Original subtitles

MAN 1: All right, let me know when you're rolling.

MAN 2: Give me a second, I wanna get make up to...

MAN 1: Okay.

MAN 3: Is that the lowest you can go?

Turn it off.

‐Level? ‐MAN 4: Turn it down.

The sync went out a little bit.

MAN 5: All right. All right, let me try that again.

WOMAN 1: I hope this will be worth it.

MAN 6: It's about Harlem. MAN 7: Okay.

MAN 6: When'd you get to Harlem?

‐Let me do, like, a room tone. ‐MAN 7: Yeah.

MAN 6: All right. WOMAN 1: Yeah, cool.

MAN 6: Tell 'em the story like we rehearsed.

WOMAN 1: Yep.

MAN 8: You guys ready?

MAN 9: Sound speed? WOMAN 2: Sound speeding.

MAN 9: Camera speed.

AHMIR "QUESTLOVE" THOMPSON: Well, first of all,

thank you for doing this interview for us.

We're gonna bring in the monitor to show you some footage.

(CROWD MURMURING OVER MONITOR)

So, do you remember the Harlem Cultural Festival?

That summer of 1969?

(MURMURING CONTINUES)

TONY LAWRENCE: There is a lost wallet.

Anne Reynolds. Anne Reynolds.

Your wallet is over here.

CYRIL "BULLWHIP" INNIS JR.: Nobody ever heard of

the Harlem Cultural Festival.

Nobody would believe it happened.

MAN: The organist is on number 15, he'll play a little bit for you now.

‐(INSTRUMENTS TUNING) ‐MUSA JACKSON: All I remember

is going to this amazing concert in the park.

LAWRENCE: You gotta move back, ladies and gentlemen.

You gotta move back.

MUSA: And there was just a sea of Black people.

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

LAWRENCE: Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Hold it. Hold it.

That is the organ mic, sir.

As soon as you move down, we can start.

LAWRENCE: Welcome to the Harlem Cultural Festival

here in Mount Morris Park

in the heart of Harlem.

(CROWD CHEERING)

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the young brother of soul...

‐Stevie Wonder! ‐(CROWD ROARING)

WONDER: Hey, y'all, it's raining. (LAUGHS)

(SINGING) Here we go

(SLOW MUSIC PLAYING)

Here we go again

We gotta get a groove goin'

Gotta get a groove goin' Baby, love

All you got to do, baby, yeah

Is do what Stevie tell you to do

Oh, yeah

Everybody, clap your hands

Let me hear Clap your hands

'Cause

It's your thing, do what you wanna do

Don't let me tell you good things love do

Just as long, just as long

Just as long as you give it to me

DARRYL LEWIS: The Harlem Cultural Festival

was a total party atmosphere.

(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)

(VOCALIZING)

ROGER PARRIS: Well, it was in Mount Morris Park,

where the Panthers were the security

and the kids were sittin' up on the trees.

JIM McFARLAND: 1969 was a change of era

in the Black community.

The wholesale reevaluation of our history and our culture.

DORINDA DRAKE: The styles were changing.

PARRIS: Music was changing.

BULLWHIP: And revolution was coming together.

We want Black power!

We need it now.

The revolution is not gonna stop.

In 1969.

We want a new life.

A Black consciousness revolution.

DORINDA: It was the right time, the right place.

We were there.

(SINGING) Yeah, yeah, yeah

WOMAN: We wanted freedom now.

What time is it?

LEWIS: We were creating a new world.

(CROWD CHEERING)

DORINDA: We were looking forward to that festival for some time.

I was 19 in 1969. Going to college.

That's the summer we became free.

(LAUGHING) Of our parents.

I lived in Harlem. On Madison and 135th.

That festival was so close to home.

It was only 10 blocks away.

My three best friends and I, we could actually walk.

We got there early. Boy, it was hot that day.

And the sun was in my face. And it was exciting.

We hadn't had anything like that in Harlem,

that I can recall.

LAWRENCE: Welcome to the heart of Harlem, Soulsville USA.

This is Tony Lawrence

and 50,000 beautiful people here in Mount Morris Park.

And we are asking you to join us in the Soul Music Festival.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Now from Mississippi,

ladies and gentlemen, The Chambers Brothers.

(SINGING) Hey! Do it to it Oh

Sock it, sock it to me, hey

You like it like that, yeah

That's where it's at, yeah Hey

Do it to it I'm going uptown to Harlem

To let my hair down in Harlem

If a taxi won't take me I'll catch a train

I'll go underground I'll get there just the same

Because I'm goin'

Uptown to Harlem

Gonna let my hair

Down in Harlem

125th Street Now here I come

Get ready for me 'cause I'm coming for fun

I'm gonna eat me some‐a‐chicken

Some black‐eyed peas

Barbequed ribs and some collard greens

I'm gonna party for

Days in Harlem

Leave the downtown

Ways for Harlem

'Cause I'm going uptown to Harlem

DORINDA: Harlem was heaven to us.

It was a place where I was safe, happy,

and made lifelong friends.

GEORGE CHAMBERS: (SINGING) I'll go underground

I'll get there just the same

I'm gonna make it to the Cave

DORINDA: Of course, you had those destitute areas

you might consider a ghetto.

REPORTER 1: Harlem, where the tight‐packed tenements

spew forth the overcrowded thousands

onto the overheated streets.

DORINDA: But to us Harlemers, Camelot.

REPORTER 1: It is a creative forest

where you are honed by the hardships of experience.

And many a creative gem comes forth.

(SINGING) Down to Harlem

DORINDA: We loved the culture.

The people, the parties, the food, the nightclubs.

It was just so rich.

GEORGE: (SINGING) I'll go underground

I'll get there just the same

Harlem was the place to be, that's where it all happened.

I just graduated from high school.

We wanted to see concerts, dance, just have fun.

The normal thing that a high school girl would do.

When I heard about this concert,

it was like, "Okay, let's go."

‐We got to, got to, got to ‐Down to Harlem

Yeah, you got to

‐Go up to Harlem ‐I'm going uptown

LEWIS: I was 19 in 1969.

The festival had the biggest crowds

I can remember seeing at the time.

I was home from college, it was a hot summer.

I always related summertime to the potential of violence.

And there was quite a bit of anxiety that year.

FRED HAMPTON: 1969.

Black America has lost faith in this country.

Many of us have seen too many of our leaders

jailed and killed.

LEWIS: We have JFK in '63.

WALTER CRONKITE: A bulletin from CBS News.

President Kennedy is dead.

His assassination was the result of the climate of hate.

LEWIS: We've got Malcolm in '65.

The assassination of Malcolm X was an unfortunate tragedy.

‐(GUNSHOT IN DISTANCE) ‐LEWIS: '68 in April,

you've got Martin Luther King.

Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight.

LEWIS: June '68, you've got Robert Kennedy.

‐(CROWD SCREAMING) ‐MAN: Is there a doctor...

LEWIS: After that, it felt like the system was letting you down.

TV HOST: President Nixon is now occupying the White House.

We are not gonna have a lot of guilt‐stricken

white liberals hanging around to turn on.

We're gonna be dealing now

with white America at its worst.

BLAND‐ACOSTA: There was protests and a lot of unrest.

Then there was the Vietnam War.

There is a disproportionate representation

of Black men on the frontlines of Vietnam.

ETHEL BEATTY‐BARNES: We were hearing about these deaths.

So many people our very age.

A family member, a father, an uncle, a cousin.

There is no need to go to Vietnam

and shoot somebody who a honky says is your enemy.

We gonna shoot the cops who are shootin' our Black brothers

‐in the back in this country. ‐(CROWD CHEERING)

That's where we're goin' to fight.

AL SHARPTON: By '69, the Black community was divided

between those that were advocating non‐violence...

I'd rather quit talking about revolution and talk about what is possible.

I was with the non‐violent crowd 'cause I was a boy preacher

even though I was 14.

But most of my friends was with those

that were saying self‐defense and/or worse.

And if that means tearin' up the community to gain our freedom, we will.

TV ANCHOR: '68.

A day after the death of Doctor Martin Luther King,

in more than 100 cities, violence broke out.

Several thousand looters

sacked Harlem streets for nearly seven hours,

the worst outbreak of looting in that area's history.

I knew New York was trying not to have a repeat of that in '69.

SHARPTON: People were afraid

of the anger and rage boiling over.

It's too late now, we are ready to start,

and we're gonna finish it up.

(SINGING) Yeah, yeah Come on and get me

Uptown to Harlem

Gonna let my hair down

LEWIS: So, the goal of the festival

may very well have been to keep Black folks

from burnin' up the city in '69.

(SINGING) Yeah

(CROWD CHEERING)

BLAND‐ACOSTA: It was a crazy, crazy, crazy period.

We needed something to really reach out and touch us.

We needed that music.

LAWRENCE: Brothers and sisters,

now we bring you the world's greatest blues singer.

Ladies and gentlemen, B. B. King.

