The Negro Spiritual invites speculations on the human condition in its most extreme circumstances. Whatever essence one assigns the genre\u2014whether these are songs of hope, survival, art, spirit, exploitation, delusion, enablement, triumph, defeat, slavery, fortitude, comfort, despair (and the list goes on)\u2014the power of the language, the resonance of the themes, the rhythms of grief and hope\u2014the tearful beauty of the music\u2014all of it still calls to us today, and, dare I say, describes our grief, our lostness, our burden (even the burden of hope)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the risk of perpetuating exploitation by appropriation, or other misuse, I wish to argue, perhaps irreverently, that the greatest Negro Spiritual was composed by an individual who neither had been a slave, nor had lived through the period of slavery. The author was royalty, in fact, a duke, if somewhat ironically: Duke Ellington. The song is “I Like the Sunrise.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I like the sunrise”: The expression stands in its simplicity, as though to say more is to say too much, to try too much. There’s a weariness here, but an inexorable hope too. Simple statements, simple logic\u2014all in response to the heavy weight of the old day. But the hope must be sung, even if at a death march pace. This song captures exhaustion and hope in the most melancholy way imaginable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI like the sunrise
\nCause it brings a new day
\nI like a new day
\nIt brings new hope, they say.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAnd so it goes. “They” say there’s hope. Is that hope to be discounted as the lies of the world? Whatever the words, whoever the speakers, there’s the sun blazing in the new sky. And that’s a whole different kind of assertion and invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI like the sunrise
\nblazing in the new sky
\nNight time is weary
\nOh, and so am I.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEvery evening I wish upon a star
\nThat my brand new bright tomorrow
\nIsn’t very far.
\nWhen that heavy, blue curtain of night
\nIs raised up high, out of sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI like the sunrise
\nSo heavenly to see
\nI like the sunrise
\nI hope it lights for me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThe last line casts a horrible shadow of doubt: why hope that the sunrise “lights for me,” unless there is some threat that it indeed might not light, not for me? Regardless, I hope for the sunrise . . . and a new day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Negro Spiritual invites speculations on the human condition in its most extreme circumstances. Whatever essence one assigns the genre\u2014whether these are songs of hope, survival, art, spirit, exploitation, delusion, enablement, triumph, defeat, slavery, fortitude, comfort, despair (and the list goes on)\u2014the power of the language, the resonance of the themes, the rhythms of grief … Continue reading Continuing On<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-just-life-in-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1036,"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/1036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonadonna.org\/sites\/wordpress\/bonadonna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}