I, too sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes. But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll [be]1 at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed. -- [I, too, am America.]2
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Bonds: "sit"
2 omitted by Bonds.
Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967), "I, Too", appears in The Weary Blues, first published 1926 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990), "I, too, sing America", published 1977 [ SAMTBarB chorus and orchestra ], from Songfest, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Margaret Bonds (1913 - 1972), "I, too", published 1959 [ voice and piano ], from Three dream portraits, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Serge Hovey (1920 - 1989), "I, too, sing America", published 1950 [ voice and piano ], from I, Too, Sing America [sung text not yet checked]
- by Otto Mortensen (1907 - 1986), "I, too", published 1945, from Four Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Kurt Pahlen (1907 - 2003), "I, too, sing America" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Thompson (b. 1954), "I, too sing America", 2004 [ tenor and piano ], from Dream Variations, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anna Nussbaum (d. 1931) , "Auch ich bin Amerika" ; composed by Kurt Pahlen.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 62