‐(CROWD CHEERING) ‐(MUSIC PLAYING)

(SINGING) Yes, everybody wanna know

Why I sing the blues

I say, everybody wanna know

Why I sing the blues

You know, I've been around a long time

People, I've really paid my dues

I first got the blues They brought me over on a ship

There was men standing over me

And a lot more with a whip

And everybody wanna know

Everybody wanna know why I'm singin' the blues

I've been around a long time

People, I've really paid my dues

I've laid in the ghetto flats Cold and numb

I heard the rats tell the bedbugs

To give the roaches some

Everybody wanna know

Everybody wanna know Why I'm singin' the blues

Been around a long time

People, I've really paid my dues

(CROWD CHEERING)

LAWRENCE: Big hand for B. B. King!

DJ JERRY B: If you will, brothers and sisters,

let's give him his due.

The producer and director

of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969,

Tony Lawrence.

Tony Lawrence, let's give it to him.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(VOCALIZES)

I'll tell you what we're gonna do,

we're gonna get it right and do a little thing.

I want all of you to do it with me, all right?

Gotta get comfortable here.

All right. Gonna throw this away.

Hey, now, come on.

Take the music down a little bit, baby.

Take it down just a little bit, 'cause I know you feel good.

ALLEN ZERKIN: I was introduced to Tony Lawrence,

when the Parks Department was tasked

with supporting this guy, Tony Lawrence's initiative

to hold something called the Harlem Cultural Festival.

And I was Tony's assistant.

He was an ebullient guy, he had this phenomenal smile.

MARGOT EDMAN: I remember Tony

being physically always on the move.

Being very positive,

never getting angry about things

but never sitting still.

ZERKIN: He was a lounge singer, and he was a promoter.

Can you hear me in the back?

How we doin' over there? All right?

And now, ladies and gentlemen...

Ladies and gentlemen... Ladies and gentlemen...

From right here in Harlem...

Soul time!

ZERKIN: Tony was a hustler in the best sense.

He would make a promise about delivering something

and then leverage that

to be able to get other people to wanna participate.

It's all premised on half commitments

that are dependent on another, and it all...

ultimately, if you're persistent, you pull it all together.

EDMAN: He knew how to schmooze with politicians

and he knew how to talk to entertainers and musicians.

ZERKIN: Tony talked a big game, and he delivered.

The '69 festival was huge.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

The challenges of staging something like that are enormous.

To build a good stage,

to have a decent sound system,

that can cover 30 or 40,000 people in the park,

you've got six consecutive weekends of major artists.

But in that era,

artists and particularly artist managers

and booking agents,

none of them were the least bit interested

in these kinds of events.

They were risky because they were afraid they wouldn't get paid

because who's Tony Lawrence?

I would think the biggest challenge was convincing them

that this is A, legit,

B, it's secure, you'll get paid.

Yes, the city is really doing it.

Yes, there'll be security. You'll be safe.

BULLWHIP: It was our understanding

that the police was not gonna do security

for the Harlem Cultural Festival.

So, the Black Panthers were there on point to be doing security.

My job was to make sure that the backstage was covered.

We had some members dressed in regular clothing

and some members in uniform.

Eventually, the police, they were there,

but we wasn't gonna take any chances.

LEEDS: Really, the biggest challenge was just

having enough cash to do it right.

But not only did Tony get the city behind it,

Maxwell House put up a bunch of money.

LAWRENCE: The Harlem Cultural Festival

is being brought to you by Maxwell Household coffee.

NARRATOR: Man found it first in the humid highlands of Kenya

and in the misty plateaus of Abyssinia,

a little brown bean.

And at the heart of Instant Maxwell House,

is the little brown bean

from the rich, moist soil on the misty slopes of Africa.

HAL TULCHIN: General Foods called me up

to do a television special.

We knew we cannot let this enormous

array of talent not be taped.

We must record them.

There was no budget, no money, no lights.

So, the stage had to face west because I had to use the sun.

ZERKIN: This was a high‐visibility undertaking

and would be an embarrassment if it didn't work.

Yeah, so Tony had to have had somebody who vouched for him.

At this time, we would like to introduce a young man

who is leading one of the greatest fights in the world for our people.

Ladies and gentlemen, our blue‐eyed soul brother,

the mayor of New York City, Mayor John V. Lindsay.

‐Let's hear it! ‐(CROWD CHEERING)

ZERKIN: That somebody was John Lindsay.

SHARPTON: John Lindsay was the Republican mayor in New York,

but a liberal Republican.

Tall, lanky, charismatic.

He was popular among Blacks.

He seemed to not be in any way uncomfortable

around Black people.

(CLASSIC POP MUSIC PLAYING)

SHARPTON: Lindsay would go to the Black community frequently

and advocate anti‐poverty programs.

DORINDA: He made it possible for us 16‐year‐olds to get our first jobs.

He just was so chill.

Lindsay was a hellified mayor.

When we had the riots when they killed King,

he was there in it right out in the street.

The community of Harlem wants to be safe.

They want to be able to walk tall down the street.

BULLWHIP: In '69, Lindsay ran for re‐election.

You're a bum, Lindsay! I'll say it to your face.

He energized the Blacks and the Puerto Ricans

and some of the Jews.

I simply wanted to express my appreciation

to the Harlem community

for this glorious festival.

This great concert could not possibly be and would not be

without the inspiration and the support

and the energy of this great community

of our city of New York.

(CROWD CHEERING)

We're not gonna let him get off.

You know, the mayor was gonna sing

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands with me...

(CROWD CHEERING)

...and he's comin' back next weekend

and I think him and I are gonna do Knock On Wood together.

‐How's that, huh? ‐(CROWD CHEERING)

All right, we're gonna truly make him a soul brother, okay?

MUSA: I was a little kid.

I remember being with my family

walking around the park.

And as far as I could see, it was just Black people.

This was the first time I'd ever seen so many of us.

It was incredible.

Families, fathers, mothers, kids running around.

I was one of those kids.

Beautiful, beautiful women, beautiful men.

It was like seeing royalty.

Around the park, people were selling food.

Mom was cookin'.

She had her grill, chicken, mac 'n' cheese,

maybe some greens, lemonade, Kool‐Aid, sellin' beer,

sellin' headbands, sweatbands and balloons.

I remember that distinctly.

It smelled like Afro Sheen and chicken.

Growing up in Harlem, if you went to places like that,

even went to the movies,

Mom fried some chicken, she'd put it in foil

and you took it with you.

We brought everything to the park.

You know, the blankets, the Vaseline for the knees.

It was the ultimate Black barbecue.

And then you start to hear music

and someone speaking...

LAWRENCE: And now, for the first time in Harlem,

Soulsville, USA...

MUSA: ...and you knew it was something bigger.

LAWRENCE: ...ladies and gentlemen,

‐the 5th Dimension! ‐(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGING) Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya, baby

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya, baby

MALE CHORUS: I miss you, baby

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

And I want you back

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

I guess I'm crazy

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

MALE CHORUS: But I want you back

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

I told you, leave me

MUSA: I remember watching the 5th Dimension.

(SINGING) Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

I'm cryin', baby

MUSA: Their outfits were orange,

but it was an orange, like,

you know, remember the Creamsicles?

(SINGING) I need ya, baby

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

I'm going mad

I thought they were a little extreme.

MALE CHORUS: You know I love you

YOUNG FLORENCE LARUE: Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

MALE CHORUS: You know I care

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

Can't you see I'm lonely

MUSA: I remember looking at Marilyn McCoo.

Don't cha hear me callin' to ya

(SCATTING)

MUSA: She was so beautiful

that I was just, like, transfixed.

I thought she was the most beautiful woman

I'd ever seen in my life.

God, she's my first crush. (LAUGHING) I mean, I guess.

(CONTINUES SCATTING)

Hey! Oh!

McCOO: We were so excited about performing in Harlem.

Callin' ya baby

McCOO: It was the first time.

Come on home

DAVIS JR.: When we first hit,

we came out of the box right into the pop charts.

We were a group that just came together as friends

from St. Louis, Missouri.

McCOO: We wanted to sing R and B, pop.

We wanted to have a jazz influence in it.

(SCATTING)

But everybody thought we were a white act.

YOUNG DAVIS JR.: Thank you.

DAVIS JR.: Until they saw a picture of the group

and then they saw these Black folks in this balloon,

‐they said, "Wait a minute..." ‐(BOTH LAUGHING)

"That's not what we expected," you know,

but yet and still, here we come, you know?

Back then, music was segregated.

Pop groups weren't playing Black music

and Black groups weren't playin' pop music.

And so, we were caught in the middle.

(SINGING) When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius

Age of Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Harmony and understanding

Sympathy and trust abounding

No more falsehoods or derisions

Golden living dreams of visions

Mystic crystal revelation

And the mind's true liberation

Aquarius

Aquarius

When the moon is in the Seventh House

MALE CHORUS: When the moon

Boy, to hear that song,

it brings back a lot of memories.

When we first heard that song, in the production of Hair,

we were workin' at the Americana in New York.

Hair was the biggest thing going.

People were standing around the corners,

they were waitin' in lines, tryin' to get in

because it's the first time they ever seen anybody

‐get naked on stage. ‐(LAUGHS)

And we'd been tryin' to see that show for months.

Then one day, I lost my wallet in a cab.

A gentleman gets in behind and finds my wallet,

calls me at the hotel.

I went over to get it, I offered him some money.

He didn't want no money.

So I said, "Okay, I'll invite you over

"to the Americana to see our show."

After the show, we went backstage and he said,

"Since you were so nice,

"I'd like to invite you to see our show."

