So Hard to Say Goodbye

So Hard to Say Goodbye
By Ms. Blyss



The Godfather of Soul, James Brown is gone. I don’t even know what to say at this point. When it really hit me that the Godfather of Soul was gone I walked around my apartment in a state of shock. All I could think about was music, and how he put his heart and soul into it. I started to cry as I thought of Barry White, Luther Vandros, Gerald Levert, Lou Rawls, and all the other pioneers who touched our lives with their music. They put soul into their music, and to think that the Godfather of Soul is gone. I’m questioning, what is going to happen to our music? That’s all I could think about. That’s all I am thinking about.

I remember my grandfather schooling me about James Brown when we were taking our yearly trips down south. He would have the radio on (the closer you got to the south, the more you heard James Brown), “Ressie, listen to this... that boy get on stage and act a fool. I remember the first time my grandfather called me into the kitchen to look at The Godfather on TV. My grandfather would get all excited looking at James Brown’s singer’s put on his royal cloak. My grandfather would say, “Come here Ressie look, there he go… That’s the Godfather of Soul.” When my grandfather said Godfather, he always, always put and emphasis on it, so I knew this man was important.

James Brown has definitely left us his legacy and you can hear him in the music of today. Good music still very much exists, only it’s a whole new kind of music taking over. You can tell the writers write from the heart, but the soul they sang with can not be matched. I say that only because today we don’t have to tolerate the segregation they had to endure. We can fight back without worrying about being strange fruit (we just have to worry about trigger happy policemen). The soul they put into music back then, we haven’t a clue about, and it’s hearsay to us. Some of us were blessed enough to have parents, and grandparents who told us the truth. But there are those of us who don’t really know what good music is.

What was James Brown feeling when he wrote “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud?” How heavy was Billie Holiday’s heart when she wrote “Strange Fruit?” When was it that Marvin started to cry and look around and ask “What’s Going On?” But that is a period in time unique to them, and now we have our own battle to fight. Now we have to look at the world and speak with the same passion. The music is not dead, but the people who are listening to the music; I don’t think they are really hearing it. I could care less whether or not my boy friend is “street”, in fact give me something different (been there done that). My Music Appreciation professor wasn’t lying when he said “It’s the hook that hooks them, not the actual lyrics.” I never wanted to believe that although I knew it was true. It made me feel as if something was happening that was out of our control.

I feel like we are about to lose our youth, and I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I am about to lose hope. I am not someone who just talks about wanting a change, and later in the day forget what I said. Sometimes when I walk to the corner store I may approach one of the young men (or I may catch a young lady) standing on the corners. Trust me though; I do get nervous because I never know what kind of state of mind these teenagers are in when I approach them. I come from the heart, and I know some feel me while a lot of them don’t. Most of them are lost and trying to find their way. I tell them money is not taken from schools and put into prisons for no reason. Some feel me, some don’t. Some are so afraid of the truth that they walk away, and it hurts when they walk away. I feel like I wasted my time, but yet I still keep doing it.

I think about the music that’s guiding our young men today. Songs like “Do your chain hang low?” make me think of Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday. While people now sing about gold ropes hanging low around their necks; Lady Sings the Blues sang about us being hung with ropes. Nothing stays the same, and we shouldn’t expect music to either, but more now than ever I am starting to feel the changes.

I don’t know maybe I’m trippin’. When my grandfather passed, someone told me that legends die to make way for new ones. I know the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, has left his mark on the world, and he will be missed. To Mr. James Brown…you can rest now, your purpose has been fulfilled. Thank you for your contributions to history. To the family; my prayers are with you.

~Ms. Blyss~