Johnsinclair.us - The official John Sinclair website. http://localhost/backup/poetry/73.html Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:39:29 +0000 Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management en-gb http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/824-if-i-could-be-with-you.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/824-if-i-could-be-with-you.html
"If I Could Be With You"

for Penny


From the stage
of Detroit's

world-famous
Graystone Ballroom

on Woodward Avenue
just south of Canfield

Ladies &
gentlemen, the fabulous

Victor re-
cording artists: Please

join me
in welcoming our

very special
guests tonight--

the legendary Mc-
Kinney's

Cotton
Pickers!


oh if i could
be with you one

hour tonight, if i were
free

to do
the things

i might, i'm
tellin' you

true. i'd be
anything

but blue,
if i

could be
with you


They came to Detroit in 1926, up
from Springfield,

Ohio, led by the circus
drummer, William Mc-

Kinney, & boasting
on banjo & oc-

casional vocals, Mr.
Dave Wilborn

On tenor, alto, soprano &
bass saxophones, oboe

& violin, Mr. Wesley
Stuart

On piano & arrangements,
the great Todd Rhodes

Playing the alto & so-
prano saxophones &

bass clarinet, George
"Fathead" Thomas

On trumpet & arrangements,
John Nesbitt

On trombone &
baritone horn, Mr.

Claud
Jones

The orchestra's dance team,
sousaphonist June Cole

& drummer
Cuba Austin

& in the saxophone
section, the band's musical

director, on alto,
soprano & bass

saxophones, oboe & violin,
Mr. Milton Senior--

They called themselves Mc-
Kinney's Syncos

in Springfield, but
when they came to Detroit

to replace the Jean Goldkette Orchestra
at the Graystone Ballroom

in September 1927
their Caucasian employers,

wise in the ways of Detroit,
insisted that they change

their name
to the Cotton Pickers

& without much choice in the matter
so they became--

First at the Arcadia
down the street from the Graystone

for five months
in 1926 the Syncos

stormed Detroit
& were engaged

by the Goldkette
organization

as its first "all-
colored orchestra" for

two weeks at the Graystone
& then in the summer

of 1927 Jean
Goldkette signed Don Redman

as musical director
of McKinney's Cotton Pickers--

direct from the Fletcher
Henderson

Orchestra
in New York City, the

father
of the jazz

arrangement
& a giant of jazz

at just under
five feet tall, Don Redman

beat the band
into shape

with his mighty arrangements
& for the princely sum

of $300.00 per week
Don Redman

led the band
to international stardom,

a Victor recording contract,
a radio wire

out of the Graystone
onto WJR

with its 50,000 watts
of clear channel power,

"the Great Voice
of the Great Lakes,"

McKinney's Cotton Pickers
rose up out of Detroit

to light up the world
with the music of Don Redman--


if i could
be with you one

hour
tonight

if 1927
if the Graystone

were still
standing


Don Redman
stayed with the Cotton Pickers

till 1931
& went out on his own then

with several of the re-
maining members

but George Thomas was already dead
in an auto accident

on the road,
November 1930,

& the driver,
one of the brightest

trumpet stars
of the 20s,

Joe Smith, was quickly
drinking himself crazy

& Milton Senior had left
& would kill himself

before the 30s
were over

& another trumpet man,
John Nesbitt,

who was Fathead's
closest friend

in the band
also lost his wife

& Nesbitt was lost
to the bottle

& on a west coast trip
where the Cotton Pickers

headlined
over the Fletcher

Henderson
& Duke Ellington

Orchestras, when people
in Hollywood

heard their first
orchestral arrangements

in jazz
in 1931

the band fell apart
& never recovered

its former
glory--


if i could be
with you one

hour to-
night if i

could be
with you


McKinney's Cotton Pickers, 'the
Mississippi Muddies

of Syncopation,' the
'Sensation

of the Automobile
City,'

their entire recorded output
of 56 sides

for Victor
in now available

only on five
out-of-print

French
'Black & White'

