When the shoe strings break On both your shoes And you’re in a hurry— That’s the blues. When you go to buy a candy bar

Tell all my mourners To mourn in red — Cause there ain’t no sense In my bein’ dead.

I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn I dream a world where all

Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie—woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Listen closely:

Remember The days of bondage— And remembering— Do not stand still. Go to the highest hill

When a man starts out with nothing… When a man starts out with his han… Empty, but clean, When a man starts to build a world… He starts first with himself

2 and 2 are 4. 4 and 4 are 8. But what would happen If the last 4 was late? And how would it be

I could take the Harlem night and wrap around you, Take the neon lights and make a cr… Take the Lenox Avenue busses, Taxis, subways,

In the Quarter of the Negroes Where the doors are doors of paper Dust of dingy atoms Blows a scratchy sound. Amorphous jack—o’—Lanterns caper

'Me an’ ma baby’s Got two mo’ ways, Two mo’ ways to do de Charleston!… Da, da, Da, da, da!