I will update this post later, but today this video for Black Men Ski by Stew and Heidi has made me pretty ecstatic. Look for a longer post and transcribed lyrics when I have some time to spare. Right now, I don’t!
Black men go to Aspen and rent colorful chalets
Giggle at the questions their mere presence seems to raise
Get taken for men we don’t resemble in the least
(Are you?…)
(No)
It’s a winter wonderland in the belly of the beast
And black men ski
Black men ski
Black men send back sushi with a scorned Yakuza’s flair
We make postmodern art with bacon grease and hot combed hair
We secretly play Beethoven inside our bass-mobiles
We can tell you how cool looks, but cannot show you how it feelsWhen black men ski
When black men skiBlack men now are students of gay sensibility
We wear ironic t-shirts drenched in code unknown to thee
We get baptized in Walden pond amongst a searing mob
Because the cleansing blood of Jesus could not do a Thoreau jobBlack men ski
Black men skiChinese guys can jump real high and Germans cook soul food
White boys rap and hippies nap up their dreads to look rude
Jazz is now suburban, it’s Marsalis-ly clean
And now we’ve got Viagra everyone’s a sex machineSo black men ski
(What else can we do?)
Black men ski
Black men ski
Black men skiSome kids i’ll describe as friends say I am race-obsessed
The luxury of your opinion shows you that you are blessed
I have poems about sunsets, flowers and the rain
I’ve read them to policemen, but it was all in vainSo black men ski
Black men ski
Elegantly!
Black men ski
Black men ski
five comments...
how can i purchase a recording of stew singing this?
You can’t Becky, but it may show up on one of the boots sometime.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/stew_says_black_men_ski.html
Robert, i linked to the TED post in the original post.
Thanks for contributing.
we get baptized in WALDEN pond amongst a searing mob
because the cleansing blood of Jesus could not do a THOROUGH job
…I think the Walden Pond reference points to a, “Thoreau job” (as in Henry David) rather than a “thorough job”.
I just started reading Walden Pond (by Emerson) last week, found out Emerson was a disciple of Thoreau’s . . . or I never would have picked up on the subtle reference myself.
FYI. Hope it helps.
C.
It’s a great song and I thought it was worth getting it right