I said, "What, then? What show have you got?"

You know, he said he was one of the producers of Hair.

‐(LAUGHS) ‐Can you believe that?

And we got in that day and we heard Aquarius.

Blew us out of our chairs.

McCOO: During the intermission, we got together and said,

"We have to record that song. It's a hit, it's a hit."

So we called Bones Howe, our producer,

and he said, "I've got an idea. We'll take Aquarius

"and we'll put it together with Let The Sunshine In."

(SINGING) Aquarius

DAVIS JR.: That was the biggest record of 1969.

Let the sunshine

Let the sunshine in

The sunshine in

Let the sunshine

‐Let it shine, come on ‐Let the sunshine in

The sunshine in

‐Sing along ‐Let the sunshine

‐Let it shine ‐Let the sunshine in

‐Open up your heart ‐The sunshine in

When you feel like you've been mistreated

Let the sunshine

McCOO: Billy laid all those wonderful gospel licks

in his ad libs.

Our producer said, "Okay, Billy, take it to church."

‐Yeah. ‐And Billy knew exactly what to do

because Billy sang gospel in his teen years.

You know, the 5th Dimension, we travel all over the world

and our main purpose for travelin'

is just to bring and spread a little love.

Ain't nothing wrong with that, is there? Talk to me!

McCOO: We were constantly being attacked

because we weren't quote‐unquote "Black enough."

Sometimes we were called "the Black group with the white sound."

We didn't like that.

We happened to be artists who are Black

and our voices sound the way they sound. And how do you color...

That used to be one of our questions.

How do you color a sound?

That was one of the reasons why performing in Harlem

‐was so important to us... ‐DAVIS JR.: Mmm‐hmm.

...because we wanted our people

‐to know what we were about. ‐Mmm‐hmm.

And we were hoping that they would receive us.

(SINGING) Come on and let

Let it shine

(VOCALIZING)

Hey! Come on and let

(CROWD CHEERING)

‐We were so happy to be there. ‐Yeah.

(CROWD CONTINUES CHEERING)

I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave her.

(LAUGHING) Let's just be clear.

DAVIS JR.: After the show, these kids came backstage,

and it was so unexpected.

It was my cousins.

It was Ruth, Sheryl, and Maurice.

And I'm saying to them, "What are you guys doin' here?"

And they said, "Well, we're singin' with the Edwin Hawkins Singers."

Which was on the festival

‐that year. ‐McCOO: That day.

DAVIS JR.: And Edwin Hawkins was hot, you know.

‐McCOO: Oh Happy Day. ‐Oh Happy Day.

Everybody was singin' that.

(SINGING) Oh happy day

‐Oh happy day ‐Oh happy day

‐When Jesus washed ‐When Jesus washed

‐When he washed ‐When Jesus washed

‐When Jesus washed ‐When Jesus washed

‐He washed all my sins away ‐Oh happy day

‐Oh that's a happy day ‐Oh happy day

CHORUS: He taught me how

He taught me how, yeah

‐To watch, fight, and pray ‐Oh, oh, yeah

I know, good God, oh, yes

Fight and pray

‐Oh happy day, ooh, yeah ‐Oh happy day

‐Oh happy day ‐Oh happy day

‐Oh a happy day ‐Oh happy day

‐Can I get to heaven, my Lord? ‐Oh happy day

I'm gonna spread the news, yeah

Oh happy day

People tell me that the streets

It's amazing.

Streets are paved with gold, yeah

Oh happy day

KRYOR: Looking at all the people on the stage.

My first reaction was, "My God."

DOROTHY: (SINGING) They tell me you got that in heaven, my Lord

CHORUS: Oh happy day

They tell me you got that in heaven, my Lord

KRYOR: The Edwin Hawkins Singers were from all over the Bay Area.

San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley area.

Edwin was minister of music at our church,

the Ephesian Church of God in Christ.

Walter Hawkins is Edwin's baby brother.

Both of those guys,

very consecrated young men. They loved the Lord.

Edwin would put our choir on a fast.

We would fast and pray.

(SINGING) I'm gonna spread the news, yeah

CHORUS: Oh happy day

I'm gonna walk around

‐My Lord ‐Oh happy day

KRYOR: When Oh Happy Day was recorded,

San Francisco DJs heard the song

and put it on rotation until it made it number one.

The Ed Hawkins Singers from KDIA

held on to the number‐one spot for four consecutive weeks.

INTERVIEWER: Ed, what effect has all this

sudden fame and fortune had on the choir and yourself?

It's a lot of excitement going on

and I'm very happy about it.

KRYOR: We started ministering in clubs

and ministering with secular artists on stages like Harlem.

‐Happy day ‐Oh happy day

‐When Jesus washed ‐When Jesus washed

‐I'm so glad that he washed ‐When Jesus washed

‐I said the Lord washed ‐When Jesus washed

He washed all my sins away

KRYOR: But when Oh Happy Day broke,

the church was upset about it.

We were part of the Pentecostal movement.

You didn't drink. You didn't dance.

You didn't go to clubs, so we were persecuted.

It was very humiliating. Mmm‐hmm.

But we felt like the world needed Oh Happy Day.

HAWKINS: With the situation of the world today,

a lot of people don't believe in God anymore.

They don't go to church. Especially our youth.

It's really messed up, confused,

they don't know who to turn to, which way to go,

so they're trying this and that

and they're not finding satisfaction.

And I feel with young people such as our group,

instead of us trying to take the gospel to them

by preaching to them,

take it to them in song, maybe,

with contemporary sounds,

new beats, new rhythms, something they can understand,

something they can feel and express themselves in.

We can show them that God yet lives.

Please, oh, Lord

‐Take me for your city ‐Oh happy day

‐And then you fill me ‐Oh happy day

‐Oh, yeah! ‐Oh happy day

‐Oh, yes it was ‐Oh happy day

(CROWD CHEERING)

LAWRENCE: Welcome to the gospel music day.

Gospel folks from all over the country are here today

to spread the spirit.

So, come on in here.

Get close to me so we can feel the spirit.

All right? All right? Okay.

All right, that's enough, that's enough.

All right, that's enough.

Let's calm it down now.

Look, let's take it down a little bit.

Direct from Chicago to the heart of Harlem,

Papa Staple and the Staple Singers.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGING) Sittin' around on a mourner's bench

I heard an old lady and an amen

Come again to pray

And she began to moan

(VOCALIZING)

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Oh, yes, sir

Then I went ahead and asked her

She was Emma Sue

Emma Sue

I've got to move

Oh, get out here

Oh, hear me sing, Lord No, I can't help myself

‐But you, Lord above ‐Yeah

‐Help me, Lord Jesus ‐Yeah

‐Give me more faith ‐Yeah

‐I need your power ‐Yeah

Help me to run this race

Help me, Jesus Help me, Jesus

Help me, Jesus Help me, Lord

MAVIS: When I looked out into the crowd,

I was overtaken with joy.

Help me, Jesus Help me, Jesus

MAVIS: I just saw so many Black people,

and they were rejoicing.

They were havin' a good time,

and I started celebratin' with them.

‐When Jesus helped me ‐Well, well

‐When Jesus helped me ‐Give us time to get some

‐When Jesus helped me ‐We forgive all day

‐When Jesus helped me ‐Believe

MAVIS: In 1969, we were singin' gospel,

but we would be invited to folk festivals,

jazz festivals, blues...

I told Pops, I said,

"Daddy, why these people invitin' us

"to blues festivals, but we don't sing no blues?"

He said, "Mavis, listen to our music.

"You will hear every kind of music in our songs."

(SINGING) Whoa, we are going to Heaven

Just say amen

Just say amen Just say amen

Just say amen Let me hear you sing it now

MAVIS: In fact, it was years before my sisters and I

knew Pops was playin' the blues on his guitar

while we were singin' gospel. (LAUGHING)

We said, "Daddy, you're playin' the blues."

He said, "That's the way I learned."

YOUNG MAVIS: (SINGING) Yeah, don't you need him now?

Yeah

MAVIS: Pops was born in Mississippi.

He came out of school in the eighth grade,

started working at Dockery's farm.

He didn't know music,

but he taught himself to play guitar.

The first guitar I bought, I paid five dollars for it.

‐INTERVIEWER: Five dollars. ‐Five dollars.

Where did you get the five dollars?

Picking cotton plants.

INTERVIEWER: Were you? And how much

did you make about a day?

‐I made three dollars a week. ‐Three dollars a week?

50 cents a day, 14 hours a day.

It wasn't easy. It was tough.

‐YOUNG MAVIS: Over here ‐Amen

‐Help you, yeah ‐Amen

‐Clap your hands over here ‐Amen

Let me hear you clap your hands

Well, now do you feel all right now?

MAVIS: When we first started singin',

people thought we were old people

'cause we were singin' these old songs

that Pops and his family used to sing in Mississippi.

‐Do you feel all right? ‐Amen

Do you feel all right?

GREG TATE: There's something very specific

about what happened in Black America

where I think the only place we could be fully expressive

was in music, was in these church rituals.

YOUNG MAVIS: (SINGING) Help me, Lord

TATE: Gospel was channeling the emotional core of Black people

who were insiders as Christian.

They experienced and redefined it for themselves

and that goes all the way back

to the first moments, probably,

of Black conversion to Christianity.

