The Weary Blues – Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an American writer known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance, a movement where artists and intellectuals found new ways to explore the historical and contemporary experiences of black America through asserting their identities as black Americans, and celebrating black dignity and creativity in all fields of the Arts.

“The Weary Blues” was written by Hughes in 1923, and in this video clip from the Moving Poetry Series, the poem is recited by Dr. Allen Dwight Callahan.  The Cab Calloway (introduced on this site together with the Nicholas Brothers) sequence is taken from his performance of “Minnie the Moocher”, and although the clip was taken out of context, I loved the sound track, along with the scene from New York back in the day, and it evoke a certain nostalgia – perhaps even the blues – in me when I watched this.

The Weary Blues

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway ….
He did a lazy sway ….
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan–
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more–
“I got the Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied–
I ain’t happy no mo’
And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.