q.. I, whuh ~look dis mawnin, C r Looks lak rain, looks lak rain. Voice: I gotta r,~inbow, tied all roun mah shouider, Ain gonna rain, ain gonna rain. Chorus: Dis is de hammer Kilt John Henry, (over) �Voice: Twon•t kill me, baby, Twon •t kill me. Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain; Voice: Tell him I ' m gone, baby, I), Tell him I'm gone. Chorus: I got a rainbow Tied !roun my shoulder, Ain.tt gonna rain, baby, /in •t gonna rain. Voice: Dis ole hammer--huh, Ring lak silver--huh, Shine lak gold--huh. Chorus: Ain't gonna rain, Ain't gonna rain. Voiceffemale): I'm a big fat mamm.a, got the meat shaking on mah bones, Irma big fat m.a:mma, got the meat shaking on mah bones, And every time I shakes, some skimly tlrl loses huh home. Narrator: 1 l SJ J u Ifs cotton-picker, as ~anjo-player, as preacher . . Cl--< )(_41111iarebellion leader, I emerged (over) a · new part of the old. �Voice: r Go down, Moses, Way down in Egyptland; Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go. - - .- - ~- -- •• Deep River, my- home is over Jordan; Chorus: ~ Deep River, Lord; I want to crosa over into camp ground. Voice: And yes, I DREAMED I was riding in that chariot. Y}v Chorus: ~wing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, i-t,, j., ,, --1· ~fl ror to carry me home. Comin Voice: Green trees a-bending, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a-my soul} Chorus: I ain•t got long to stay here. i (over) Q_ ~ �Voice: You naille & me: Lucy Te;rryL Voice : Gustavas Vassa . Voice : Britton & Jupiter Hammon. Voice: Coon 'ifwc!J:.! ' • ~ , , ~ Voice: Phyllis Wheatl ey . Aud I mastered · Gr,ee~, Lati;p,. &n.d ' English n my teens . A-fn;C{)M 'L Lonely ·- v gi r~whom the muses befri ended, " /, ., /'- x:' X Voice i Should you, my Lord, while you peruse my song , Wonder from whence my love C::: 2 or . : :SI fp: 1 : I : lt,reedom sprung, :::a::;:: zr -~~ f,'J ( I , young in l ife , by seeming crue l fate , Was snatchJ d f r om Afric 1 s fancy 1 d happy seat; What pangs excruciating mus t molest, What so rrows labour in my parents' breast? elhs 7 1 i 7193 tbet Tb et fr@z s c S?Iil end RX 3 l 11 no Wi 7577 as t & L 5 L 316 JI S: car I tb er t orer@ WHY P81I?P f 7 f f 13 tC I ; Ii § - Narra to r: I' You named me George Moses Horton. I did not like the i n ju s tice of t he double standard. (over) �called me "The S1ave. 11 Chorus: ll.11vr The Slave. Voice: Because the brood-sow 1 s left side pigs were black, 'Whose sable tincture was by nature struck, Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suckY Chorus: Runagatef Runagatel Runagate! Rtmagatel Runagatel Narrator: / •I My mother cured ills andAfather worked roots. 1he poem became juju-man,- the lace hidden by the minstrel smile. Voice: We have fashioned laughter Out of tears and pain; Chorus: But the moment after-- W Voice: Pain and tears again. Voice:- -. : Forgive these erring people, Lord; ~JV Voice: Who lynch at home and love abroad. Narra.tor2 Still I yrote--this t· e just like I talkedI could only produce heart-rhythms. (over) Atnbi uous �t) Chorus: / ' _ o chillen, run, de Cunjuh manl r]!: Voice: Him mouf ez beeg ez fryin' pan; /1, f' Voice: Him yurs am small, him eyes am raid, Him ha.b no toof een him ol' haid, \ ,.,. Him ha\t him root"s, him wu'k him trick , Him roll him eye, him mek you sick-Chorus: O chillen, run, de Cunjah man I Narrator: I knew my rights, my rough-time~and my remedies. Voice: Blue-mass, laud-num, liver ~ills, "Sixty-six, fo I fever an1 chills, 11 fwv II Ready Relief, an' A. B. C., An' half a bottle of X.Y.z. Narrator: You named me Frances Ellen Watkin, Harper~ _James Edwin Campbell, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar-- '/ in several kinds of English. Voice: I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, (Over) - . �9 When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore-When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why the caged bird singsl ,J .Ji v(_ Above~ / song Narrator: exudes from me. ~ - - -~- My song is my sword. Voice: / Lift every voice and sing! I I If-' er. Till ear hand heaven ring! Ring with the harmonies of libertyl Voice: 'l'ill our rejoicings· rls·e High as the listening skies, Narrator: I forge pure flames of rhythms without books. And I love to hear Malindy sing. Voice: G'way an' quit dat noise, Miss Lucy-Put dat music book away; What's de use to keep on tryin•? Ef you pra ctise twell you 1 re gray, You caintt sta't no notes a-flyin 1 Lak de ones dat rants and rings From de kitcheJl to de big woods When Malindy sings. (over) - - I �10 iWaey J 1uugh flJJ f0Jls11 to Mialih•.ft; _.. IcsliiiaRI a• ,h. lines an' dots a Wasn doy Ar' a.aan' :i 111 one J<i r serce it., 1 a eh aid.I Ebld@§ iii, ?ii spu.haJ But :fu' reel a s Jao jaua rnusi a - Pet jc1 1 e~rihea .Je11 • yea aCail, ant vo' - hee't eo4 g]jpgs, h.s cen wif :me ·dl'.1011 MS:llna:, slng1 s Ain•t you nevah hyeahd Malindy? Blessed soul, tek up de cross I Look hyeah, ain't you jokin 1 ,honey? Well, you don't know whut you los•. Y1 ought to hyeah dat gal a-wa 1 blin', Robbins, la 1 ks, an' all dem things, Heish dey moufs an 1 hides dey face When Malindy sings. n (over) �11 r~ ✓ Narx•ator: I "' Riverboats, river to-wns, chainganga~ bar-room toughs, hard-hearted Hanna, Stagolee, •• • they all knew me. Voice: IM/( Hard-hearted Hanna-- Voice: From ~avannah, ~ A. Voice: She was so cold, yall-Chorus: Wasn 1 t she-Voice: She'd poor water on a drawing man! ~ Voice: It was early one mornin 1 , When I heard my bulldog bark; I y../ L/ Stagolee and Billy Lyons Was aquablin 1 in the dark. Chorus: Shine, shine, shine, ••• save po' ijarrator: You heard me coming from the swollen lips of the bugle, French horn, trumpet, clarinet and saxophone. -H orn: A series or short riff·s exemplary of various forms of music played between the advent of the spirituals and the blues-ragtime period. (ov e r) �r arrator: Paris the "Qakewalk" the "poetry of motion. 11 Dancer: Executes a series of movements representing such dances as the Ca~ewalk, -· . Charleston, Jitterbug and the Bop. Elements ~est Indian dances should I flavor the movements. · Narrator: ~ I blue horns, shot guns in your war, danced dances and came home to face the Ku: , Klux Klan, , Southern Sheriffs and Jim Orow. I got angry; And defiant. But I was relativelV cool. Voice: Into the furnace let me go alone; Stay you without in terror of the heat. i 300566 a Ji 37 gs ll&ked .{]Jto) tbs II@i rd lh--18£1 CHU§ IJf§ e I t1 r ; 11 :t H ,I t z rs ., )/v ( 5 Voice: , I ( I will come out, back to your world of tears, A stronger soul within a finer frame. Narrator: I lifted my voice into After race riots in several American cities a earing shaft of discontent. y O kinsmenl we must meet the common foe! / Ur· Voice: Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! (over) --- --- . ---- ------ -- . - -- -~ I"" '- �Narrator: Still, aaiJJ my past pulled on me. • Some African sense kept tugging, tugging at my truncated roots. Voice: Pour O pour that parting soul in song, l' L t I Jg SI 7 1. L.A£ . ~ \¾Vv: pour it in the sawdust glow of night, 0 z Into the velvet pine-smoke air to-night, ••• !~ / ~ qhoruss • And let the valley carry it along. I/ Jal 7 I L Slfo J&±IGJ 02223 lb I & C $ Narrator: As the poem, I emerged convoluted and wholly new, only to retreat to a some-other-time refrain. Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, the Pyramids-- • Voodoo Ceremonies--what did they all mean to me~ Voice: Come with a blast of trumpets, Jesusl Voice: And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red Burns in rrry heart a love-fire sharp like pain. Chorus a Sweet silver trumpets, Jesus I Voice: Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. (over) . �Narrator: The blur of the veil was always relieved ~y song, ax '7------ dance , II bo()fL looking forward t o t l\e day when Americans• would grow up. • • We grew stronger, and more beautiful, in the words of Langston Hughes , as we re-embraced our rituals. Chorus : Shake your .b rown feet , honey , Shake your brown feet, chile, r/, u Shake your brown feet, honey, Shake 'em swift and wil ' -- Voice: Get way back, honey, Do that low-down step. Walk on over , darling, Nowt Come out With your l eft . Narrator: I went t o wa r , y as £ 5 soldier and cook and shining knight of Democracy . The Swas t ika, The Rising Sun, The Hammer & iiekle,. ~ I was told , g ~;:1-- C '/\ real enemv ...., . Meanwhile you h~d nruned me O? Dofson and I bec8llle a witness to the na1;tie~~of neighborly enenu.es •Gho se who caused unnatural deaths : ) r Voice: ,, Wake up, boy , and tell me how you died: What sense was alert last, Wha; immediate intuition about us (over) } J ~ �You clutched like a bullet when your nails Dug red in your yellow palm. And that map the fortunetellers read Chorus: (this line for money, this for love) Voice: Childish again and smeared •••• Chorus: Wake up,boy, ••• Voice: •••Igo to death tomorrow, Tell me what road you took, ••• Chorus: What hour in the day is luckiest? Voice: Did your Adams apple explode? Who sewed stitches in your angry heart? Chorus: o wake ••• Narrator: '\I was sometiaes a tattered poem in the thirties, forties and fifites. But I was a poem anyway: gracious, noble, fundamental, fiery, ~ Voice: t r my peo-~le everywherV s_inging their slave songs Nlpeat- ) /~ heir dirges and their ditties and their blue~ ~ L and Jub~es praying their Pl'ffU• ni-ghti~ to an- un;) <J:t known god0bending their knees humbly (ov r) o an un/a ··power0 )~ _,1 / �Voice: and sand of . ~l,abama For my playmates in the clay and / ~, ~t::d:::=:p==r-e_a_o_hi _ n.. . .:. a n d ~ school and mama and and concert and store and hair and Miss Choomby and company; Voice: Let a new earth rise. -04'n'1".. e,•• t ~ ; ~ _ qpv f Chorus: Let another world be born. Let · a bloody peace be written in the sky. Voice: Let a race of mt~/ now rise and take control. Narrator: Frank Marshall Davis,l, Melvin Beaunorous Tolson, Sterling Brown, r II}',/]);· 1J10.. t ~ ' Robert Hayden, ~Gwendolyn lBrooks--these are names by which m:y ·voice is known. Some even call me by the name of HISTORY. Chorus: History, history, history, Runagate, RunagatelRunagate~ Voice: / Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darlmess / and the darkness thicketed with shapes of terror and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing and the blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going •••• Chorus: Runagatel Runagatel Runagatel ( ove-r) /h ~ �17 Narrator: I wormed into and won hearts and minds. In 1950, America · gave me the Pulitzer Prize. I talked about a jewel named Satin-Legs Smith. Voice: He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat Tawny, reluctant, ·royal . He is fat And fine this morning. Definite. Reimbursed. He waits a momeat, he designs his reign, (_ That no perfom.ance may be plain or vain. ✓ Then rises in a clear delirium. Voice: Jiat 112 r 22 ➔ 1 zt t s tnsseeP, t95aphen • ¥1 ..b ht w 0IC&!Of!ft !Rd sef!lbd§ 16; s, , Tbn 1nrss 1 · st e!iiS lhtB~'f!. RH!&U !B fifil€ t!rAJone slow is rot ➔ - s, i1; I I aa? a Mot ei Jvar rl ate ad tb 1Bf1P:t ftPABib dpl J ?bi re •• Sarcastic green and zebra-striped cobalt . ~ith shoulder padding that is wide And cocky and determined as his pride; Ballooning pants that taper off to ends Scheduled to choke precisely. =--· ~ I - (vver) 7 �18 ap l I lmew the powe s: Amen! ator: Na I am the powe pl the /, ~~ us: Amenl Vo Bartender, e: ght a.nd make it two-- st ,, e(pointing): in me one • e (pointing): V n you . • • • and o Narrator: ot- s uiter; I put on I became the Be Bopper; I dark glasses and conked my hair I as I sped North to , • the Promised Land. ¢ Wright I and John Oliver Ki llens Heard the thunder and Baldwin cried for DB • ~llison called me Black, I left a white country , to fight yellow men in Korea. Ella, Miles, Monk, Billie, Prez,v.Chano Pozo, Ornette, Coltra.ne--they went to war with me. Chorus: Good morning heartache! ~~ ~ f.YV.....A/ How do you do? (over) - - -- - - - - - - - - ---~........,=-=----,,,=-,....