Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Solo Dance
He wakes and stretches his body He's in a hot sweat
Oh Lord! I see her and she's in the recent past
There she is. She is a-coming in a trance dance
Loosening up in every inch of supple muscle — every joint
She uncoils her hot body inch by aching inch — Hot — Hot — Hot
Until she has unlocked herself as only she can — see — feel
Dancing in slow circles across the darkened room she
Dodges in and out of shadows and the light
Now you see her black body and now you don't
In her mind — the wail of pain — the body she sold
Time and time again She twists and turns and
As she does the pain starts to wane — She wails no more
Tears trickle and die down her chin
She's a devil woman — No! Not so! — She's a dancer
Maybe but a devil woman all the same — humming off key
In praise of this big black body she's so proud of... In
The dying of last night's yellow light And then again
Crying: "Oh Lord, forgive me for this black body And the one
Joined once more" — Didn't really love her — Just had to have her
The aching in my guts made it so...
Then lying on my back, this night — Heaving with her body
Carrying me so ecstatic and away to places in my head
I'd never been before It felt so real — the walking
Running Panting — Tired of it all yet wanting so much more
But she just cursed — Hot dog woman — Damn — Damn — Damn
Gimme more! My fat hands on her back — Gimme more
And I — Falling — Falling — Wailing — Crying — Waking up where
I'd never been before Never thought I would be — right here at your feet
Oh Lord I see you looking deep into my head and into
My soul on ice on the floor — Now the heat's gone — it's morning
Oh Wrap your arms around me — Take me home
Love me like I've always dreamed it would be
Not like this — Not ever — Not like this — Like this
So many voices in my head — All of them — Not like this



Duet Solo Dancers
She's back! Hold me now softly — Your black skin
Touching my dark skin — Ours not darkened by the cruel sun
But by the Lord — Oh Lord — For this you marked us down
With your dark-colored brush — Oh never mind — Rock me gently
Let's you and me rock gently — Skin to black skin — Touching
Cheek to cheek Thigh to thigh — gently going where the wave
This new wave we've discovered — Take me back and
Forward — Twirl me — Whirl me — Let's get carried
Away — Far away from this darkened room and the pain of
'Nigger boy' and 'nigger girl' — Let's bathe our skin
In the bright white light — Let's blind them from within
Blind them so they do not see us dancing here
Just shadows of this day that the Lord has made
Dance with me — Share my pain — Weep with me
Share my sorrow — Write every cry and every howl
Paint every tear crystal clear — Then make it drip
With your immortal wet brush — No, your bow
Paint the tears that flow deep down low in my gut
Ours — The pain of being together in this dark room
Trying to rock the waves of pain away
Move me gently here Now arch your body Take me there
Oh Lord — you are so good — Dull this ache softly
Gently stretch your body — Spin me around
Spin us away I said spin us away into the bright
Light — out of these damp wet shadows — Let's you and me
Shine — Oh Yes — Let our blackness shine — Oh my black prince
Twirl me — Whirl me — Let our sweet song burst
Out of this wave — Old wave — New wave — Whatever...
Arm and arm locked — Twist — Untwist — Bodies sway
Away — Away — To the place you promised me
That we would always be — Just you and me
And tender kisses every second of every minute of every
Hour of the long long day — Never ending
With us apart — Whirl me — Twirl me Away Away
Into the night — bright light — Glowing — Flowing freely through
Our black — black bodies — Yours and mine



Group Dancers
Come away — Come away — What did you say were the colors of spring?
Red, yellow and green...? Then pound the drum, slash the cymbals — Break free
Come with me — Slave — Free now with the firefly and bumblebee — Purple songbird
Fly away! — There's that blur, free... Untangling that Godhead of sunlit black
Spirals shimmering past the Past — Side stepping, skipping — Gliding Sliding
Notes black and blue... The pirouette Not a pas de deux — More likely
Bleeboppin — Jitterbugging — Shimshamshimmying — Breaking free — Cutting
Through the weight of pain — Whirling — Twirling — doing everything right
Like glittering and glowing — in the dark turning into day
Bright day — our day — when Tinker 'Black' Bell leads Nigger Pan willingly astray
You could say this is outrageous Black Saint and Sinner Lady — Their fantasy
Yeah! The bright dream of a man quite blind or quite insane But I say
Can you not see what I can? — Look! I say, I ask you to look...!
For God sake look beyond the skin — Deep within — Where, even her
Every breath sets her free and makes my blood dance as she glides past...
This is it Man! It is this spiral dance that lifts me up to very dizzying
Heights — weightless and free!
Suddenly a terrifying drop right down only to be pick me
Up again in the wake of this breathtaking spinning freewheeling
Swirling — Twirling I am taken away from inside out — Twirling Swirling
Round and round the earth — to find myself again — And again — And Again
Look at her — Freewoman — She stops and starts — whirls and twirls away
Dancing her life — New life as it was meant to be at the break of our dawn
Oh Yeah! Dawn has begun again Which is to say — that's the way
It was like when Buddy and Satch was cooking — And Duke and Blanton were in
Cool — Cool — Swingsville! — Then Yardbird flying free and bleeboppin
Time to start all over again — Oh Freedom — Freedom — The time is now and new
Stop this time right there — Freeze — It should never be time to end
This spiral dance— Whip up the trance — Again — This is the kind of energy
That brings up the sun — Our blue sun — Our mood indigo sun
Come cry with me — Dance with us — Raise up the sun every morning
Our tears will clear the way for the new Blue Sky
When all else is in deep shades of gray — Break away — Dance and sing
If you should stop now there might be no sun-up again!



