1970

A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet

The Black Experience Song Collection

"A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet" is the fourth song of David N. Baker's song cycle The Black Experience. The cycle sets the poetry of Mari Evans. Even though the song cycle is out-of-print, "A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet" is published in Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers.

Listen

“A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet” (from “The Black Experience”)

Albert Lee, tenor; Kathryn Goodson, piano3:27

David N. Baker

Composer

Mari Evans

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

Irvine, California

Location

This recording was part of a 1pm concert ("Fires of Justice") on Friday, October 14, 2022 during the 25th Anniversary African American Art Song Alliance Conference. The concert venue was Winifred Smith Hall at the University of California, Irvine.

Text

A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet
by Mari Evans

          he had
          A Dream
e x p loded
      down
           his
             th r o a t.

       whereon
a million hard white eyes
swung impiously heavenward
    to mourn
the gross indelicate demise

              such public death
              transgresses
              all known rules

          A good assassination
          should be quiet

         and occupy the heart
       four hundred
     years

Related Information

University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, & Dance

smtd.umich.edu/black-american-composer-anthology

Sheet Music

Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers, Compiled by Willis C. Patterson

H. Leslie Adams, David Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, Cecil Cohen, Noel de Costa, Mark Fax, Adolphus C. Hailstork, Eugene Hancock, Thomas Kerr, Jr., Charles Lloyd, Jr., Wendell Logan, Maurice McCall, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, Hale Smith, William Grant Still, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Olly Wilson, John Work, Jr.

For You There is No Song (H. Leslie Adams)
Early in the Mornin' (David Baker)
A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet (David Baker)
Status Symbol (David Baker)
Three Dream Portraits: Minstrel Man; Dream Variations; I, Too (Margaret Bonds)
The Barrier (Charles Brown)
Song Without Words (Charles Brown)
Death of an Old Seaman (Cecil Cohen)
Two Songs for Julie Ju (Noel da Costa)
Cassandra's Lullaby (Mark Fax)
Love (Mark Fax)
A Charm at Parting (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
I Loved You (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
Absalom (Eugene Hancock)
Nunc Dimittis (Eugene Hancock)
Riding to Town (Thomas Kerr, Jr.)
Compensation (Charles Lloyd, Jr.)
If There Be Sorrow (Wendell Logan)
Marrow of My Bone (Wendell Logan)
Chanson Triste (Maurice McCall)
Sweet Sorrow (Maurice McCall)
Weary Blues (Dorothy Rudd Moore)
Love Let the Wind Cry...How I Adore Thee (Undine Moore)
Faithful One (Robert Owens)
Genius Child (Robert Owens)
A Child's Grace (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
Melancholy (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
Night (Florence Price)
Song to the Dark Virgin (Florence Price)
Velvet Shoes (Hale Smith)
Grief (William Grant Still)
A Death Song (Howard Swanson)
I Will Lie Down in Autumn (Howard Swanson)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Howard Swanson)
Lament (George Walker)
A Red, Red Rose (George Walker)
Wry Fragments (Olly Wilson)
Dancing in the Sun (John Work, Jr.)
Soliloquy (John Work, Jr.)

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