Langston Hughes
Somehow I Never Could Believe
[MRS. ANNA MAURRANT]
Somehow I never could believe
That life was meant to be all dull and grey
Somehow I always will believe
There'll be a brighter day

Folks should try to find a way to get along together
A way to make the world a singing happy place
Full of laughter and kind words
And friendliness on everybody's face

But somehow in the world that I grew up in
The streets were dark with misery and distress
The endless daily grind was too much for them
It took away all hopе of happiness

When I was a girl, I remеmber
I used to dream about a party dress to wear
But I never had a party dress
And I guess my dreams got lost somewhere
No one seemed to care

But when I grew up, I said, "I'll make it!"
For I believed there'd be a lucky star above me
In the fairy tales I read, the maiden always said
"I know I'll find a fairy prince to love me"
So I went wandering down the pavements of New York
And through the subway's roaring tunnels underground
Hoping I would discover some wonderful lover
Frank was the one that I found

Oh, on the day that we were married
I took a flower from my bouquet
And I pressed it in a book
And put the book away
Sometimes now I go and take a look
The flower's dry, the perfume's gone, the petals all turned grey

Oh dream of love!
Should love turn out that way?
Should love turn out that way?

But then the babies came
Their little arms made a ring around a-rosy about me
Yet as they grow older, they too seemed to grow away
Until even Willie, my little boy Willie
Seems he can get along without me

I don't know, it looks like something awful happens
In the kitchens where women wash their dishes
Days turn to months, months turn to years
The greasy soap suds drown our wishes
There's got to be a little happiness somewhere
Some hand to touch that's warm and kind!
And there must be two smiling eyes somewhere
That will smile back into mine

I never could believe
That life was meant to be all dull and grey
I always will believe there'll be a brighter day!

[Spoken]
Thank you very much. That's, uh, Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes.