With the death of Soul Train founder Don Cornelius at the very beginning of the month, and that of Whitney Houston on February 11, Black History Month 2012 is fated to go down in history as one during which the world lost two of its greatest champions of African-American music.
Moreover, since almost two weeks still remain in the month, one presents such a statement with noted caution. Yet, as the world community and the good people of Newark, New Jersey, bid farewell to the elegant Whitney Elizabeth Houston, it seems appropriate to pause a moment and give some consideration to things of an elevated nature. To repeat myself from another occasion: Sometimes an angel gets in my head and refuses to leave until I write down whatever it says. It felt that way when Michael Jackson passed in 2009 and it feels like that now.
Deeper Inspired Meanings
The elegy below comprises a principle part of this commentary but to it should be added this: much has been rightfully said about the quality of Houston’s powerful voice but too little perhaps about how masterfully she employed it as a musical artist. From her gospel-singing mother Cissy Houston, her legendary pop-diva cousin Dionne Warwick, and her Queen of Soul godmother Aretha Franklin, she inherited gifts for skillfully interpreting lyrics and endowing them with new depth and jeweled nuance. In less than a split second, she could switch instinctively from soprano to alto, or from contralto back down to soprano and all the definitive notes in between like a sparrow flitting from one blossoming shrub to another. She could growl like a blues-woman on the prowl or croon barely-contained passion like a mystic singing for her God and nobody else.
“I Will Always Love You” was already a beautiful song as recorded by its composer, Dolly Parton, as well as by rock star Linda Ronstadt long before Houston put her indelible stamp on it. Likewise, “The Star Spangled Banner” was already a staple of American culture. But it was Houston’s talent for original interpretation that allowed her to transform Parton’s song into a powerhouse declaration of unconditional love in the face of unavoidable pain. And that same talent allowed her to wake up an entire nation to the deeper inspired meaning of words many had previously sung with bored impatience.
The following praise poem/elegy, The Consecrated Soul of Whitney Houston, is one humble acknowledgement of the musical artist’s exceptional life, talent, and titanic legacy:
The Consecrated Soul of Whitney Houston
(August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012)
"Share my love, take me for what I am…”
––from I Have Nothing as sung by Whitney Houston
Your greatest hit is your consecrated soul,
notes dipped in gold by the one who made you.
Your style could burn valentine-heart red,
or smolder soulfully brilliant, ingeniously blue.
Sometimes on wings of diamond soprano,
or then again on comets of billion-dollar contralto...
you flew heights profoundly sacred––
one moment adored, the next embattled.
With blood flowing from gospel’s rock of ages,
you sang the world’s fury into rose-scented grace.
Time dressed you in gowns of astonished majesty;
starlight blessed you with an angel’s glittering face.
Who among humans are equipped to judge you?
Many still squint trying to glimpse your light.
Beauty from another world gave birth to your voice––
sent to rescue scorned hearts from traumatized nights.
Your greatest hit is your consecrated soul,
notes dipped in gold by the one who made you.
Gently now, eternity engraves your name with hymns,
weeping ballads of love––and psalms of gratitude.
---by Aberjhani (16 Feb, 2012)
Thank you for reading this sixth installment of Notebook on Black History Month 212. For an overview of the entire series, please click here or see the links below. Coming up next: Notebook on Black History Month 2012 Part 7.
by Aberjhani, National African American Art Examiner
author of The River of Winged Dreams
and co-author of ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love
More Pages from the Notebook on Black History Month 2012
- Notebook on Black History Month Part 1: Carter G. Woodson and Company
- Notebook on Black History Month Part 2: Remembering Arthur Ashe
- Notebook on Black History Month 2012 Part 3 Langston Hughes Celebrated
- Notebook on Black History Month 2012 Part 4 The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
- Notebook on Black History Month 2012 Part 5 Black Power Mixtape continued
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