RCA LPs
& the only man still alive

from the original Pickers
is my man, Dave

Wilborn, who brought this
back to life for me

& made me sing
this little song

& who still sings his
own song as

sweet as
ever

& says
from the stage today,

"Thank you ladies &
gentlemen and

back in 1928
up at the Graystone Ballroom

Woodward & Canfield
while with McKinney's Cotton Pickers

We were the first black band
to broadcast

out of Detroit
over WJR

Our theme was a
beautiful love song

of the 20s
written by Don Redman--

I was there to sing
that song

over the airways
& by the

grace
of the good Lord

I'm here to sing it for you
tonight,"

January 7,
1979,

at the Paradise Theatre
in Detroit


i'm so blue
i don't know

what to do
all day long

i sit & dream
of you

i did wrong
when i let you

go away
now i dream

about you
night & day

i'd be happy
if i had you

by my side
i'd be happy

if i knew you
were my bride

if i could
be with you

one hour tonight
& i was free to do

the things
i might

i want you to know
that you couldn't go

until i showed you honey how i
loved you so

if i could be
with you

i'd love you strong
if i could be with you

i'd love you
all night long

i'm tellin' you
true, you'd be

anything
but blue, if i

could be
with you--

for just one hour--
if i

could be
with you



Detroit
March 25/June 1, 1982/

New Orleans
January 1994

Music by
McKinney's Cotton Pickers


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:35:09 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/823-luyah-the-glorious-step.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/823-luyah-the-glorious-step.html
"LUYAH! The Glorious Step"


is from where you are now
to where you are now, the whole thing moves
just that quick


1

Every step counts, that's what makes it
(makes the whole thing) so
glorious. That you can

keep on stepping, para-
taxis, one step
at a time--& again,

that you never "get there," or
anywhere, except as you stay on
top of it, as it keeps moving a

head, a hand a foot a
step at a time, to make the
proper con-

nexions, know where you're headed &
how to
get there, that

you can find out for your
self, as
any of us have

a step at a time


2

Just to get that close to the
quick of it, that far in
that close to the pulse

of your own workings, & ride it
straight on out, head
first--the precision

of the movement, that you can re-
cord it as it moves, step
by step, that close, the rock &

roll of it, the beat
of your heart makes its own de-
sign on you, marks

time, your own
rhythm, you
state it in your stride, ex-

tend it in your line
feel it
& ride


3

& the dance we know of is finally
of the body, that quick
source of it, co-

ordinate, that all the parts are
functioning, as they must, is the
harmony, rhythm, the tone

of the skin & be-
neath it, muscles, com-
ponents of this now breathing

living thing you are, & the music
you would make of yourself. the song
of the dance of the

body, organic
form, take it exactly
where it leads you--

out--
step
by glorious step



Detroit
February 12, 1966
Music by Cecil Taylor


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:33:28 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/822-spectrum.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/822-spectrum.html
"Spectrum"

for Andrew Hill


The whole range, of possibility. The colors
that fill up our lives, make them
of useful substance, to ourselves & to each
other that we do
take in. Paint your self

red. Paint it blue. Make it
that much of the colors
of everything you see. Do. Come to
feel, what is at the heart of

every one of us
on this earth. Color it
brown then, as the earth is brown, as it is
so much of what we are.

Make it
green too, &
go like that. Yellow,
for caution. & red will not
stop us, from doing just what
we know we must do. A

human
measure then, no law but of the
eye, & ear, the sense
that we can make of it. The spectrum,

of human activity. The colors,
of movement, so fast & straight
that we can only feel it



Detroit
February 23, 1966/
New Orleans
January 1994



]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:32:38 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/821-steps.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/821-steps.html
steps

for cecil taylor


we stood in our boots & screamed
that it had to be so. that whole philosophies
were the words of saxophones. that is
that these people were literally speaking, & what they sd
was what we needed them to say. that the world

is truly a different place
than we could ever make it. & wanted a purity,
lacked it, & stupidly
would have invented it. would not face the planet
as it would face us. why

should it. or better yet, open it out & sing,
"we wanted to help you, impose our europeanisms
all over your meat. we didn't know any better. will you
please forgive us." & no answer floats back, as if
there were no question.

there is no question.
there are no answers. everything
is out in the open. all these wild musicians
who would have made us fools, if they had the time. or
the inclination. i mean

they pointed straight ahead,
& point now, for us to follow them. with our tongues
dumb in our heads. just listen to it,
is what they said,
just be the music

& it'll all
be all right. just to be the music,
is the only thing we need. the music,
& the world
it would make of us


detroit
february 1, 1968/
new orleans
december 22, 1993/october 19, 1995



]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:31:51 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/618-10-qrhythm-a-ningq.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/618-10-qrhythm-a-ningq.html
#84

rhythm-a-ning 

for paul lichter & the great ernie harwell


it's the top
of the 5th, two men
on & monk

on the mound
to face the meat
of the defending champion

new york tenors
batting order it's the
rhythm

inning, time now
to get something
going & at the plate

for the tenors,
digging in deep now,
center fielder sonny rollins

(also known as newk 
for his remarkable resemblance
to the great don newcombe)

is taking his cuts. rollins
checks the sign from arnett cobb at 3rd
& takes a called first strike

right down the middle. on the basepaths,
the leadoff batter,
johnny griffin, dances off 2nd

& james moody takes a short lead
off of 1st. on deck,
the clean-up hitter,

fellow native of north carolina,
veteran of many hard seasons
in the minor leagues,

john coltrane picks up his bat,
weights it,
& pounds the air without mercy.

monk
checks the runners,
shakes off the sign

from art blakey
behind the plate, nods,
stretches & delivers

a most wicked curve
& newk strikes air. the fans know
if monk can get past rollins

there ll be one down,
coltrane up & coleman hawkins
waiting on deck. so monk

looks in,
puts that rocky mount grip
on the ball, & sends newk back

to the bench
with a deadly screwball. trane fans,
& bean dribbles one down

to john birks gillespie at 1st. diz
steps on the bag & monk
puts another inning away

toward an eventual shut-out
of the defending champs. in the bottom
of the 8th, miles davis is hit

by a pitch,
steals 2nd,
bud powell draws an in-

tentional pass, & bird
puts the game away
with a 3-run homer. the series

goes to the challenger,
the bebop all-stars,
4 games to 3

& monk is voted most
valuable player
over dizzy gillespie

in the closest of votes. the year
is 1954, the legendary subway series 
is now history,

& baseball,
dear friends,
will never be the same



detroit
may 1, 1985
special thanks to peter klaver & martin gross


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Sun, 15 Jan 2006 08:49:31 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/617-qround-about-midnightq.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/617-qround-about-midnightq.html
#14

round about midnight 

for linda jones


there is a point
between night & day
where it all comes clear
& bright, a new beginning

where yesterday
can be left behind
& a new day is there
to greet us, clean

with promise
& a clear path
thru the hours before dawn
when the mind kicks in,

the squares all tucked in bed
& the people of the night
in charge of the scene players,
musicians, whores,

countermen at diners & cats
delivering the morning papers,
garbagemen & cops & drunks
in the rhythms of midnight

& the small hours after,
a different sphere completely
from daytime, traffic
& the peculiar world of commerce 

this is when the music is made,
in nightclubs until two
or four a.m., & then in after-
hours joints & people's cribs,

or in the recording studios
after the gig, with everyone nice
& relaxed, half-
juiced or hazy,

lazy, a little crazy maybe
but ready to put down some tunes
onto recording discs or tape
for the rest of the world to hear 

round midnight & after, the end
of a day, or in the meta-
phorical mode, it's the last sigh
of an era, like around 1939

thru 44, with the war
going on abroad, & the nation
finally tearing itself loose
from the last dying grip

of pre-modern america,
all its young men at war
& only the rejects, mis-
fits & draft-dodgers left

to shape some new form
from the ruins of the past,
some measure of their alienation
from the day before,

their allegiance to the flag
of tomorrow, like whatever
it might bring would be better
than what's happening right now,

the high discovery
of risk, or the existential premise
that something new & brilliant can be made
from the existing materials,

the intention
to create & invent
on little jobs  that monk
spoke of in 1948, with no reward

but the beauty of the thing itself,
the challenge of invention
with no idea of what might come next,
no pattern to fall back on,

nothing but the driving force in-
side your self, & the long roots of culture
stretching back to west africa
& the southern united states,

the utter & absolute beauty
of making a bridge
across the years, to link the past
in a whole new way

with what would come next,
round about midnight
of a dying world, & round about
3 a.m. of a brand new day,

monk at the piano
composing the future
& bud powell taking the piece
to cootie williams to record,

