I'm happy to say that Hip Hop Speaks for Children (the Nikki Giovanni book/CD that includes my song Long Track Blues) spent its 5th week on the New York Times Bestseller list for picture books last week!
And, I found out from A Year of Reading that it has been named one of the 2009 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts. You can see the whole list here.
I'm hoping teachers and parents will use this book as a resource during Poetry Month, too.
I'm excited to announce that Nikki Giovanni's brand new book, Hip Hop Speaks to Children is on its way to stores near you (and is already available at Amazon). And guess what? The accompanying CD includes my musical version of Sterling A Brown's poem, Long Track Blues. How cool is that?
Hip Hop Speaks to Children is "a celebration of poetry with a beat." It includes work by Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, The Sugar Hill Gang, Lauryn Hill, and dozens of other poets and musicians.
I've already seen a couple nice reviews online, and of course, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across this little tidbit from Biblio File:
"The hamboning version of "The Pool players" and Josephine Cameron's sung version of Sterling Brown's "Long Track Blues" are tracks I can listen to over and over again."
Story behind the song: If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have certainly noticed the name Sterling Brown once or twice before. Sterling A. Brown was born in Washington D.C. in 1901 and died in 1989. He continues to be one of the most influential African-American Poets of all time.
What I love about Sterling Brown's poetry is his sense of rhythm and cadence. He wrote a lot about jazz and blues, and those two musical forms obviously had a great influence on the sound of his poetry...the poems almost sound like they are *meant* to be sung. So Anthony, Carter, and I got together and decided to put "Long Track Blues" to music. Carter did an amazing job with the guitar work...he captured the gutwrenching melancholy perfectly, and it even sometimes sounds like you can hear a train off in the distance.
I love the first and last stanza of "Long Track Blues." The speaker, hanging around the train tracks, longing for the one who left, does the only thing there is to do...gives a blessing: "Lordy, let your green light/Shine down on that babe of mine." You can hear Sterling Brown read 3 of his poems, including one of my favorites, Southern Road, at the Academy of American Poets website.
His is the voice of the poet that captures the blues moan of lost and long-gone loves, the chant of saints who pray to be in the number, the tragicomic cry in the face of injustice and violence, and the jubilee songs of endurance and perseverance.
Lyrics (Click on the title to listen to a sample):
A Sterling Brown poem for your reading enjoyment this morning. Sterling Brown lived from 1901-1989 and wrote poems that were informed by the blues, and jazz, and old spirituals and work songs. His poems just sing. I love this poem "Southern Road" because of the rhythms. They bring the constant swing of the hammer and years on the chain gang to life.
I'm happy to say that Hip Hop Speaks for Children (the Nikki Giovanni book/CD that includes my song Long Track Blues) spent its 5th week on the New York Times Bestseller list for picture books last week!
