Lift every voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Contributed by Bartleby - 2011/9/15 - 10:32
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Parole di James Weldon Johnson
Musica di John Rosamond Johnson
James Weldon Johnson è stata una delle figure centrali della cultura afro-americana negli anni a cavallo tra 800 e 900. Poeta, scrittore, avvocato, attivista per i diritti civili, presidente della National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), primo nero ad insegnare alla New York University, James Weldon Johnson scrisse nel 1900 questa poesia che venne subito universalmente riconosciuta come “The Black National Anthem”, l’inno nazionale degli afro-americani negli USA.
Nel 1939 la scultrice Augusta Savage, esponente del movimento dell’Harlem Renaissance, dedicò alla canzone una delle sue opere più famose, un gruppo bronzeo alto 6 metri. Purtroppo la scultura non venne mai fusa ed il calco venne in seguito distrutto.
Ho attribuito il brano all’autore del testo – che peraltro fu anche songwriter e studioso della musica nera – perché non c’è artista afro-americano che non l’abbia interpretato, tra i tanti Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Max Roach, Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, Melba Moore… Alcuni versi di “Lift Every Voice and Sing” sono stati recitati dal rev. Joseph Lowery nella sua benedizione all’insediamento del presidente USA Barack Obama.