Come on and throw down Sing and shout

‐Nobody there to put me down ‐Holler

Look up there

‐In the heat of the day ‐Holler

Filled up my heart

‐Then began to say ‐Holler

TATE: There's this notion of spirit possession

that comes from Africa.

It's a part of seeking

a certain kind of release and catharsis.

‐(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ‐(ALL CHANTING)

TATE: This is an eruption of spirit

to arrive at an inner peace

through being completely expressively open.

(VOCALIZING)

(SINGING) Wrapped, tied Wrapped and tangled

I am wrapped and tangled

Wrapped, tied and tangled Wrapped, tied and tangled

Wrapped, tied and tangled Wrapped, tied and tangled

Wrapped, tied and tangled Wrapped, tied and tangled

‐Wrapped, tied and tangled ‐Are you wrapped

‐Wrapped, tied and tangled ‐Are you wrapped

‐Wrapped, tied and tangled ‐Are you wrapped

‐Wrapped, tied and tangled ‐Are you wrapped

‐Wrapped, tied and tangled ‐Are you wrapped

‐Wrapped, tied and tangled ‐Are you wrapped

‐Oh, yeah, wrapped over here ‐Wrapped, tied and tangled

SHARPTON: Gospel was more than religious.

Gospel was the therapy for the stress and pressure

of being Black in America.

We didn't go to a psychiatrist, we didn't go lay on a couch,

we didn't know anything about therapists,

but we knew Mahalia Jackson.

(SINGING) While I'm singin' I'm holy

Lord, search my heart

While I'm singin' I'm holy Lord, search my heart

While I'm singin' I'm holy Lord, search my heart

(SCATTING)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER‐GAULT: Gospel's part of our DNA.

It's deep in the recesses of my consciousness.

My grandfather was a minister.

My father was a chaplain in World War II,

the Korean War.

That religious consciousness

kept him and so many others going.

During the civil rights movement, the church provided sustenance for us,

helped us march on,

helped generations of people

confront some of the most vicious, violent acts.

They took the great Martin Luther King from us.

They took the great John Kennedy from us.

They took the great Bobby Kennedy,

but most of all from Harlem

‐they took Malcolm X from us! ‐(CROWD AGREEING)

Now listen! Now wait a minute!

God knows a whole lot of generations of Black folks here.

We're gonna make history right here with the Black and the white

and the Spanish and the Puerto Rican people

right here today.

We'd like to introduce Reverend Jesse Jackson

and Ben Branch and Operation Breadbasket band.

YOUNG JESSE JACKSON: Brothers and sisters here in Harlem,

I want us to prepare to bow our heads in prayer.

It does not really matter who your God is,

whether you call him Allah,

Zen Buddha, Jehovah, Elohim or Yahweh...

SHARPTON: Ben Branch was a saxophone player from Memphis.

When Reverend Jackson started the Operation Breadbasket rallies,

Ben put an orchestra together.

I was youth director of Operation Breadbasket

and we put pressure on the private sector

to contract Black businesses,

give us shelf space,

put Blacks on corporate boards,

or we would boycott and we would picket them.

And so today we will throw up around here justice pickets.

SHARPTON: Ben Branch was always revered

by the kids like me

because Doctor King's last words was to Ben.

YOUNG JESSE: We want sister Mahalia,

Mavis Staples

and all of our groups together

to prepare to do, as our prayer today...

Precious Lord.

MAVIS: Precious Lord, Take My Hand

was Doctor King's favorite song

and sister Mahalia Jackson was my idol.

She was my hero. I loved her so much.

This day, I sit right next to her

and when came time for her to sing,

she leaned over and told me, "Baby, Halie don't feel too good today.

"I need you to help me sing this song."

And I said, "Yes, ma'am, I'll help you."

Precious Lord is of course so meaningful to us

who was in Memphis on that fateful day.

JESSE: Memphis, Lorraine Motel.

April third, '68.

We stayed in the room all day long

playing, throwing pillows on the bed,

we were trying to relax.

We went to Mason Temple that night,

it was raining, lightning was flashing.

Doctor King gave the Mountaintop speech.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: And he's allowed me to go

up to the mountain.

And I've looked over

and I've seen the promised land.

YOUNG JESSE: He saw it!

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

JESSE: Next day was April fourth,

we were prepared to perform for Doctor King that night at the rally.

YOUNG JESSE: On that fateful day,

Ben Branch and I were walking together.

As we walked across the courtyard,

Doctor King came to the door full of glee and joy.

And then he said, "Jesse, it's time to eat."

He said, "Jesse, you don't even have a tie for dinner."

And he said to Ben,

"You should play my favorite song, My Precious Lord."

He raised up and pow!

YOUNG JESSE: Doctor King laid there with his spine severed

and his face blown off,

but he didn't die crying and die afraid.

He died asking the Lord to lead his hand,

to help him lead us, all of us.

MAVIS: I just wanted to shout.

And, Lord, standing there with sister Mahalia Jackson,

I got up and I started that song.

It was just an unreal moment for me.

YOUNG MAVIS: (SINGING) Precious Lord

(CROWD SHOUTING IN RESPONSE)

Take my hand

Lead me on

Yeah, oh, yeah

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, let me stand

I am tired

Yes, I am

I'm weak

Lord, yeah, Lord, yeah

I am worn, hey, yeah

But through

Through the storm

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Through the night

Lead

Lead me on

To the light

Take

Take my hand

Precious Lord

And lead, lead me home

(CROWD APPLAUDING)

When my way

Groweth drear

Precious Lord

Lord

I want you to linger near

Lord, you know, Lord

When my light

Is almost

Gone

Oh, Lord

You know, Lord

You know, Lord

And through the storm

(VOCALIZING)

Oh, I will stand

YOUNG MAVIS: Yeah!

‐Oh, light my feet ‐Light my feet

Whoa, yeah

‐Hold me, Lord ‐Hold

‐Hold me, Lord ‐Hold

‐I want you to hold me ‐Hold

‐Take me to you ‐Hold

‐Take me to you ‐Hold

‐Hold on to me ‐Hold

‐Hold on to me ‐Hold

I need ya

(VOCALIZING)

Precious Lord

Take

(VOCALIZING)

Oh, your child

Lead your child home

Home

Oh, yeah

(CROWD CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)

MAVIS: Man, I'm tellin' you, that was the time of my life.

When she gave me that microphone back,

I said, "Oh, she likes what I'm doin'." (CHUCKLES)

And I was honored.

I'm tellin' you, that is still my biggest honor

to be able to sing on the same microphone

with sister Mahalia Jackson.

She remains the greatest.

And when you talk about music,

this Black festival is some of every kind,

is some of every style.

Jazz, blues, gospel, all of it is good.

All of it makes you feel good.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

LAWRENCE: Ladies and gentlemen,

that was only the first 15 minutes

of Black history going on here in Harlem.

LEWIS: The festival was such a cross‐section

of the music that was happening at the time.

LAWRENCE: We got a few surprises comin' up here.

People that you didn't even know thought about what it's all about.

Some people came

because they were truly into the music.

Some came for one act.

LAWRENCE: And now, ladies and gentlemen,

Motown moves to Soulville

here in Harlem in Mount Morris Park.

LEWIS: My group of friends loved Motown.

One of the greatest song stylists of our time.

He's a superstar.

He's tall, dark, handsome...

(CROWD CHEERING)

David Ruffin!

(CROWD CHEERING)

I'd like to go back to the olden days, huh?

To the thing I have for you. Simply goes like this...

(SINGING) I've got sunshine, whoo...

On a cloudy day

Whenever it's cold outside

I've got the month of May

Can I get you to sing along with me one time?

Well, I guess

‐AUDIENCE: I guess you'd say ‐I can't hear you.

What can make me feel this way

RUFFIN: It's my girl

Talking about my girl, yeah

I've got so much honey

The bees envy me Yes, darlin'

And I've got a sweeter song

Than any bird in any tree

How you doing, brother? Whoo!

Well, I guess you would say

What pretty new girl could

Make a man like me feel this way?

It's my girl, whoa, baby

Talkin' about nobody but my girl

(VOCALIZING)

LEWIS: David had just left the Temptations.

(SINGING) Hey, hey‐hey‐hey

LEWIS: The Temptations were my guys.

I wanna hear you sing!

My friends and I, we were suit‐and‐tie guys.

We thought we were the backups.

We couldn't sing, we couldn't do anything,

but we thought we could dance, we had all the moves down.

I've got all the riches, baby One sweet man can claim

I love you, too, darling.

TATE: At the time, Motown was still one of

the most popular sounds in America.

Berry Gordy and his team of Black showbiz professionals

created a whole assembly line to make 'hood R and B palatable

to the Wonder Bread mainstream white America.

EWART ABNER: To put on wax Black people

so that we can widen the distribution of the Black ideas.

(SINGING) I've got sunshine on a cloudy day

HUNTER‐GAULT: Those artists, they were role models...

these were our people

creating things that made us feel good about ourselves.

And to see them break through, we were so proud.

My girl

(VOCALIZING)

I love to talk about my girl, yeah

(CROWD CHEERING)

LAWRENCE: Now, ladies and gentlemen,

we're gonna bring up some folks...

GLADYS KNIGHT: I was nervous.

We were so excited about being there,

we'd join our hands

and say prayers before we went on stage.

Gladys Knight.

(CROWD CHEERING)

KNIGHT: Now, when I stepped on stage,

I was totally, totally taken aback

because I didn't expect a crowd like that.

LAWRENCE: And the Pips!

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGING) Oh, I bet you're wonderin' how I knew

Baby, baby, baby

'Bout your plan to make me blue

With some other girl you knew before

Between the two of us girls Ya know I love you more

It took me by surprise, I must say

When I found out yesterday

Don't ya know that I heard it through the grapevine

Whoa, I heard it through the grapevine

Not much longer would you be mine

THE PIPS: Not much longer would you be mine

Oh, don't ya know that I heard it

Through the grapevine

Whoa, I heard it through the grapevine

And I'm just about, just about

Just about to lose my mind

Whoa, yes I am

Whoa, yes I am Whoa, yes I am

Baby what you doin' to me

Oh, take a good look

At these tears in my eyes

Baby, baby, these tears I can't hold on inside

Losin' you would end my life, you see

Because you mean that much to me

You could've told me yourself

That you were lovin' somebody else

Instead I heard it through the grapevine

Whoa, I heard it through the grapevine

Oh, not much longer would you be mine

DORINDA: Gladys Knight was everything to us.

She was the queen of soul.

She gave it to us good, and the Pips were workin'.

About to lose my mind Whoa, yes, I am

Whoa, yes, I am Whoa, yes, I am

(VOCALIZING)

I know you hear me, boy

KNIGHT: At that time, we were up and coming,

believe it or not. (LAUGHS)

I was very young.

Motown was like our family.

In the beginning, we all lived in the same neighborhood.

Holland‐Dozier lived on the corner,

we lived right here,

Martha and the Vandellas lived right there,

the Temptations lived right behind us.

We were all together.

Cholly Atkins was our number‐one guy.

He was the one that taught us the routines.

We worked, we worked...

we'd go in his basement at 7:00 a. m. in the morning.

He kept us there until five or six o'clock in the evening

and if you weren't doing his stuff right...

(LAUGHS)

He was a father to us as well as a choreographer.

America had started to listen to this music

and it took us to a totally different level

and from there, we went around the world.

(SINGING) Now bring it on down

Yes, I heard Oh, yes, I did

Yes, I heard, oh

You know, it's strange

But the same thing happened to my three guys

‐Hey, fellas ‐Hey!

Come on and tell 'em

Just how you found out about it

Oh, I heard through the grapevine

Oh, I heard through the grapevine

And I heard, heard, heard, heard, heard it

Through the grapevine

And I heard, heard, heard, heard, heard it

Through the grapevine

Yes, I heard Oh, yes, I did

Yes, I heard

KNIGHT: Motown was very interested

in us keeping our integrity.

Having class, being polite.

YOUNG KNIGHT: (SINGING) Hey, hey, hey

I heard it through the grapevine

But I knew something very, very important

was happening in Harlem that day.

(SINGING) I heard it

It wasn't just about the music.

We wanted progress.

We are Black people,

and we should be proud of this.

And we want our people,

we want our people lifting us up.

LAWRENCE: Gladys Knight and the Pips.

(CROWD CHEERING)

We believed in what we felt in here.

So, when we went out, "Let's go! Let's go do it!"

(CROWD CONTINUES CHEERING)

TATE: At the Harlem Cultural Festival,

you got a audience that's showing up who's radicalized.

There's just this embrace of neo‐super Blackness.

That generation had evolved

and Black music was moving into this rapidly changing era

of psychedelicized R and B.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the internationally known,

the dynamic...

Sly and the Family Stone.

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEWIS: When you saw a Black group,

what you expected to see was, generally speaking, all men,

all dressed in matching suits,

ready even before they hit the stage to perform.

He introduced Sly

and the first thing that happens to the audience

is the feeling of apprehension

because just because they introduced Sly

doesn't mean he's there. (LAUGHS)

It also doesn't mean he's coming out immediately.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we're gonna have to stop the show if you keep on pushing.

We're gonna have to stop the show right here.

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEWIS: So, the group would kind of saunter out.

GREG ERRICO: I remember it being a beautiful, sunny day.

We hit the stage late

and I remember, "Jeez, there's a big crowd here"

and this was Harlem.

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEWIS: The instruments weren't tuned.

You're wondering, "What are they doing with girls in the group?

"What is white people doing up there?"

We started tuning up, you know, bam!

Hit the snare, kicks, that's good.

Almost like a loose tuning jam.

LEWIS: And a white guy is the drummer?

We couldn't get this thing,

that the white guy is the drummer.

You know, he's not supposed to be able to do that.

ERRICO: They came to check us out.

You know, "What you got?"

And probably Jerry and I were the only two white people there.

As soon as everything was kicking, it was on.

SLY: (SINGING) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm talkin', talkin', talkin', talkin'

Walkin', walkin', walkin', walkin'

I'm livin', livin', livin', livin', hey

Time is passin', I grow older Things are happenin' fast

All I have to hold on to Is a simple song at last

Let me hear you say

Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya

Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya

Sing a simple song

Try a little do re mi fa so la ti do

TATE: Sly and the Family Stone was such a game changer

on so many levels.

They are kind of our first two‐tone soul group.

They were bringing gender parity into the presentation.

(SINGING) Everybody sing together

BLAND‐ACOSTA: To see a Black woman playin' a trumpet made me feel great.

(SINGING) Ya, ya, ya, ya Sing it in the shower, ya

TATE: Sly came up in the church,

so he's got all that vernacular.

He used to be a DJ

in the middle of the Haight‐Ashbury revolution,

so he's coming from the epicenter

of transformative cool,

transformative hip, politically savvy America.

He's a conservatory student and a multi‐instrumentalist,

so there's the proto‐Prince factor going on.

Sly wanted to address everybody and everything.

Music was the common denominator.

And music made you want to challenge social aspects

that needed to be challenged.

Everybody do their thing, and that's what we did.

(SINGING) You're in trouble when you find

It's hard for you to smile

A simple song might make it better

For a little while, hey

(CROWD CHEERING)

TATE: This is clearly a band with an evangelical sense

of their church of psychedelic soul.

It's the ministry of fun.

BLAND‐ACOSTA: My friend Ethel Beatty,

we loved Sly and the Family Stone.

We loved them.

BEATTY‐BARNES: We said, "Listen, we can't let this pass up."

But I could not say

that we were going to see a concert to my mother.

We had to connive.

Maybe I told a fib.

I said I was going to visit my aunt.

We said we were going shopping.

(SINGING) I am everyday people

BEATTY‐BARNES: We walked to the park.

(SINGING) I am everyday people

BEATTY‐BARNES: And we ended up on the front row.

BLAND‐ACOSTA: The energy was indescribable.

More than excitement.

(SINGING) Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong

My own beliefs are in my song

The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then

Makes no difference what group I'm in

I am everyday people Yeah, yeah

There is a blue one who can't accept

The green one for living with

A fat one tryin' to be a skinny one

Different strokes for different folks

And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby

We got to live together

I am no better and neither are you

We all the same, whatever we do

You love me, you hate me You know me and then

You can't figure out the bag I'm in

I am everyday people

Yeah, yeah, yeah

There is a longhair

That doesn't like the shorthair

For being such a rich one

That will not help the poor one

Different strokes for different folks

And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby

We got to live together

There is a yellow one that can't

Accept the black one

That won't accept the red one

That won't accept the white one

Different strokes for different folks

And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo

I am everyday people

LEWIS: As I said, my group of four guys,

we were suit‐and‐tie guys.

Then we saw Sly, and we were no longer suit‐and‐tie guys.

I am everyday people

LEWIS: The change was in effect.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGING) Watermelon man

Watermelon man

LEWIS: When you looked at the audience,

you could see the change in the scene

as it was happening.

There would still be people

in silk and wool and sharkskin,

but you would see the bell‐bottoms,

the cut‐off shirts.

BEATTY‐BARNES: You saw platform shoes, hip‐huggers,

men wearing no shirt and leather vests.

It was hip, you know. It was real hip.

McFARLAND: At that time, Harlem was a melting pot

of Black style.

When we got into the late '60s,

there was a new movement.

Afrocentric.

It's a revolution, style revolution,

cultural revolution.

We found that the African styles just suit us better.

MUSA: I could remember dashikis.

Everybody had a dashiki. I think I had a dashiki.

MAN: Now, the dashiki is an adaptation

of an African piece.

What we mean when we say dashiki, is freedom.

So it's a freedom suit. I can move in any direction.

I never am attacked.

LEWIS: The hair was the biggest change.

McFARLAND: Afros.

My generation say it looks nice.

The older generation thinks it's ridiculous.

MAVIS: The three of us, me, Yvonne and Cleety,

we all had our natural 'dos,

we couldn't wait to get our hair nappy.

Black people who, unfortunately,

was born in this country

are trying to establish our identity.

This is just about all we have left to identify ourselves as.

McFARLAND: That festival brought in

the different cultures.

Caribbean, Afrocentric, all the Latin and Cuban.

LIN‐MANUEL MIRANDA: Mongo Santamaria at this festival,

at this time in Harlem in the '60s

is the nexus of the Black and brown communities

that make up Uptown New York.

(SINGING) Watermelon man

LIN‐MANUEL: His first hit, Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man,

is where Cuban music meets jazz.

The festival, it's a political statement

of Black and brown communities.

(CROWD CHEERING)

LAWRENCE: Ladies and gentlemen,

we bring you Harlem's very own,

the young man who put the soul

into the Latin music, Ray Barretto.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGING IN SPANISH)

LUIS: A New Yorican,

it's a New Yorker with Puerto Rican roots.

Ray Barretto, in particular, was a New Yorican.

He's a Puerto Rican New Yorker,

born here, raised here in Harlem.

He's the original New Yorican. (CHUCKLES)

But has an unbelievable impact on Puerto Rican music.

DENISE OLIVER‐VELEZ: East Harlem, or Spanish Harlem,

was not just Puerto Ricans.

You had Jamaicans, you had African‐American,

Cuban, Black Panamanian,

and they brought with them

Afro‐Cuban, Afro‐Puerto Rican music.

(MAN WHISTLING)

In '69, I lived in El Barrio, East Harlem.

There was music coming off of every fire escape,

out of every social club.

You hear the sound of drumming.

They have roosters crowing,

guys that would sit out playing dominoes.

We all hung out together,

we danced together, we partied together.

We were speaking a universal language, the drum.

(DRUM CONTINUES BEATING)

SHEILA E.: It goes back to making the drum

speak to people.

The different rhythms that each person has in the band,

some of it's up, some of it's down,

but it goes like this.

It comes together

and it forms a bond and a conversation.

And that conversation reads out to the audience

and now they're listening

'cause they understand what you're saying.

I got to perform with Ray early on in my teens

and I learned a lot by watching him.

Ray's playing, it's all in the wrist, and that's what I learned.

That's how I play. More with the wrist.

Mongo's different from Ray Barretto.

He's not just using the tips.

He's using his entire hand to play and all of his arm.

And the power.

If you ever shook his hand,

all of his fingers would almost be the same size.

They were swollen like a club from playing.

‐(WHOOPS) ‐Those artists crossed genres.

They're trying to reunite people with music.

Bringing people together, that's what it's about.

BARRETTO: (SINGING) Now, I know a beautiful truth.

I know that in my blood,

I got Black and white,

red, Puerto Rican, Indian.

I'm all messed up, but I got soul, I know it.

And so, in every face, in every face I see...

I see a part of you and you and you and me...

(SINGING) Together

The power of music is to tell our own stories.

We hold a mirror to ourselves.

We write the music that comes from inside us.

And other people say, "That's me, too."

BARRETTO: (SINGING) I said, everybody get together

Got to do it all if we gonna live

not on the moon, right here on Earth, baby.

We got to do it all together before it's too goddamn late.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING)

EDWIN E. ALDRIN: (ON RADIO) Go for landing.

ENGINEER: We're a go. Same type. We're a go.

POPS: Come on now, let's go to sing out.

ALDRIN: Okay, 75 feet.

POPS: Yeah!

ALDRIN: There's looking good.

ENGINEER: 60 seconds. ALDRIN: Lights on.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: (SINGING) Some are pushin' hard

ALDRIN: Drifting to the right a little.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: Some are holdin' back

ALDRIN: Kickin' up some dust.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: You know it's a shame

ENGINEER: 30 seconds.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: The way some people act

ALDRIN: Three feet and two and a half down.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: The president said

ALDRIN: Okay, engine stop.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: That we would overcome

NEIL ARMSTRONG: (ON RADIO) Tranquility Base here.

(SINGING) We gotta keep pushin' a whole lot

ARMSTRONG: The Eagle has landed.

(SINGING) Till the work is done

Man on the moon. Oh, boy, boy.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: It's been a change

It's been a change

This whole world

‐Has been a change ‐POPS: Danger!

LEWIS: Sunday, July 20th, 1969,

during the Harlem Cultural Festival,

man landed on the moon.

Hooray.

(SINGING) Things have been

It's a great thing for this country.

Won't be no more

I can't believe that that just happened.

It may be late

It was terrific.

Or it may be soon

It's a great technological achievement.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: One of these days

It's really unbelievable.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: There'll be a man on the moon

I'm very emotional.

I just hope they make it back.

I felt the world got closer today.

I felt we all got to know each other that much more.

This whole world has made a change

CRONKITE: Well, there was a large crowd

gathered in Harlem this afternoon.

For some of the reaction there, correspondent Bill Plante.

PLANTE: There are 40,000, perhaps 50,000 people

at Mount Morris Park in Harlem,

but they are not here watching the moon landing.

They are here at the soul festival,

part of the third annual Harlem Cultural Festival.

And for many of them,

this is far more relevant than the mission of Apollo 11.

What's your feeling now that the astronauts

have landed safely on the moon?

I think it's very important,

but I don't think it's any more relevant than, you know,

the Harlem Cultural Festival here.

I think it's equal.

PLANTE: What are your thoughts?

As far as science goes

and everybody that's involved

with the moon landing and astronauts,

it's beautiful, you know. Like me, I couldn't care less.

This means more to you than that.

Yeah, much more.

The cash they wasted, as far as I'm concerned,

in getting to the moon could have been used

to feed poor Black people in Harlem

and all over the place. All over this country.

So, like, you know, like, never mind the moon,

let's get some of that cash in Harlem.

There's been a change and you might be

the president of the United States one day.

Listen, all of you young people, this is your verse.

(SINGING) You young people

I think it's a waste of money.

Stay in school

People are going hungry all over the United States.

Study hard

Let's do something about poverty now.

And obey the rules

Straightening out our problems.

You may be young

There's so many people...

And you may be able

...who need help.

Haven't got an education

What's up there on the moon? Nothing.

Can't get common labor

It's groovy for certain people

but not for the Black man in America.

It's been a change

Well, here's the way I look at it. Like that.

Black man wants to go to Africa, white man's going to the moon.

I'm gonna stay in Harlem with the Puerto Ricans

and have me some fun.

I had a dream last night, and in it, I went to the moon.

‐You went to the moon? ‐Yeah.

Did you go up in the Apollo?

‐No, I went up in an Edsel. ‐(CROWD LAUGHING)

Well, look, tell me more about that.

What happened?

‐Did you plant the flag? ‐No.

‐You didn't plant a flag? ‐No, man.

‐What did you do? ‐Planted a sign.

‐What did the sign say? ‐"For sale. Cheap."

(CROWD LAUGHING)

A man done gone to the moon.

(CROWD CLAMORING)

I went as far as Baltimore with them, then I got off.

(CROWD LAUGHING)

PARRIS: In Harlem, people, they're not focusing on the moon,

they're dealing with the everyday realities.

'69 was a tough time for Harlem

because of the heroin epidemic.

REPORTER: What do you think is the most pressing issue for Black folk?

MAN: The number‐one thing

is the narcotics addiction in this area.

I would say the drugs, at this point.

NEWS REPORTER: What do you think is the cause

for this influx of drug use in the Black communities?

One of the reasons is because of the great oppression

which white racists, you know, places on the Black community.

And this is one way of alleviating the pain.

I was addicted for 16 years.

I lost my job,

I lost my family, my wife kicked me out.

(SIREN BLARING)

Bad things were happening to Harlem.

Businesses were closin', lot of people leavin',

the buildings became abandoned.

YOUNG JESSE: We are living in economic colonialism

based on money,

where the greedy are exploiting the needy.

Where we are more concerned about the moon than men.

‐Somebody better wake up. ‐(CROWD CHEERING)

TV HOST 2: This is a country with a gross national product

of nearly a trillion dollars.

The money is here.

Any country that can fight an unpopular war,

spend more money on weapons than any other single item,

and send men to the moon,

baby, that country has really got the bread.

But what the moon shot proves again

is that what America hasn't got is soul.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGING) Funky, funky, funky, funky

Let's get funky

Your precious sweetheart

She's so faithful

She's so true, whoa, yeah

Her dreams are tumblin' Her world is crumblin'

Because of you

(VOCALIZING)

One day you'll hurt her Just once too much

And when you finally lose your tender touch

Oh, oh, shoo‐be‐doo‐be‐doo‐be‐ doo‐da‐day

Her feet may wander Her heart may stray

Oh, yeah

Shoo‐be‐doo‐be‐doo‐be‐ doo‐na‐nee

You're gonna send your baby straight to me

I'm gonna give her all the lovin'

Within my heart, oh, yeah

I'm gonna patch up every single little dream

You tore apart

WONDER: I felt very honored to be there.

I could feel the energy of so many people.

I was 19. I was at a crossroad.

Obviously, I had some success.

We had done For Once in My Life,

I Was Made to Love Her, and Up‐Tight,

and many songs.

(VOCALIZING)

But I had the feeling

the world was wanting a change.

We were moving into a whole 'nother time and space

with music and with sound.

(SINGING) Yeah

You better listen to me Yeah, yeah

Heartaches are callin' Tears are fallin' over you

(VOCALIZES)

And when you're gone

I'm the one to go to her rescue

Understand me

You're gonna leave her One too many times

And when you come back She's gonna be mine, all mine

CHRIS ROCK: In '69, Stevie's bordering on,

is he gonna be like the Temptations,

singing his '60s hits for the rest of his life,

or is he gonna have this breakthrough?

