Synopses & Reviews
A Rare and Exceptional Recording of Langston Hughes Reading His Own Poetry.
"Langston Hughes belongs to whoever is listening. A possession in common, like the sights and sounds of a streetcorner hangout or the barbershop debate over pretty girls' legs and baseball players; open your ears and your heart if you've got one, Langston will walk right in and do the rest. Always public, his poems have no front door; not fully alive in the unspoken state; never quite satisfied unless they are talking to somebody. His thoughts come naked, conceived in the open only at home in the public domain. Free, without charge, like water, like air--like salted peanuts at a Harlem rent party. Come in, have one on me--that's Langston's style; a great host; a perfect bartender; profligate--not of pigs' feet but of poetry--dishing it up, iambic pentameter, on the rocks and on the house, fresh wrote this morning. Dead now, but still alive. Ol' Langston in the corners of my mind." -- Ossie Davis
Contents:
- One Way Ticket
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers
- Puzzled
- Trumpet Player
- Ballad of the Gypsy
- Kid Sleepy
- Southern Mammy Songs
- Migrant
- Mama and Daughter
- Sylvester's Dying Bed
- Intern at Provident Hospital
- Merry-Go-Round
- Ku Klux Klan
- The South
- Mulatto
- Out of Work
- The Explanation of Our Times
- Dinner Guest: Me
Cultural Exchange This recording also includes rare commentary and reflections from the author.
Synopsis
As Much As Any Writer, Hughes Took his learning to the American streets: "I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street ... (these songs) had the pulse beat of the people who keep on going." Includes "Ku Klux Klan, ' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers, " "Southern Mammy Songs, " "Dinner Guests: Me, " and many more.
About the Author
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) ranks as one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century. A landmark figure in the Harlem Renaissance, his work profoundly captures and celebrates the trials and triumphs of his exquisitly drawn characters. In addition to his poetry, he was also the author of the novels
Not Without Laughter and
Something in Common, the play
Mulatto, and two volumes of autobiography.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) ranks as one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century. A landmark figure in the Harlem Renaissance, his work profoundly captures and celebrates the trials and triumphs of his exquisitly drawn characters. In addition to his poetry, he was also the author of the novels Not Without Laughter and Something in Common, the play Mulatto, and two volumes of autobiography.
Table of Contents
One-way ticket -- The Negro speaks of rivers -- Puzzled -- Trumpet player -- Ballad of the gypsy -- Kid Sleepy -- Southern mammy songs -- Migrant -- Mama and daughter -- Sylvester's dying bed -- Intern at Provident Hospital -- Merry-go-round -- Ku Klux Klan -- The South -- Mulatto -- Out of work -- The explanation of our times -- Dinner guest: me -- Cultural exchange.