Alexa, Play ‘On the Rooftop’

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s On the Rooftop is all about music, and to set the mood, she has created this incredible Spotify playlist that we’ve had on repeat while reading. Give it a listen while you read—it really is the perfect pairing Here’s just a bit of what to expect on the playlist, with some of Margaret’s explanations for her reasoning behind the choices!

1. “I Cover The Waterfront,” Billie Holiday.

I picked this song to play in the scene when Mr. Franklin is offering Vivian the big break she’s been waiting on—the opportunity to manage the girls. I love the somber tone of the song juxtaposed with the excitement on the horizon. The song’s chorus reads, “I cover the waterfront. I’m watching the sea. Will the one I love be coming back to me?” Vivian has poured everything into this dream for her girls, and in this scene, she thinks it’s been realized, but we know from Ruth’s section, that Vivian won’t be granted her reprieve that easily. The chorus of the song crystallizes for me the question that still lingers: will Vivian find what she’s looking for?

2. “I Will Move On Up A Little Higher,” Mahalia Jackson.

Although this song describes the hope of moving on up to Heaven, and is one that Vivian would have sung in Preacher Thomas’ church, the enormous promise that the lyrics embody can also apply to the optimism Vivian would have felt when migrating to San Francisco.

3. “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” Louis Armstrong.

I love this song for Vivian because though she opens the book saying she doesn’t miss Louisiana, rather that her “memories kept watch against nostalgia,” I don’t get the sense that it’s really true. We glimpse moments in the book where she’s reflecting positively on her hometown, and of course, we see proof of how dear it is to her in the food and culture she’s carried over to sustain her.

4. “Underneath the Harlem Moon,” Rhiannon Giddens

(Vivian would have heard the Brown Sisters’ version). Vivian accompanies her mother to work one day, a white woman’s house where the employer happens to be throwing a party. The woman has hired Black women to sing, Black women who look like Vivian, and their song, “Underneath the Harlem Moon,” plants the seed for Vivian’s future vision for her own girls. I love that the song, along with the knowledge that women like her could be performers, anchors Vivian throughout her life. I imagine the chorus following her through the years, a positive haunting.