It would have been very easy to sit where he was.

To be that famous and not lazy, is amazing.

WONDER: I enjoyed doing those songs,

but there was this thing in my heart that said,

"Okay, there is so much more that you're writing."

Where was this going to lead me, what was my motivation?

(CONTINUES PLAYING KEYBOARD)

People would say to me,

"Hey, you shouldn't say this, you shouldn't talk about that,

"you're gonna mess your career up,

"you're gonna mess your records up."

In my mind, I said,

"I don't give a four‐letter word."

I never wanted to let fear put my dreams to sleep.

Hey, whoo!

NEWS REPORTER 2: Stevie is getting into

political involvement.

I'm definitely for it.

I'm for people registering and voting.

I want people to start doing things.

Action is important, gaining power.

We know we've got the soul power.

I would like to raise money.

We've got forty million starving people.

We are dealing with joblessness.

YOUNG WONDER: Racism is in this country.

We're dealing with homelessness.

NEWS REPORTER 3: Stevie was performing

for over 10,000 people.

YOUNG WONDER: To demand Doctor Martin Luther King's

birthday become a national holiday.

YOUNG JESSE: If something new doesn't happen now...

We are not African, we are not European,

we are a new people. We are a beautiful people.

I had pride in the fact that I was a Black man.

‐I am Black. ‐CROWD: I am Black.

‐I am beautiful. ‐CROWD: I am beautiful.

I am proud.

SHARPTON: '69 was the pivotal year

where the Negro died and Black was born.

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEWIS: It was a significant change

calling yourself Black.

In the early '60s,

if you called someone Black,

it meant you wanted to fight them.

'Cause no one wanted to hear that mess.

Why do we think of Black as bad and white as good?

White symbolizes purity, honesty, innocence.

Black represents evil, wickedness, and gloom.

Whites gave "Black" its negative meaning.

HUNTER‐GAULT: In 1969, I was working at The New York Times,

and I spent a lot of time in Harlem.

And for the first time, I wrote "Black"

instead of "Negro" in a story

because I listened to the community.

I listened to the people

who were calling for the change.

But some white editor

changed my wording from "Black" back to "Negro."

I was so upset.

I dictated an 11‐page memo calling for the change.

And the editor, Abe Rosenthal, said,

"Fine, that's what we're gonna do."

From that point on, at The New York Times,

people of color, this color, were referred to as Black.

MAVIS: We were Black and we were proud.

When we started singin' freedom songs, message songs,

the Black Panthers, Fred Hampton,

Stokely and his boys would come hear us sing.

And they would let my sister Yvonne and I know,

"We're watching y'all, ain't nobody gonna mess with y'all."

Black militancy and its accent on Black pride

is having a growing effect across the country.

1969, I was droppin' out of college to make a revolution.

The people have the power to force

some kind of justice being done in society

because only when the power is in the hands of the people

is anything gonna get done.

OLIVER‐VELEZ: When we kicked off the Young Lords Party in New York.

NEWS REPORTER 4: Tactics have included a garbage blockade,

the occupation of a neighborhood church.

They also occupied, for a time,

part of a hospital.

We're fighting for our own people, Puerto Ricans,

but it's a fight that's in the interest of Black people,

of poor white people in this country,

the Asian‐Americans.

OLIVER‐VELEZ: We were in complete harmony

with the Black Panthers.

BULLWHIP: We were tired of what was happenin'.

The police runnin' amok,

beatin' up on all kinds of people.

Young men is killed by the police.

TEACHER: Who is this? CHILDREN: Huey P. Newton.

And where is Huey?

CHILDREN: In jail.

Who put him there?

CHILDREN: The pigs.

BULLWHIP: At the same time as the festival,

the Panther 21 trial was happening downtown.

I want everybody in Harlem to get this record down.

We got some brothers that are political prisoners.

21 Panthers locked up here in New York.

OLIVER‐VELEZ: As activists,

we were making a complete and total commitment.

It was like going to war,

and we were propelled on a wave of music.

(MUSIC INTENSIFYING)

TATE: With Black musical expression,

there's a certain kind of release and catharsis.

There's also rage, there's also trauma.

This notion of spirit possession from Africa

gets translated into this horrific American experience.

(MUSIC DISTORTING)

The artists connect with the pain.

It's like, yeah, I want you to feel.

I want you to feel

who Sonny Sharrock really is right now.

There is a primal, therapeutic aspect to it.

They call it "freedom music"

because it's what freedom feels like.

PARRIS: These musicians were expressing musically

what we were thinking and feeling

politically and culturally.

RAOUL ROACH: When my dad put out a song called It's Time,

he was not trying to be slick and have a message.

No, that is the message.

It's our time, it's time, do it now.

We want liberation.

He wanted to make change.

MAX ROACH: An important step for the Black artist to take

is to engage ourselves in ownership

of not only artistic properties,

but physical properties.

The theaters, the clubs, the record companies.

RAOUL: But his record company

was not interested in politics.

It's like what they say to the basketball players today,

"Just play basketball."

Well, they were saying, "Just play drums."

PARRIS: I was coming to hear Max and Abbey.

They were like our power couple,

but Black power.

(SINGING) I traveled here and yonder

I never found a home

I guess it must be written All my life to roam

They were so beautiful, and young and dynamic.

There's a land of milk and honey

On the river they call the Nile

RAOUL: You know this phrase "unapologetically Black"?

They lived that phrase every day.

The African woman always worked

to bring home the bread.

You do whatever is necessary.

Oh, beautiful, wonderful Africa

Someday I'm coming

I'm coming for to see the promised land

I'll stop in

RAOUL: My dad and Abbey just didn't see

the civil rights struggle as an American thing.

They saw the struggles in the Caribbean

and South America and in Africa

all as part of a common struggle.

TV HOST: South Africa.

The problems that face Black people everywhere

are essentially the same,

oppressed by racist institutions created by whites.

You guys can use certain kinds of support.

We do have to launch an armed struggle.

LAWRENCE: From the African continent to the heart of Harlem,

Hugh Masekela, doing his thing.

(SINGING IN SOUTHERN SOTHO)

OLIVER‐VELEZ: (IN ENGLISH) In Harlem,

we were being exposed to linkages

between Latinos, Blackness, Africa.

And Hugh Masekela brings that together.

(CONTINUES SINGING)

SELEMA MASEKELA: When my dad left South Africa,

it was during the height of apartheid,

and he's literally escaping apartheid.

(CONTINUES SINGING)

SELEMA: He comes to America

and lands straight into the hotbed of civil rights.

At the time, Grazing in the Grass

was one of the biggest songs on the planet.

My father realized there was this real hunger

for Black Americans to feel and see and taste

what it would be like to be African.

My father loved Harlem.

He always wanted to be within the people.

If it was poppin' off somewhere where people were

disenfranchised, disempowered, or needed support,

it was like a tractor beam for him.

Like, he had to go and be part of it.

(CROWD CHEERING)

HUGH MASEKELA: In general,

you'll find that musicians come from

the activist part of their populations,

and they come usually from the poor side of town

or represent the opinions of the people who are exploited.

NINA SIMONE: An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned,

is to reflect the times.

And at this crucial time in our lives,

when everything is so desperate,

when every day is a matter of survival,

I don't think you have a choice.

How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?

LAWRENCE: Ladies and gentlemen,

we would like to introduce a young lady

who tells the story about the troubles

and tribulations of the ghetto.

The new Black struggle, the first lady of soul,

Nina Simone.

(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)

We walked on water to see Nina Simone.

She looked like a African princess.

She would bang those piano keys.

Her fearlessness, and her control as a woman,

as a Black woman, was just awesome.

She was sending a message.

(SINGING) Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash

Who do you think I am?

You raise my taxes and freeze my wages

Send my only son to Vietnam

You give me second‐class houses

Second‐class schools

I know you think that all colored people

Are just second‐class fools

Mr. Backlash

I'm gonna leave you with the blues, yes, I am

Yes, I am Yes, I am

When I try to find a job

To earn a little cash

All you got to offer

Is your mean, old white backlash

But the world is big

Big and bright and round

It's full of other folks like me

Who are Black, yellow, beige and brown

Mr. Backlash

I'm gonna leave you with the blues, yes, I am

Yes, I am

Hey, now

Yeah

OLIVER‐VELEZ: Nina Simone was filtering

what was going on in this country

through her experience as a Black woman.

She knew what barriers she was breaking

and threw them back in people's faces.

(SINGING) When Langston Hughes died

He told me many years before

He said "Nina, keep on workin'

"Till they open up the door

"One of these days when they open the door

"And it's, you know it's open wide

"Make sure you sock it to 'em where they live

"So they'll have no place to hide"

So I'm tellin' you

Yeah, I got to do it in the hot sun

But, if necessary Got to do it

Yeah

Oh, God

I'm gonna leave you with the blues

Yes, I am Yeah

(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)

SIMONE: Hello, hello, hello.

Remember Lorraine Hansberry who wrote Raisin in the Sun?

‐Huh? ‐CROWD: Yeah!

Okay, there is an off‐Broadway show

going on downtown right now

called To Be Young, Gifted and Black.

Some of you have seen it.

It is not a musical, as you know,

but we have taken

Weldon Irvine, who is my musical director,

and I have taken the title and come up with a song,

To Be Young, Gifted and Black.