Trio and Group Dancers
Stop a moment — Quiet! Hear my cry — Hear my call Singing songs
Freedom for all — Black, tan and beige — And not just whitey white
Slap the bass, roll the drum Howl on the horn — Growl on the 'bone
Hit it! — Hit it hard — Break away — Break away — Scatter the mob
We're bursting through — you and me — and us — Carrying the wave of brothers
And sisters — Dancing through, never forget the pain, but ride right
Through it — We've ditched the chains, now we're flying sky high again
Mile high — Holy Land — where God made man many hues — So we too
Are crossing through — Feel our pulse dance our dance — Sing
Freedom — for our brothers and our sisters — Oh Lord — It's thanks
To you — and you — and you — we've found our feet — Funky jitterbugging
Beboppin — Cool, Hot and blue! — Waking up our fathers
And our mothers — Coming right through — Like it or not
We're coming right through unlocked — and — unchained
Where they put us deep as underdogs — Our sleepless hearts are breaking
Once again Right here — dead center — where once there was pain
Blue from black pain — Oh Lord — Love must heal us again
Blood's burning bright — Through the long night — Bubbling hot now
Can't stop now Can't stop — Pulses racing — what did they expect
Except the long cry you heard turn to a howl
Pure joy in that sound — Hit it hard — Sock — and cymbal
Let the horns wail away — Ivory... Make way for ebony
Hear this brothers and sisters Hear the cry Hear the call
It's for you and you — and ME! — Hear me now — Feel the sun
On our black skin — Makes it come alive! — Wake up! — Hear the
Drum — It's calling — singing — dancing! — Fill the streets
Break the dark walls — the streets are singing — The sky is
Singing The sun is beaming bright light — White light
Warm caresses on our skin black skin — not to hide
Break on through — Hear the cry — Hear the call
In every cell — In every black pore — Once a festering
Wound — and whiplashed sore... Gone — Gone — Gone — Oh Lord!
The healing touch got to us — Come away — Come away — Come away!



Single Solos And Group Dance
Never mind and let it be — So what if they do not
Let us be — We cannot give up now — Change our faces
Be someone else's names and races — Cry Freedom!
Storm the Gate of Storms Wake up the preacher man
Wake up the Lord — I will dance for him — bend my body
This way and that — like you taught me with your voice
Moaning bass and wailing saxophone — Play them now
Whip up the storm in our every muscle — our every bone
Dance with me — Cry with me — Dance together — Cry together
Feel the strength return — subdue the pain — But not the anger
See our bodies, broken, heal again! — See our bodies, bent — rise up to meet
The stones that beat us down — The ropes that hanged us once
Till our necks snapped — But not our spirits — Call up the
Preacherman Call on the Lord — He'll hear our cry — Hear our call
He will send the waves again — Energize our bodies as we strut
Our stuff — Not in anger — not in lust — but
Black and beautiful — we will dance — Hail Mary full of grace
Shatter the clouds — Bring down the rain
Call up the sun — bathe our blackness in the light
No more darkness — Never again — Look up — Hold high
Your hearts' blood — See the eagle fly high with the dove
Our bodies — black and beautiful sweat smelling sweet
They made us mad it's true — They whipped our skins
Ripped our guts — Walked jackbooted on our every vein
Till even our tears could not fall no more
But all that's changed We dance madly — Hands clap
Drums and castanets — Bass and sax Feet tapping
Beat that drum! — Blow that reed! — Preach freedom
Cry, but not in pain Not in the same pain
Love will win — Victory over pain — I feel sure
So don't be sad — not even when I stand
Up and pick the strings — and sometimes bow
Mournfully — Hear the pain, but dance with joy and hope

Group And Solo Dance
Out on the streets now Strut our stuff Let the bananaman
And the preacherman The taxman and the sweeperman
Join us — Dance is Freedom — Every wave of the arm — Every
Lilting — Swaying — Coupling and uncoupling of our bodies
Is the shout of joy — Say you're you — Like I sing — 'I'm me'
Let everyone who has ears — Let them hear — Everyone with a soul feel
What's true and real — It's time to sing a real song
All the blues won't go away — But with every beat
Of every drum — And with every low and arco hum
Then every wail of every horn and reed and every strum
Of minor chords rising in soulful crescendo — Then they will know
Who's black and in pain — Yet who's beautiful under the Lord's reign
Come, my beloved — My black and beloved woman
Do not fear — the time is near when every lock in
Every chain will snap like dead wood — Yet every body
Black-to-Black — Brown — Beige and Yellow alike
Yeah! — Maybe even white — will melt into the one tight
Body of love — Yeah! That's the dream — Now it's up to
Us who love to make it happen — Dance the night
Into the day — And when the light fades join me hold me
Tight if you can — Let's join our hearts and minds
Let's join in pain — Let's wail until it's time
To laugh again — Free at last to laugh — bring joy again
What's that you say? — Why do I cry? — Going away... hopeless
I see her now — above my bed — or maybe far away
Not yet, my love she says — Not yet — Not yet — Not yet
Pirouetting gracefully — circling — Circling — going down slow
Come on Charles — Charles blow your horn — Blow it blue
Her feet you see have come to a grinding halt
Her suppleness has turned to bone — Caught in a frieze somehow
I see her — She looks my way — Her eyes and hands refuse to speak
She moves only from bed to door — It opens — She's going going gone
There's only me once more — Alone on our bed — Everything else's still...

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