September 3, 2022

Alexa, Play ‘On the Rooftop’ šŸŽ¶

Our September Pick is all about music and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton annotated a few of the songs on her playlist and how they relate to the story.Ā 

Alexa, Play ‘On the Rooftop’ šŸŽ¶

Our September Pick is all about music and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton annotated a few of the songs on her playlist and how they relate to the story.Ā 

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’sĀ 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 readā€”it really is the perfect pairing šŸŽ¶ 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. ā€œI Cover The Waterfront,ā€ Billie Holiday.

I picked this song to play in the scene when Mr. Franklin is offering Vivian the big break sheā€™s been waiting onā€”the opportunity to manage the girls. I love the somber tone of the song juxtaposed with the excitement on the horizon. The songā€™s chorus reads, ā€œI cover the waterfront. Iā€™m watching the sea. Will the one I love be coming back to me?ā€ Vivian has poured everything into this dream for her girls, and in this scene, she thinks itā€™s been realized, but we know from Ruthā€™s section, that Vivian wonā€™t be granted her reprieve that easily. The chorus of the song crystallizes for me the question that still lingers: will Vivian find what sheā€™s looking for?

2. ā€œI Will Move On Up A Little Higher,ā€ Mahalia Jackson.

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

3. ā€œDo You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?ā€ Louis Armstrong.

I love this song for Vivian because though she opens the book saying she doesnā€™t miss Louisiana, rather that her ā€œmemories kept watch against nostalgia,ā€ I donā€™t get the sense that itā€™s really true. We glimpse moments in the book where sheā€™s reflecting positively on her hometown, and of course, we see proof of how dear it is to her in the food and culture sheā€™s carried over to sustain her.

4. ā€œUnderneath the Harlem Moon,ā€ Rhiannon Giddens

(Vivian would have heard the Brown Sistersā€™ version). Vivian accompanies her mother to work one day, a white womanā€™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, ā€œUnderneath the Harlem Moon,ā€ plants the seed for Vivianā€™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.