Maya Angelou’s favourite songs of all time
Poetry and music have never been mutually exclusive. Even though music gives the performers a lot more wiggle room in terms of how they express themselves, the best way of saying what’s in your heart comes down to what you put down on paper and eventually shout it out into the world. While Maya Angelou already has her name etched into history for her brilliant way with words, her musical taste has always come down to how far performers can push themselves.
Looking at her own way with words, it’s only natural for someone like Angelou to gravitate towards the performing arts. Throughout her greatest projects, her work in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings already has a sense of musicality, as if she’s writing imaginary lyrics to protest songs that don’t exist yet.
When discussing her favourite music, Angelou had a healthy love for the sounds of the jazzy side of popular pieces. Combing through her back catalogue, Angelou always had a soft spot for singers who could inhabit the characters of their songs, singling out artists Sarah Vaughan for her brilliant renditions of ‘East of the Sun’ or the sultry sounds of Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing Me Softly’.
Even though many of her favourite tracks have a strong musical framework behind them, the real power comes from how each of them is able to speak their truth in a way that no other artists could. While there are many different facets to Ray Charles’s life story, there isn’t a shred of dishonesty in his version of ‘Georgia On My Mind’, taking the listener on a journey through the southern US in the span of a few minutes.
Then again, the greatest songs tend to be about writing about something more than yourself. It might seem easy trying to make up fictional stories, but Angelou was taught that being a true poet is being able to express one’s feelings rather than trying to give imaginary characters flesh and blood, which helped inform tracks like Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’.
Wonder may have been able to spit out these lighthearted songs without a care in the world, but the piece originated from him sending a message to his mother when he forgot to tell her how much she meant to him. Despite the fact that many of these kinds of heartfelt tracks have the potential to reach the top of the charts, Angelou also had a healthy respect for works on a much grander scale.
Growing up during the Great Depression, Angelou was inspired by the kind of songs she heard in the theatre, first being turned onto George Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ from the show Porgy and Bess. While the track has been covered countless times since its debut, the first recording still has a certain magic behind it, pouring over every word as if it’s painting a picture of what hard living is like for those at the bottom.
Though some of the best songs in the world tend to deal with heartache, Angelou could always rely on her salvation to bring her back home. Outside of the various secular pieces that she has loved over the years, there is nothing that would ever replace ‘How Great Thou Art’, which became one of the most foundational worship tracks to come out of the past century. Angelou has already made a living out of speaking her truth whenever she sits down to write, but as far as her music tastes go, it all comes down to whether artists can express themselves to the best of their ability.
Maya Angelou’s favourite songs:
- ‘How Great Thou Art’ – Mahalia Jackson
- ‘A Quiet Place’ – Max Roach
- ‘Killing Me Softly’ – Roberta Flack
- ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ – Stevie Wonder
- ‘East of the Sun’ – Sarah Vaughan
- ‘One For the Road’ – Frank Sinatra
- ‘Summertime’ – George Gershwin
- ‘Georgia On My Mind’ – Ray Charles’
