1976

Song for a Dark Girl

Composed by Dorothy Rudd Moore

Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds and Death Song Collection

"Song for a Dark Girl" is a song by Dorothy Rudd Moore with text by Langston Hughes from the song cycle Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds, and Death

Audio

“Song for a Dark Girl” (from “Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds, and Death”)
Lisa Edwards Burrs, soprano; Stacie Haneline, piano; Naima Burrs, violin1:12

Dorothy Rudd Moore

Composer

Langston Hughes

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

This recording was part of a 10am concert ("In Memorium – Dorothy Rudd Moore 1940–2022") on Saturday, October 15, 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

Song For a Dark Girl
by Langston Hughes

Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree.

Way Down South in Dixie
(Bruised body high in air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer.

Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree.

Related Information

African Diaspora Music Project

africandiasporamusic.org/song/dorothy-rudd-moore/v-song-dark