An index of references and allusions in both of Hayter's projects. Largely Biblical, and will exclude references in covers of existing hymns.
I heard a rumbling in the sky / Made me think my time was nigh / Won’t be the water, be the fire next time / And time is coming when the sinner must die | ALL BITCHES DIE (ALL BITCHES DIE HERE)
(I heard a lumbering in the sky) Upon your pale, pale body I will put many hands / (Made me think my time was nigh) And rough, rough fingers for every hole you have / (Won’t be the water, be the fire next time) But the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours | MANY HANDS
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was a Black American author known for his novels, including Go Tell It on The Mountain and Giovanni’s Room, and his essays featured in collections such as Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time. Baldwin was a Civil Rights Movement activist, though he was often sidelined because he was also queer. He is remembered today as a prominent figure in Black and queer literatures.
The Fire Next Time collection of essays, containing a few of his most famous works. The title comes from multiple spirituals that reference Genesis 9:11, specifically God’s promise that “never again shall there be a flood to destroy the Earth.” Baldwin is likely referencing a version of “Mary, Don’t You Weep,” which contains the lyrics “God gave Moses the rainbow sign / Won’t be the water, be the fire next time.” Though the reference to fire isn’t present in the original Genesis verse, the lyrics are often interpreted to mean that God will not bring any more suffering through disasters like floods but bring the Holy Spirit (baptism by fire) and freedom upon people. Most relevant of Baldwin’s essays here is “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind,” where he recounts his turn away from Christianity, which does not truly liberate him. This is why I believe this to be an allusion to Baldwin rather than “Mary, Don’t You Weep.”
In context for both Baldwin and Hayter, this seems to be a double-edged sword: fire is both cleansing and destructive in the way that water is. If you are outside of the “saved” who will be baptized by this fire, you will be destroyed. In the songs “ALL BITCHES DIE” and “MANY HANDS,” the lyrics imply the narrator is a sinner, even though they are a victim. Throughout the LINGUA IGNOTA project, many lyrics create an intersection between God and the figure of the abuser, and this intersection is the core of “ALL BITCHES DIE.” The abuser turns the victim into a sinner. This mirrors the effect Baldwin suggests, where the white God of Christianity does not liberate Black people but allows their oppression to continue. He writes that he always saw God as white, similar to how Hayter depicts God as abuser. Though God is meant to deliver the oppressed from their chains, he never seems to.
Hayter’s allusion to Baldwin is a striking statement on the abuse that Christianity enables and the shame that it can bestow upon those who suffer.