For years my favorite book has been Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Color Purple.
The book and the film based on it changed my life. It is one of the first times I remember a book physically striking a chord within my heart. I connected to the journey of Celie and Shug and all of the wonderful lives Ms. Walker introduced me to on the page.
I remember everything about seeing the movie. I watched it with my mom. We set on opposite ends of the sofa...it was navy blue and I can remember the feeling of the small raised pattern beneath my fingers. As the film moved toward the end, I remember my mom walking into the bathroom and returning seconds later with a box of Kleenex that were positioned between us.
The movie ended, my mom and I were both emotionally overaught. We both, in our own ways, were processing what we had experienced. I don't remember what happened that evening but I know she and I never talked about the film or its impact on us.
Last Fall a musical based on the film and book debuted in Atlanta on its way to Broadway. I saw the show 5 times in Atlanta. Every performance was an emotional, spiritual experience. Even with the flaws here and there in the translation to stage - I was completely taken in by the music and the performances...especially the spellbinding, powerhouse performance of LaChanze who played the title role of "Celie."
The show is full-steam ahead for Broadway. It begins Previews November 1st and will officially Open on December 1st. Last week, like a gift to the craziness of my life - between a new job and flying back in forth between Atlanta and New York, the producers of The Color Purple: The Musical released two of the songs from the show.
One is a comic, jook joint song and the other is the incredible title song of the show. As I played it on my computer, tears filled my eyes. The lyrics and melody are truly gift to Alice Walker's story. The spirit that song envokes encompasses the truth of book.
The song is the show's finale (at least it was during the trial run in Atlanta, it may have a different placement now). Throughout the course of the book and the musical Celie writes letters to God. Her letters form the novel that is The Color Purple. As she moves from childhood into adulthood and then into old age, her letters evolve.
She sees and feels God's love everywhere...in the people she loves...in nature...in life!
Her friend and great love, Shug, is the first one to introduce her to the idea that God surrounds everyone and is trying so hard to show us love. Shug explains that God tries through things we take for granted...her honest, real, and blunt explanation is one of the most recongnized quotes in literature and the sentence from which the title of the book comes from.
"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
I just had to share the lyrics of this song with you. Celie sings this as her life and journey are completed and she understands her connection to everyone and everything.
You can visit http://www.colorpurple.com/ and listen to the song on your computer.
Dear God
Dear star
Dear trees
Dear sky
Dear people
Dear everything
Dear God
God is inside me
And everyone else
That was or every will be
I came into this world God
And when I finally looked inside
I found it
Just as close as my breath is to me
Rising (rising, rising)
Like a dove
Love has opened my wings
Your heart beat
Make my heart beat
When we share love
Like a blade of corn
Like a honey bee
Like a waterfall
All a part of me
Like the color purple
Where do it come from?
Now my eyes are opened
Look what God has done
God is flowers
And everything else
That was or ever will be
And when you feel the truth so real
And when you love the way you feel
You found it
Just as sure as moonlight blessed the night
Rising (rising, rising)
Like the sun
Is the hope that sets me free
My whole world
Begin to shine
When share love
It take a grain of love
To make a mighty tree
Even the smallest voice
Can make a harmony
Like a drop water
Keep that river high
There are miracles for you and I
Like a blade of corn
Like a honey bee
Like a waterfall
All a part of me
Like the color purple
Where do it come from? Now my eyes are opened
Look what God has done
I don't think us feel old at all
I think this is the youngest us ever felt
Amen.
