And, yeah brothers
while white America sings about the unsinkable molly brown
(who was hustling the titanic
when it went down)
I sing to thee of Shine
the stoker who was hip enough to flee the fucking ship
and let the white folks drown
with screams on their lips
(jumped his black ass into the dark sea, Shine did,
broke free from the straining steel).
Yeah, I sing to thee of Shine
and how the millionaire banker stood on the deck
and pulled from his pockets a million dollar check
saying Shine Shine save poor me
and I'll give you all the money a black boy needs—
how Shine looked at the money and then at the sea
and said jump in muthafucka and swim like me—
and Shine swam on—Shine swam on—
and how the banker's daughter ran naked on the deck
with her pink tits trembling and her pants roun her neck
screaming Shine Shine save poor me
and I'll give you all the pussy a black boy needs—
how Shine said now pussy is good and that's no jive
but you got to swim not fuck to stay alive—
And Shine swam on Shine Swam on—
How Shine swam past a preacher afloating on a board
crying save me nigger Shine in the name of the Lord—
and how the preacher grabbed Shine's arm and broke his stroke—
how Shine pulled his shank and cut the preacher's throat—
And Shine swam on—Shine swam on—
And when news hit shore that the titanic had sunk
Shine was up in Harlem damn near drunk—
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Shine
From guest andrew stuart brown (contact)
The real street version of Shine Swam On runs to many more verses and has the authentic black street language of the period immediately after the Titanic sunk in April of 1912, especially the great and powerful word nigger! Knight's version was written much later, as you can tell by the reference to "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" which was a hit movie of the early Sixties. As always, the true street version beats the rewrite. Etheridge Knight picked up Shine, ran it through his typewriter, and got his ass paid. -
damn....
From guest herencia (contact)
i love this poem.. especially shine's reading of it. but i think it's relavent that when he read it, he excluded the world "nigger"...
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