Monologue
It’s still bright out now, in Baltimore 1893, and I can swear I hear mother calling “Hubert!” as I follow this funeral band into the Baltimore graveyard. I know she’s 3 miles away and that this isn't possible, but I know she told me not to follow this rag-timing parade. The dirges they sang and played were nothing new, but after that dead big shot was put into that grave, the same songs they sang became so syncopated, so ragtime, that my hands started shaking! But mother’s voice is pounding my head by now, and I’m just about to run out of this graveyard like a shot! I know she’s gonna kill me! But in the future, I’ll be playing to my own syncopated rhythms with a wonky bass that will get everybody standing up, and that will …show more content…
But I don’t call being involved in a vaudeville act with my old friend Noble Sissle, or bringing an all black Broadway show to success to be sinful. What’s sinful is those entertainers with their cork acts and black face comedy. Now I love Miller and Lyles, but there’s more to us black entertainers, and people in general than crude comedy. Sissle and I can reach our fullest creative potential and so can the rest of showbusiness. And they say black people can’t have real romance, or feelings, but I can say that ain’t true through a few notes on some paper, just like I did in Shuffle Along’s “Love Will Find A Way. I wish mother can stop beating the donuts out of me and just see all these things. But it doesn't matter because I’ll be on the move all the time anyway because I can’t just be content with what have, I have to keep on playing and writing. The rush of showbusiness will keep going onto 96, just like mother’s voice in my head will keep me going until I get home and lie to her about just being around the block. But I know if it wasn’t for mother and father, I wouldn’t be here. I have to emerge where they came from as former slaves, and I have to know this is where I began, and this is where I’ll end.
It’s still bright out now, in Baltimore 1893, and I can swear I hear mother calling “Hubert!” as I follow this funeral band into the Baltimore graveyard. I know she’s 3 miles away and that this isn't possible, but I know she told me not to follow this rag-timing parade. The dirges they sang and played were nothing new, but after that dead big shot was put into that grave, the same songs they sang became so syncopated, so ragtime, that my hands started shaking! But mother’s voice is pounding my head by now, and I’m just about to run out of this graveyard like a shot! I know she’s gonna kill me! But in the future, I’ll be playing to my own syncopated rhythms with a wonky bass that will get everybody standing up, and that will …show more content…
But I don’t call being involved in a vaudeville act with my old friend Noble Sissle, or bringing an all black Broadway show to success to be sinful. What’s sinful is those entertainers with their cork acts and black face comedy. Now I love Miller and Lyles, but there’s more to us black entertainers, and people in general than crude comedy. Sissle and I can reach our fullest creative potential and so can the rest of showbusiness. And they say black people can’t have real romance, or feelings, but I can say that ain’t true through a few notes on some paper, just like I did in Shuffle Along’s “Love Will Find A Way. I wish mother can stop beating the donuts out of me and just see all these things. But it doesn't matter because I’ll be on the move all the time anyway because I can’t just be content with what have, I have to keep on playing and writing. The rush of showbusiness will keep going onto 96, just like mother’s voice in my head will keep me going until I get home and lie to her about just being around the block. But I know if it wasn’t for mother and father, I wouldn’t be here. I have to emerge where they came from as former slaves, and I have to know this is where I began, and this is where I’ll end.