1944, a standard of modern music
even before its composer could record it,
the loveliest work in modern jazz
at just over three minutes long

yet longer than tomorrow,
longer than the 45 years
since monk eased it out of his head
& his gargantuan heart

& gave it to us,
round about midnight,  as a sign
that something was coming
that had never been here before



detroit
july 14/december 27-30, 1985


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Sun, 15 Jan 2006 08:48:30 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/616-08-qbloomdidoq.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/616-08-qbloomdidoq.html
#21

bloomdido 

for amiri baraka


in the beginning
of the modern
era,

in harlem,
in the early days
of the new

music,
in the days of war
when bird

& diz & monk
made it all
start

to happen, in
harlem
late at night

the music hit
hard
& deep, monk

& bird & dizzy
turned it all around
& made it

fit
what was happening
in new york city,

the war,
the sound of modern
city

life, in harlem
or in midtown,
downtown,

monk & bird
& dizzy
made the music fit,

they made it
fit, they
made

the music
come to life,
they made life

come to the music,
they made it
bloom 

bloomdido,
bloomdido,
bloom ditty bop

bop bop,
they made it bloom
like a gigantic flower

or millions of flowers
in a magnificent garden,
bop,

they gave it life
& made it bloom,
dido,

bop,
& great flowers emerged
in the middle of the night,

they made it bloom,
they gave it life,
they made it all happen at once



traverse city, mi
august 24, 1985/
athens, ohio
march 1, 1986


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Sun, 15 Jan 2006 08:47:55 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/615-06-qdouble-dealingq-g-qwhen-will-the-blues-leaveq.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/615-06-qdouble-dealingq-g-qwhen-will-the-blues-leaveq.html double dealing 

for penny


this might be
the corniest
question in the book
but baby,

if you love me &
i love you, then
why do we be having
some other peoples

on the side? i know it s
you i want so
desperately, but if i can't see you
cuz you with someone else

or it's just too hard to get a-
long wit  you, then even before
my blood stops boiling i
pick up the phone & call some-

body else so how can i be so
mad wit  you
when i m out here
double dealing

on my own? if it's just money
that keeps us apart, or all the kids
we got between us, then
why can t we make

the most of it
with each other, & put
the good parts
where they belong, the two of us

together yr legs
around my back,
yr sweet brown body
sh-sh-sh-shaking in my arms



detroit
may 26, 1982
after percy mayfield




When Will the Blues Leave

for penny


the words to a million songs
dance in my head
but my bed is empty
& you're somewhere else

altogether
without me, a song
without a singer, a long way off
like six blocks is for-

ever, baby, why can't
we, why don't we
cut this space
out of our lives, like

charlie parker with strings
is such a perfect
blend, ornette & don
cherry, miles & trane,

i can't get you
out of my fucking brain, oh
baby you can move me
in with you, or we can go some

other place, it don't
matter where, but be with me,
baby, & the blues will leave
the two of us, just as quick as that



detroit
june 3, 1982
after ornette coleman



#20

i mean you 

for penny


it's not just a case
of wanting to be in love

as if it didn t matter
just who you are

or the particularities, like
the way you make my blood race,

the certain taste of your skin,
or just how soulful you are

in every way, & how deeply
& completely you understand me

in all the nutty complexity
of my being it's your intelligence,

your exquisite taste in music,
& the warmth of you i want,

baby, the warmth of you i want
like i ve never wanted anyone else



detroit
september 18, 1984


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Sun, 15 Jan 2006 08:43:42 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/614-05-qstepsq-g-qspectrumq-g-qluyah-the-glorious-stepq.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/614-05-qstepsq-g-qspectrumq-g-qluyah-the-glorious-stepq.html
steps

for cecil taylor


we stood in our boots & screamed
that it had to be so. that whole philosophies
were the words of saxophones. that is
that these people were literally speaking, & what they sd
was what we needed them to say. that the world

is truly a different place
than we could ever make it. & wanted a purity,
lacked it, & stupidly
would have invented it. would not face the planet
as it would face us. why

should it. or better yet, open it out & sing,
"we wanted to help you, impose our europeanisms
all over your meat. we didn't know any better. will you
please forgive us." & no answer floats back, as if
there were no question.