(SINGING) To be young, gifted and Black

Oh, what a lovely, precious dream

To be young, gifted and Black

Open your heart to what I mean

In the whole world you know

There's a million boys and girls

Who are young, gifted and Black

And that's a fact

HUNTER‐GAULT: Nina Simone gave us hope.

(SINGING) You are young, gifted and Black

We must begin to tell our young

"There's a world waiting for you.

"The quest has just begun."

(SINGING) There's a world waiting for you

Yours is the quest that's just begun

HUNTER‐GAULT: In 1961,

my high school classmate Hamilton Holmes and I

became the first two Black students to desegregate the University of Georgia.

I wanted to be a journalist

and it had a school of journalism.

REPORTER: What are your plans now

as far as this quarter is concerned?

I'll have to think it over.

HUNTER‐GAULT: Many white students didn't want us there.

REPORTER 2: Do you think there'd be any trouble

if a Negro entered the university?

Well, I do if they were gonna put her in the dormitories.

How do you yourself feel?

Well, I wouldn't myself like it.

HUNTER‐GAULT: The second or third night

I was on campus,

there was a riot.

SIMONE: (SINGING) Oh, how I long to know the truth

HUNTER‐GAULT: They put me in a dormitory

on the first floor.

All of the girls in my dorm

were housed on the second floor

and they used to take turns beating on the floor

'cause they knew exactly where my room was.

But I had Nina Simone's albums.

So, while the girls were upstairs beating on the floor,

trying to make me uncomfortable,

I was listening to Nina Simone

and just being very at peace.

SIMONE: (SINGING) To be young, gifted and Black

Is where it's at

Is where it's at

Is where it's at

(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)

SHARPTON: Nina Simone sung that in her tone

that is somewhere between hope and mourning.

I mean, nobody could capture both spirits like Nina.

It defined a whole generation

because you could hear in her voice

our pain, but our defiance.

SIMONE: Okay.

Okay. Hold it. Hold it. This is for you.

It is written by David Nelson. He's not here today.

There are three Black poets, or six, or maybe a hundred in this town.

But he's not here and I didn't memorize it enough

so I have to read it.

It's for you.

(SINGING) Are you ready, Black people?

CROWD: Yeah!

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

Are you really ready?

CROWD: Yeah!

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

Ready to do what is necessary?

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

SIMONE: Are you ready, Black man?

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

Black woman, are you ready?

‐Are you ready, ready, ready? ‐WOMEN: Yeah!

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

Hear me good now Hear me good now

Hear me good now

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

Are you ready to kill if necessary?

CROWD: Yeah!

Are you ready?

Is your mind ready?

CROWD: Yeah!

Is your body ready?

CROWD: Yeah!

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

Are you ready to smash white things?

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

CROWD: Yeah!

To burn buildings

‐Are you ready? ‐CROWD: Yeah.

On one side of 125th Street, an angry crowd of young people.

Across the street, plans for a state office building.

This whole section of town here will be destroyed

if a school don't go out there.

They got plenty land downtown to build a state building.

Why they come up here and pick Harlem,

where all the colored people and the Puerto Ricans are?

(SINGING) Black everybody

Are you really, really really ready?

(CROWD CHEERS)

SIMONE: Are you ready to listen

To all the beautiful Black voices?

The beautiful Black feeling?

The beautiful Black waves moving in beautiful air?

Are you ready to love Black?

Always loving Black?

Are you ready, Black people? Are you ready?

(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

SIMONE: Are you ready to change?

Into a groovy, groovy Black person?

Are you really ready to change yourself?

Turn yourself inside out Through and through

And make yourself a through and through

And through and through

And through and through and through

Real Black person?

I say, are you ready?

(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)

LAWRENCE: Ladies and gentlemen,

brothers and sisters,

Nina Simone.

BACKUP SINGERS: Are you ready?

PARRIS: That concert was like a rose comin' through cement.

It was a good thing for Harlem

because as much as Harlem has been maligned

over the years

for the crime and the drugs,

there was a bunch of folk,

law‐abiding, productive citizens,

never used drugs, went to work every day,

took care of business, very community‐oriented

and loved Harlem.

Loved where they lived, loved their community.

MUSA: It was like nothing I'd ever felt before in my life.

Before that, the world was like black and white.

The concert took my life into color.

(CROWD CHEERING)

But then, the festival was forgotten.

BEATTY‐BARNES: It did not register to me until we were leaving,

when we realized the magnitude of it.

But I never turned around and looked.

LEWIS: Even though the shows were recorded all summer,

it feels like it happened and then they threw it away.

TULCHIN: I shot the festival,

tried to sell it.

Woodstock was the same year,

and Woodstock got all of the publicity.

So, in selling it, I started to call it the Black Woodstock.

It didn't help.

Nobody was interested in a Black show.

Nobody.

Nobody cared about Harlem.

PARRIS: As we all know, this has happened to Black people.

A lot of our history is forgotten.

I mean, it's not like that festival is an anomaly.

OLIVER‐VELEZ: We hold these truths to be self‐evident

that Black history is gonna be erased.

WONDER: The so‐called powers that are or were

didn't find it significant enough

to keep it as a part of history.

Because it is a part of history.

MUSA: We were comin' together to say this was our world.

The Black world.

This is ours.

KNIGHT: We, as a people,

especially today,

need to feel like family.

Holdin' up for each other,

fighting for each other,

liftin' each other up.

SLY: We're gonna try to sing a song together if we can.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Now, the song is called Higher.

We'd like to ask everybody to join in.

Don't wait for approval from your neighbor

'cause your neighbor might be waiting for you.

Now, it goes like this.

(SINGING) Wanna take you higher

CROWD: Higher

SLY: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Higher CROWD: Higher

Higher, yeah, yeah

ROSE STONE: Hey, now

Hey Take you higher

Hey Hey, hey

‐Wanna take you higher ‐CROWD: Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐CROWD: Higher

FREDDIE STONE: Wanna take you higher

CROWD: Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐CROWD: Higher

FREDDIE: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

FREDDIE: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

FREDDIE: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

FREDDIE: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Higher CROWD: Higher

ROSE: Higher

Yeah

SLY: Feel it take over

FREDDIE: Feel it take over

‐Wanna take you higher ‐CROWD: Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐CROWD: Higher

SLY: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

SLY: Wanna take you higher CROWD: Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐Higher

‐(MUSIC STOPS) ‐Wanna take you higher

Higher

‐Wanna take you higher ‐Higher

Higher

Higher

Higher

LAWRENCE: Ladies and gentlemen, Sly and the Family Stone.

Yeah.

(CHOKING UP)

I'm sorry.

It's like...

You know, it's funny.

You put memories away,

and you don't realize...

Sometimes you don't even know if they're real. (LAUGHS)

So, it's almost confirmation that what I knew is real.

QUESTLOVE: Yeah, so, you know you're not crazy, like...

I'm not crazy! (LAUGHING)

Thank you!

QUESTLOVE: So, watching you watch this

is making me overwhelmed now.

I thought I was the only person that...

I knew I wasn't crazy, brother,

I knew I was not crazy.

But now I know I'm not.

And this is just confirmation.

And not only that...

how beautiful it was.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

LESTER CHAMBERS: (SINGING) Have a little faith

In the one you love, yeah

CHAMBERS BROTHERS: Have a little faith

In the one you love

LESTER: Nights are cold

And the days are so long, yeah

BROTHERS: Yeah

LESTER: And though I thought I had a little woman

That I could call my very own, yeah

But some of her friends

Told her bad things about me, yeah

And I tried to tell that little woman

To believe in me

I told her, have a little faith

ALL: In the one you love

LESTER: Keep the faith, baby

BROTHERS: Have a little faith

In the one you love

LESTER: You know I went to her house

On a Sunday afternoon, yeah

I took one look in that woman's face

And don't you know Everything was gloom

BROTHERS: Yeah

LESTER: She said she had a call

From someone she knew, hey

They told her bad things about me

Things I knew just couldn't be true

I told her to have a little faith

Oh, Lord

BROTHERS: In the one you love

LESTER: Keep the faith Keep the faith

ALL: Have a little faith

In the one you love

LESTER: Oh, Lord

I don't ever wanna see A tear fallin' from your eyes

Honey, I love ya and you know I need ya

I want you always here by my side

Oh, Lord

Say it again Oh, Lord

BROTHERS: Have a little faith

In the one you love

Have a little faith

In the one you love

LESTER: Say it again

BROTHERS: Have a little faith

In the one you love

LESTER: Say it again

ALL: Have a little faith

In the one you love

(MUSIC ENDS)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CROWD MURMURING INDISTINCTLY)

(SHUSHING)

Y'all be cool for a minute.

Hey.

What are you doing?

(SHUSHES) Fellas, silence.

You done?

Hey, dig.

Stevie, I mean, the rain on my clothes is bad enough,

but you got your hands on my clothes, you dig it?

(CROWD EXCLAIMING)

Why you gotta cross me in front of these people?

Hey, man, take your hands off my clothes.

Aw.

MAN: Man, take your hands off 'em.

What you mean, your clothes? I bought 'em.

(CROWD EXCLAIMING)

MAN: You ain't bought 'em.

I'm goin' now.