The Weary Blues
Charles Mingus music
Langston Hughes voice & poetry

-Blues of Fatigue-

A dull syncopated tune murmured,
and rocked to a sweet lullaby –
I heard a Negro playing.
On Lenox Avenue the other night
beneath the dim pallor of an old gaslight
it swayed lazily…
swayed lazily…
to the rhythm of those tired blues.
With ebony hands on every ivory key
he made that poor piano moan with melody.
Oh blues!
Back and forth he swayed on the fragile stool
and played that sad, tattered tune like a clown musician.
Sweet blues!
Welling up from the soul of a Black man.
Oh blues!
With a deep singing voice and a melancholic accent
I heard the Negro sing, moan that old piano:
“I have nobody in the world,
nobody but me.
I’ll lay the wrinkles of my forehead
and my burdens on the sideboard.”
Tump tump tump went his foot on the ground.
He played some chords, and sang again:
“Melancholies of fatigue:
I can’t resign myself.
Melancholies of fatigue:
I can’t resign myself.
I’m no longer happy
and I wish I were dead.”
Until late at night he sang softly that tune.
The stars went out, and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
and in his head echoed those blues of fatigue.
He slept like a rock, or like one who is dead.