there is no question.
there are no answers. everything
is out in the open. all these wild musicians
who would have made us fools, if they had the time. or
the inclination. i mean

they pointed straight ahead,
& point now, for us to follow them. with our tongues
dumb in our heads. just listen to it,
is what they said,
just be the music

& it'll all
be all right. just to be the music,
is the only thing we need. the music,
& the world
it would make of us


detroit
february 1, 1968/
new orleans
december 22, 1993/october 19, 1995





"Spectrum"

for Andrew Hill


The whole range, of possibility. The colors
that fill up our lives, make them
of useful substance, to ourselves & to each
other that we do
take in. Paint your self

red. Paint it blue. Make it
that much of the colors
of everything you see. Do. Come to
feel, what is at the heart of

every one of us
on this earth. Color it
brown then, as the earth is brown, as it is
so much of what we are.

Make it
green too, &
go like that. Yellow,
for caution. & red will not
stop us, from doing just what
we know we must do. A

human
measure then, no law but of the
eye, & ear, the sense
that we can make of it. The spectrum,

of human activity. The colors,
of movement, so fast & straight
that we can only feel it



Detroit
February 23, 1966/
New Orleans
January 1994





"LUYAH! The Glorious Step"


is from where you are now
to where you are now, the whole thing moves
just that quick


1

Every step counts, that's what makes it
(makes the whole thing) so
glorious. That you can

keep on stepping, para-
taxis, one step
at a time--& again,

that you never "get there," or
anywhere, except as you stay on
top of it, as it keeps moving a

head, a hand a foot a
step at a time, to make the
proper con-

nexions, know where you're headed &
how to
get there, that

you can find out for your
self, as
any of us have

a step at a time


2

Just to get that close to the
quick of it, that far in
that close to the pulse

of your own workings, & ride it
straight on out, head
first--the precision

of the movement, that you can re-
cord it as it moves, step
by step, that close, the rock &

roll of it, the beat
of your heart makes its own de-
sign on you, marks

time, your own
rhythm, you
state it in your stride, ex-

tend it in your line
feel it
& ride


3

& the dance we know of is finally
of the body, that quick
source of it, co-

ordinate, that all the parts are
functioning, as they must, is the
harmony, rhythm, the tone

of the skin & be-
neath it, muscles, com-
ponents of this now breathing

living thing you are, & the music
you would make of yourself. the song
of the dance of the

body, organic
form, take it exactly
where it leads you--

out--
step
by glorious step



Detroit
February 12, 1966
Music by Cecil Taylor


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Sun, 15 Jan 2006 08:39:47 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/613-07-qif-i-could-be-with-youq.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/73-if-i-could-be-with-you/613-07-qif-i-could-be-with-youq.html
"If I Could Be With You"

for Penny


From the stage
of Detroit's

world-famous
Graystone Ballroom

on Woodward Avenue
just south of Canfield

Ladies &
gentlemen, the fabulous

Victor re-
cording artists: Please

join me
in welcoming our

very special
guests tonight--

the legendary Mc-
Kinney's

Cotton
Pickers!


oh if i could
be with you one

hour tonight, if i were
free

to do
the things

i might, i'm
tellin' you

true. i'd be
anything

but blue,
if i

could be
with you


They came to Detroit in 1926, up
from Springfield,

Ohio, led by the circus
drummer, William Mc-

Kinney, & boasting
on banjo & oc-

casional vocals, Mr.
Dave Wilborn

On tenor, alto, soprano &
bass saxophones, oboe

& violin, Mr. Wesley
Stuart

On piano & arrangements,
the great Todd Rhodes

Playing the alto & so-
prano saxophones &

bass clarinet, George
"Fathead" Thomas

On trumpet & arrangements,
John Nesbitt

On trombone &
baritone horn, Mr.

