One of John Alden Carpenter's Four Negro Songs (1926), "Shake Your Brown Feet, Honey" is a setting of Langston Hughes' poem "Song for a Banjo Dance." The song displays elements of both blues and jazz, which is unusual in Carpenter's songs of this period; many adopted one or the other of these two styles, but rarely both. Carpenter seems to have been uncomfortable with Hughes' somewhat belligerent attitude toward questions of race and altered the poet's text significantly, removing much of the dramatic irony. Musically, however, "Shake Your Brown Feet" it is an ingenious work, particularly in its accompaniment; the piano part is largely staccato, reflecting the banjo suggested by Hughes' original title.

© Tim Mahon, Rovi