We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Gorgeous George (for Muhammad Ali)

by Hakim Be

supported by
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

about

Written for and delivered at the The Trials of Muhammad Ali Albuquerque Premier Screening at Guild Cinema on January 21st, 2014.

lyrics

Gorgeous George (for Muhammad Ali)

Dear Champ,
you were our Gorgeous George,
Black Vegas,
a warrior
who would wear our Black
and die for our skins

you were not humble
you were everything we were not allowed
to be
like pretty, so pretty

you were rich, loud
and on TV

a hero in the flesh
even when you turned your front lawn
into a drive-in
for the neighborhood children,
from TV-less homes
your personality towered
over the big screen

you could illuminate an arena
light it up
before you knocked their lights out

our gold medal flower
a bronzed Adonis
live and direct from Olympic Rome
full blooming as soon as you got home
to a country that would not recognize
your rose

when Burdines Department Store
didn’t allow your kind
to try on their clothes
you should have given them the shirt off your back
and showed them your belt

Champ,
you were never one for being whipped
that is why I am left speechless
watching you tremble
for the beatings you took in our ‘stead
the racism you couldn’t out run
the slavery you couldn’t duck
the hate you couldn’t punch



but then,
I remember how you could never shut up
a poet in a sea of fists
you are the same reason so many colored boys
choose life in the ring
because it was the one place
you could control your environment
and our imagination

more than fast hands
you were unbelievable feats
the only A-lister in Miami
without a drip of drug or drink
more pugilist than pimp, married to the game
never an adulterer of the sport
so abstinent they thought you were gay
so obstinate they thought you were crazy

like my teenage students do,
when I tell them you were clean

because it’s hard to believe that you were that disciplined
before Allah made you
Muhammad Ali
before Holmes, Frazier and Spinks
before Foreman and Foster
Sonny Liston and Sonny Banks
Your mouth made you transparent
cause Lord knows
Having a glass jaw was never quite your thing

you told the world you were a minister
and you went to the mat for what you believed
loved your country enough, to raise your hands for money
but not enough to raise a gun
for anybody

you painted canvasses
with your own blood, sweat and fears
for our pleasure
and because you knew the real enemy
they didn’t let you fight for three years

you said you lost nothing
gained everything
like “peace of mind”
and that’s when you became our hero

the greatest that ever lived
and it had nothing to do with who you hit
but who you didn’t…

you shook up the world
and it’s still shaking
all those hits you took for us
now you’re still shaking

and I pray
the best prayer I know how to pray
that you are teaching us your dance

teaching us how to love
with our hands

how to not fight
when we have to

you taught us the butterflies
and the bees
you told the American government

No,
I’m not.

not who you think I am
not who you want me to be

you told them
you have a new name
and when they wouldn’t say it
you made them read it

we like to pretend fighters ain’t smart
but you’re a genius
so all that
to say this…

Dear Champ,
your black fist
taught me the difference
between fight and forfeit

that Black is MORE than beautiful
Black is gorgeous.

© 2014 Hakim Bellamy

credits

released February 4, 2014
Hakim Bellamy

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Hakim Be Albuquerque, New Mexico

contact / help

Contact Hakim Be

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Hakim Be, you may also like: