Hey Girl!
A look at the context of this seemingly silly song. :-)
Hey everyone!
As you all know, our upcoming chorus concert features an old favorite form our last concert cycle: “My Girls,” a poem by Lucille Clifton with music by Gwyneth Walker.
Now, I know that I’m not the only one who reacted with a raised eyebrow the first time I looked through the music for this song. “I’m a tree girl? I’m a me girl?” I read that with skepticism to say the least. At first, I couldn’t see much past the first impression of silliness that this poem made on me. After performing it twice in concert, I (probably along with all of you) have started to regard it not necessarily as silly, but certainly as a fun song that shares the awe and joy of growing up, of finally finding you fit into your own skin... of meeting yourself coming in, so to speak.
In my prep for writing this article, I discovered that this song is actually part of a three-song cycle for women’s chorus. The cycle combines poems of Lucille Clifton and music of Gwyneth Walker. Today I’d like to share some information about the composer, poet, and the other two songs of the cycle My Girls.
Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) is an African American poet who grew up in upstate New York. She graduated from SUNY Fredonia, and eventually became poet in residence at Coppin State College in Baltimore. Throughout her writing career, she published several books of poetry in addition to children’s books. Themes of womanhood, slavery, and African-American heritage and culture frequently surface in her poems.
This cycle combines Clifton’s poems with the music of Gwyneth Walker, an American composer born in 1947. She received degrees in composition from the Hartt School of Music and Brown University, and she even taught theory for a while at Oberlin! Since resigning from Oberlin, she has become a full-time composer whose works are premiered all over the country.
Put these two ladies together and you get My Girls, a three-song cycle of which we know only the first song. I figured I would share the other two with you because hearing all three of the songs will most likely enhance your appreciation for the character of this one!
Scroll down and click the "read more" button for the poems for movements two and three.
And here are some links to audios of those movements!
Last note to my girls (MP3):
Sisters (Video):
And lastly, here’s a link to an interview with the composer and poet!
Thanks for listening, ladies! As always, comment your questions, thoughts, complaints... Let me know if I made any mistakes... grammar police me... etc! ;-)
Until next time,
~Hailey
Poems:
II.
To My Girls [last note to my girls]
my girls
my girls
my almost me
mellowed in a brown bag
held tight and straining
at the top
like a good lunch
until the bag turned weak and wet
and burst in our honeymoon rooms.
we wiped the mess and
dressed you in our name and
here you are
my girls
my girls
forty quick fingers
reaching for the door.
i command you to be
good runners
to go with grace
go well in the dark and
make for the high ground
my dearest girls
my girls
my more than me.
III.
Sisters
me and you be sisters
we be the same.
me and you
coming from the same place.
me and you
be greasing our legs
touching up our edges.
me and you
be scared of rats
be stepping on roaches.
me and you
come running high down purdy street one time
and mama laugh and shake her head at
me and you.
me and you
got babies
got thirty-five
got black
let our hair go back
be loving ourselves
be loving ourselves
be sisters.
only where you sing
i poet.
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