Come to the Cabaret A remediation of Claude McKay’s “Home to Harlem”

“Jake went down to the Baltimore. No sign of his honey girl anywhere. He drank Scotch after Scotch. His disappointment mounted to anger against himself—turned to anger against his honey girl. His eyes roved round the room, but saw nobody.”

“The cabaret singer, a shiny coffee-colored girl in a green frock and Indian-waved hair, went singing from table to table in a man’s bass voice…She stopped more than usual at Jake’s table. He gave her a half dollar. She danced a jagging jig before him that made the giggles rise like a wave in the room.”

“A crash cut through the music. A table went jazzing into the drum. The cabaret singer lay sprawling on the floor. A raging putty-skinned mulattress stamped on her ribs and spat in her face! “That’ll teach you to leave mah man be every time.”

“Git out on the sidewalk, all you trouble makers,” cried the proprietor. “And you, Bess,” he cried to the cabaret singer, “nevah you show your face in mah place again.” The cabaret was closed for the rest of the night. Like dogs flicked apart by a whip-cord, the jazzers stood and talked resentfully in the street.

Citations McKay, Claude. Home to Harlem. Boston: Northeastern University Press. Ebook. s.jpg s.jpg pg pg