--....,~- - - -"""" .. �19 Hom: Brief medley of sounds and tunes reminiscent of the period. Narrator: Beholdl The Stroll! The Kanaas City SJ.opt The Madison! The Twis~1 :· T_he Funky Chicken! The Karate-Boogalool They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet. Poet~ngl Poetingl Narrator: ,\ 1.t',: And took it all back to l'-!3andstand and other countries. j Voice: There's a thrill upon the hill. Chorus: Let's go, let's go, let's go~ -... ~ Narrator: I ee.m.eO rom knrea to they wouldn't let my mother sit down on a bus. ~· Chorus: Montgomery, Montgomery, I remember Montgomery. • Voice: And Birminghsm--the three little girls . Voice: And Selma.I Voice: And Philadelphia, Mississippi! Voice: I recollect Emmett Tilll Voice: And Watts I {over) ~~~ ~ · �20 Narrator: My name was Conrad Kent Rivers-. ~ ""Watts;"- --.-;...., . . ,, .__. . -· ~ ~ became a poem called . ....... "~.:. ·-~·---- ·-··----------1o--"'------··-- ~· . . - - . ~ --~ - Voice: ' Must I shoot the white man dea<!.__-----~ ~ to free the nigger in his head?~ - - -- - ~ f ✓~ to head? Voice: And Newarkl Voice: And Harlem! '-.__.... Narrator: My color felt good to me . y At a rally, I turned into a voice on the podium shouting. Chorus: WE ARE AN AFRICAN PEOPLE! Voice: For all things black and beautiful, ~ The brown faces you loved so well and long, the endless roads leading back to Harlem. (over) �21 Chorus: _Ku_l_u_S_'e_Mama_ ✓ j. _K_u_lu_S_e_M_ama_l /r.f-J.,. ~ .,,l.oll"'f Voice: Where the strin t point, as some umbil·cal jazz, , r perhaps, long lost b ody cross, steel aalva or whom do w • bleed, m some jazzm 's oken needle tears patter, rom lost dropping My My motherA,s Chorus: Is love, Is life. Narrator: • In the spit and dart of rrry new self, there (over) �22 were utterances I had to make , bl ood-thoughts I had to share . t01/vIV. /P • • I needed to take a hand and stand and speak t he truth -,all!!lp•---l!•IIXllll!IIZIIIZ,1• ...-lllliiii~iaii~ Voice: It is not necessary to green the heart Only to identify the enemy It is not necessary to blow the mind Only to free the mind ••• • Chorus: It is the total black! Voice: It is the total black, bein g spoken From the earth's inside. Chorus : Love is another kind of open-Voice: As a diamond comes into a lmot of flrune ~ . ~ _ A,t. ~o~ I am black because I come from the earth's i n ~ Take my word for jewe l in your open light. Narrator: I am the ecstasy of NOW. I return, even in the alarm; even in the shadow- body I am often forced to wear . But enough, enough; I beg you, my dear associates, look Now on our 1. 1 �oice(and Danaer): I am a bl ck woman the music or IfI'J song ome sweet arpeggio of t ears is written in a minor key and I ' can be heard humming in the nil?P,.:..---~ ~ Y-r---Hums ~ Chorus: first line or "Nobody Know a •'frouble I See Voice: I saw my mate leap sereaming .J;o the sea e- lo-st-·Nat • s swinging body in a -rain of tear. ) tor eace he never knew • lS§FD@d Pe f -.---· ! ·heard my son scream all the way from Anzio an na1g all& . .. Pork Chop Rill &b&ISII I am a bla ck woman tall as a cypress strong (over) s;? ~ �• I Rrumvoices, 24 beyond all definition still defying place and time and circumstance assailed impervious indestructible Look on me and be renewe. Chorus: Look on me and be renewed. ----30---- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_33_03 Title A name given to the resource Third draft of Script Adaptation of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (A Critical History), typed with handwritten edits, 1976 Description An account of the resource Third draft of Script Adaptation of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (A Critical History), typed with handwritten edits, 1976. For presentation at book party on October 3, 1976: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Redwood Room, University Union, California State University, Sacramento. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976