music is amazing. (stmmfsbasp, part I)

This is not debatable. The existence of sounds in the universe that can be combined and manipulated solely for the purpose of giving us aural pleasure is one of the most divine elements of our existence.

If you know me, you know I love the music. My tastes are sort of eclectic, but not very much. I like a little bit of everything, your canonical classical composers, your jazz, your blues, your rock, your soul, r&b, even a teeeency bit of country. Why am I telling you all of this? Two reasons.

1) It's my blog, and I can do what I want with it!

2) Because this is the last week of Black People's Time, for each of the next seven days I will try to present a different song having to do with us Black Peoples. Yes, I know that there are now only officially 4 days left of Black People's Time, but so? We can spill over into March if we want to. The womens won't mind. They have 31 days in their month anyway, so they can spare one or two for us.

Ambitious project, no? Well, for me anyway. We'll see if I can update this thing everyday for a whole week, but I'm going to give it my best. So, here we go:

Songs that Make Me Feel So Black And So Proud, Part I

Black Butterfly, by Deniece Williams

(You can download it here. Wait for the countdown, and then click the "download here" box in the upper-right corner.)

Of course I love this song, and not only because of Deniece Williams' superb soprano singing and her joyful, effervescent phrasing, but also because of the import of the whole. This song came out in the mid-1980s, during a peculiar moment in Black history. The peak of the Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalist eras had passed, and thousands of young Blacks were starting to reap the rewards of new access to educational and professional opportunities. This was the age of Black Urban Professionals, or buppies as they were nicknamed in certain media.

In the midst of all this growing and changing in the Black community, climbing the sicial and intellectual ladders in the U.S., there were concerns that the younger generations would forget the struggles for broader social equality and justice in the face of slowly expanding economic and personal gains. Buppies were loudly and persistently urged to remember their past, to remember all the battles that had been fought to get them where they were, and to keep up the fight for future generations. The old rhetoric of being a credit to the Black race resurfaced, and buppies were charged with representing Blackness, showing their racial pride, and remembering themselves to all who had suffered or struggled for each and every buppie that made it through a first-tier school and into a first-class job.

All of this context makes the song extremely inspirational. From those first twinkling notes and opening lyrics, the mood becomes one of pride, exultation and uplift. Soon after she so sweetly sings "You've survived, now your moment has arrived/Now your dream has finally been born," we're hit by this huge crescendo, the sound swells and all the insistence overflows with the words, "Black butterfly, sail across the waters/tell your sons and daughters what the struggle brings." Williams' lilting voice begins to soar lightly and effortlessly over the words just like that metaphorical butterfly, and by the time she lands on that last piercing syllable, the soft urging, "Fly" that completes the song, I'm always ready to burst out of my house into the streets, so I can say it loud! ("it" = "I'm Black and I'm proud!" of course.)

Take a listen to this song, let it uplift your spirits, even if you aren't Black. The words can easily apply to you too. (Although, this is Black People's Time, don't forget.) I'll be back tomorrow (Yes, I will! Well I certainly mean to be back tomorrow) with another song selection to expand your musical libraries.

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Lyrics For You Today:
"Black Butterfly" of course. You can buy the album here.

Morning light, silken dream take flight
as the darkness gives way to the dawn.
You've survived, now your moment has arrived.
Now your dream has finally been born.

Black butterfly, sail across the waters,
tell your sons and daughters what the struggle brings.
Black butterfly, set the skies on fire.
Rise up even higher,
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings.

While you slept, the promise was unkept.
But your faith was as sure as the stars.
Now you're free, and the world as come to see
just how proud, and beautiful you are!

Let the current lift your heart, and send it soaring.
Write your timeless messgae clear across the sky,
so that all the world can read it, and remember when we need it
that a dream conceived in truth can never die.
Butterfly!

Cause now you're free, and the world has come to see
just how proud and beautiful you are.

Fly.
Butterfly.
Yeah, yeah, yes,
Fly!