Saturday, March 5, 2011

Song: Darkies Never Dream by Ethel Waters

 
"Darkies Never Dream" sung by Ethel Waters 


lyrics:


Darkies never dream - They must laugh and sing all day
Can't forget your troubles when you're thinking what they are
You can't find the sunshine when you're reaching for a star
Darkies never dream - Wouldn't help to live that way
We must walk a weary road that never seems to turn
What good would it do to yearn?

Darkies never cry - Who would ever hear our sad lament?
Now to laugh, to cry - That's the way we've learned to be content
Darkies never dream - We know what we have to pay
With a one way passage only Gabriel will redeem on that judgment day
When we cross that Jordan stream
That's why darkies never dream
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This song, "Darkies Never Dream", is a controversial and conflicted song, as it rises to attention some sensitive ideas. What makes this piece so arguable is not the content, but the delivery. This piece could be interpreted as a Jim Crow performance, as Ethel Waters is clad in a headscarf and ragged clothing while washing clothes like a house servant. Her eyes and mouth are very expressive and exaggerated, which are the mannerisms of the racist figure "Jim Crow", and it is possible that this performance was a tribute the "Old Negro" and to that sickening performance.


In another respect, "Darkies Never Dream" could also be seen as an act of resistance. In the song, Waters speaks of the oppression of the Black community. "We must walk a weary road that never seems to turn" and
"Who would ever hear our sad lament?" are just two examples of this. These seem to appeal to the idea that idea that black people were shadows of themselves and dependent on some other entity to understand and release them (www.iniva.org). Contrary to this immediate association, the song seems to play on irony and mimicry of the "Old Negro" that was so prevalent in mainstream media. This performance contained the characteristics of a Jim Crow performance. "...Of these cards, racist advertisements that depicted a Mammy-like black woman... Everywhere one turned were brightly colored and skillfully drawn images of big-eyed and thick-lipped..."(www.jimcrowehistory.org). What I believe separates this piece from others is the literal meanings of the lyrics. 


Ethel Waters
Waters alludes to "Gabriel" and "the Jordan Stream", which are two biblical references that are associated with redemption and renewal, as Gabriel was portrayed as an Arch Angel in the bible and the River Jordan was written as the place in which Jesus was baptized. These allusions are quickly followed by "That's why darkies never dream". She seems to resign to the idea that she will never be accepted in life because of her race; not even Jesus or the Arch Angel Gabriel will save her. The fact that those ideas are contrary to the beliefs expressed by those biblical figures solidifies Waters' cynicism and irony in the song. 


The Harlem Renaissance theme that best suites this piece when looking at it through that light is Anger at Racism. Waters went on screen and said to the United States in a very round about way that they are wrong for condemning African Americans with a prejudice so powerful and prevalent in the law and in the everyday lives of North Americans. "You can't find your troubles when your thinking what they are/ You can't find the sunshine when your reaching for the stars" is just one example of how Waters pleas the struggle for recognition that African Americans in the Harlem Renaissance united to gain. While a first glance at this performance may give it a offensive appearance, and while many of the white spectators who saw this performance could have written it off as another racist Jim Crow adaptation, a second glance would reveal hidden revolutionary meanings and a resistance to the hatred of a people. 


Citations:

5 comments:

  1. This song breaks my heart, especially the line, "Who would ever hear our sad lament." A basic human need is emotional support in hard times, and Waters is saying that for black people, there is no one to hear their cries.

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  2. The message in this song is in indictment of this country's brutal and subhuman capture and containment of African and indigenous people. It is probably the most powerful message of rebellion I have heard.

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  3. I cry every time I think of or hear this song Ethel Waters is a descendent of House Music legend Crystal Waters.

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  4. I cry every time I think of or hear this song Ethel Waters is a descendent of House Music legend Crystal Waters.

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    1. you got it backwards - Crystal Waters is a descendant of Ethel Waters - Ethel Waters is the ancestor of Crystal Waters

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