Claud
Jones

The orchestra's dance team,
sousaphonist June Cole

& drummer
Cuba Austin

& in the saxophone
section, the band's musical

director, on alto,
soprano & bass

saxophones, oboe & violin,
Mr. Milton Senior--

They called themselves Mc-
Kinney's Syncos

in Springfield, but
when they came to Detroit

to replace the Jean Goldkette Orchestra
at the Graystone Ballroom

in September 1927
their Caucasian employers,

wise in the ways of Detroit,
insisted that they change

their name
to the Cotton Pickers

& without much choice in the matter
so they became--

First at the Arcadia
down the street from the Graystone

for five months
in 1926 the Syncos

stormed Detroit
& were engaged

by the Goldkette
organization

as its first "all-
colored orchestra" for

two weeks at the Graystone
& then in the summer

of 1927 Jean
Goldkette signed Don Redman

as musical director
of McKinney's Cotton Pickers--

direct from the Fletcher
Henderson

Orchestra
in New York City, the

father
of the jazz

arrangement
& a giant of jazz

at just under
five feet tall, Don Redman

beat the band
into shape

with his mighty arrangements
& for the princely sum

of $300.00 per week
Don Redman

led the band
to international stardom,

a Victor recording contract,
a radio wire

out of the Graystone
onto WJR

with its 50,000 watts
of clear channel power,

"the Great Voice
of the Great Lakes,"

McKinney's Cotton Pickers
rose up out of Detroit

to light up the world
with the music of Don Redman--


if i could
be with you one

hour
tonight

if 1927
if the Graystone

were still
standing


Don Redman
stayed with the Cotton Pickers

till 1931
& went out on his own then

with several of the re-
maining members

but George Thomas was already dead
in an auto accident

on the road,
November 1930,

& the driver,
one of the brightest

trumpet stars
of the 20s,

Joe Smith, was quickly
drinking himself crazy

& Milton Senior had left
& would kill himself

before the 30s
were over

& another trumpet man,
John Nesbitt,

who was Fathead's
closest friend

in the band
also lost his wife

& Nesbitt was lost
to the bottle

& on a west coast trip
where the Cotton Pickers

headlined
over the Fletcher

Henderson
& Duke Ellington

Orchestras, when people
in Hollywood

heard their first
orchestral arrangements

in jazz
in 1931

the band fell apart
& never recovered

its former
glory--


if i could be
with you one

hour to-
night if i

could be
with you


McKinney's Cotton Pickers, 'the
Mississippi Muddies

of Syncopation,' the
'Sensation

of the Automobile
City,'

their entire recorded output
of 56 sides

for Victor
in now available

only on five
out-of-print

French
'Black & White'

RCA LPs
& the only man still alive

from the original Pickers
is my man, Dave

Wilborn, who brought this
back to life for me

& made me sing
this little song

& who still sings his
own song as

sweet as
ever

& says
from the stage today,

"Thank you ladies &
gentlemen and

back in 1928
up at the Graystone Ballroom

Woodward & Canfield
while with McKinney's Cotton Pickers

We were the first black band
to broadcast

out of Detroit
over WJR

Our theme was a
beautiful love song

of the 20s
written by Don Redman--

I was there to sing
that song

over the airways
& by the

grace
of the good Lord

I'm here to sing it for you
tonight,"

January 7,
1979,

at the Paradise Theatre
in Detroit


i'm so blue
i don't know

what to do
all day long

i sit & dream
of you

i did wrong
when i let you

go away
now i dream

about you
night & day

i'd be happy
if i had you

by my side
i'd be happy

if i knew you
were my bride

if i could
be with you

one hour tonight
& i was free to do

the things
i might

i want you to know
that you couldn't go

until i showed you honey how i
loved you so

if i could be
with you

i'd love you strong
if i could be with you

i'd love you
all night long

i'm tellin' you
true, you'd be

anything
but blue, if i

could be
with you--

for just one hour--
if i

could be
with you



Detroit
March 25/June 1, 1982/

New Orleans
January 1994

Music by
McKinney's Cotton Pickers


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) If I Could Be With You Sun, 15 Jan 2006 08:38:55 +0000