Daybreak in Alabama

"Daybreak in Alabama" is a song by Ricky Ian Gordon setting a poem by Langston Hughes. The song is part of Ricky Ian Gordon's collection Only Heaven, which sets seventeen poems of Langston Hughes.

Date: 1997Composer: Ricky Ian GordonText: Langston HughesSong Collection: Only Heaven

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    Daybreak in Alabama
    by Langston Hughes

    When I get to be a composer
    I’m gonna write me some music about
    Daybreak in Alabama
    And I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in it
    Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
    And falling out of heaven like soft dew.
    I’m gonna put some tall tall trees in it
    And the scent of pine needles
    And the smell of red clay after rain
    And long red necks
    And poppy colored faces
    And big brown arms
    And the field daisy eyes
    Of black and white black white black people
    And I’m gonna put white hands
    And black hands and brown and yellow hands
    And red clay earth hands in it
    Touching everybody with kind fingers
    And touching each other natural as dew
    In that dawn of music when I
    Get to be a composer
    And write about daybreak
    In Alabama.

    Sheet Music

    Only Heaven

    Composer(s): Ricky Ian Gordon

    Song(s): Harlem Night Song
    Daybreak In Alabama
    When Sue Wears Red
    Late Last Night
    Port Town
    Angel Wings
    Luck
    Delinquent
    Dream Variations
    In Time Of Silver Rain
    Song For A Dark Girl
    Drum
    Litany
    Dream
    Night: Four Songs
    Demand
    Stars

    Buy via Hal Leonard

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