June Is Black Music Appreciation Month. Post Your Favorites

One of the coolest songs ever. Ronny quickly surpassed George Benson as my favorite guitarist after hearing his tracks. I was hoping to get to meet Ronny through my husband's good buddy, who produced for and toured with him, but unfortunately Ronny passed before that could happen. 😢


@ChiroDoc @Paco Dennis @Pecos @PeppermintPatty
 

This is my hubs favorite song to sing and play. He changes the words, to Red Skin Woman. Before anyone gets all bothered about that, both my hubs and I are from Choctaw descent with his having a blood link to the Black Choctaw, I.E. Choctaw and Freedman mix.

I love the guitar work on this song. I never thought old Sam could sing worth a nickel, but Delta Blues isn't about musical vocal skills, rather the story being told.

 
Powerful words like, "You will remember me when I am gone, you will remember my story, my song." I was so impressed when I first heard this super talented lady and her mission to bring back the old style music. Well worth the hour and a half to watch this video if you are truly interested in the music that gave birth to freedom. My father said many times that slaves used song and freed their souls from the shackles that bound them, long before the irons were removed. I believe he was right and this music has always been an outlet for me during hard times.
 
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One of my great aunts, an avid gardener, taught me this song to help me pass time hoeing in her garden one hot humid summer I spent in East Texas. I must have been around 10. It is amazing how time passes when you sing. This is an example of call and response that was started by slaves and later common with prison chain gangs, and even during the great depression by field workers.

 
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An example of how I learned call and response from my old auntie in her garden in the remote backwoods of East Texas.
Sung to the tune and the rhythm of Hoe Emma Hoe posted above. Call and response is a musical way to have a conversation.

Auntie: Turn on around, dig a hole in the ground

Me: Hoe Deya hoe

Auntie: Get a smile on your face, lose that old ugly frown

Me: Hoe Deya hoe

Me: I work to noon, my fingers to the bone

Auntie: Hoe Deya hoe

Me: Can't call for help, cause Auntie has no phone

Auntie: Hoe Deya hoe

Me: Work till noon for baloney and sweet tea

Auntie: Hoe Deya hoe

Me: I'm hurting Auntie, cause I need to pee

Auntie: Go Deya go

Auntie: Turn on around, lay your hoe on the ground

Me: Go Deya go

Auntie: Hurry on to the outhouse, go on down

Me: Go Deya go
 
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Notice how Robinson is a senior in this famous 165 second clip. (Temple joins him at 2:05) I never danced at all until I was an adult. But what I did absorb on some level growing up was a synchronization between my inner visceral feelings of motor control within my own body and what I saw watching famous dancers in occasional movies. Thus, to dance at the rate Robinson does on those stairs, even at his age, requires superb balance and coordination and a lifetime of building up via neural plasticity motor muscle neuron to executive control pilot connectivity. He makes it look easy as his fast leg and foot movements just flows out of him smoothly, easily.

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson teaches Shirley Temple his signature stair dance in this scene from The Little Colonel

662K views · 23K reactions | Bill "Bojangles" Robinson teaches Shirley Temple his signature stair dance in this scene from The Little Colonel | By Tap Dance Community | Facebook
 
David777 said:
Notice how Robinson is a senior in this famous 165 second clip. (Temple joins him at 2:05) I never danced at all until I was an adult. But what I did absorb on some level growing up was a synchronization between my inner visceral feelings of motor control within my own body and what I saw watching famous dancers in occasional movies. Thus, to dance at the rate Robinson does on those stairs, even at his age, requires superb balance and coordination and a lifetime of building up via neural plasticity motor muscle neuron to executive control pilot connectivity. He makes it look easy as his fast leg and foot movements just flows out of him smoothly, easily.

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson teaches Shirley Temple his signature stair dance in this scene from The Little Colonel

662K views · 23K reactions | Bill "Bojangles" Robinson teaches Shirley Temple his signature stair dance in this scene from The Little Colonel | By Tap Dance Community | Facebook
Click to expand...
The link prompted me to login to FB, which I already am using another browser, so I didn't do that. The banner across the screen blocked part of the video. But I remember seeing this scene a long time ago. Considering he was a dancer, he was probably in great shape despite his age. And he likely continued to practice dancing, which of course keeps those skills intact. Thank you for posting this David.
 
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