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I Like The Street (Electric Velvet Version)

from I LIKE THE STREET by Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large"

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This hearkens back to when I had a “day job” as a bike messenger, cycling around the urban hills of San Francisco. That presented opportunities to study strangers, speed, and sweat.

Sweat points to a rhythm under your skin and makes it glisten in the light. Sweat does not discriminate between burlap or satin, barkeep or ballerina. Lying makes people sweat. So does love. Jesus sweated drops of blood. Sweat carries the dust of disappointment and the heat of anticipation. This is Sweat Logic, a way of coping and seeing behind the masks that people wear in life. One day I was reflecting on that and, suddenly, a song sprang forth, with lyrics that are “AUTO-biographical.” This song is "my mind on bike."

lyrics

I like the street / I like the street
The hustle and the bustle and the people that I meet
The grifters and the star-struck, The poets and the drunks
The PhDs and jailbirds, The models and the punks,
The barkers and the preachers and the friends that I hold dear
Some will bring you aggravation, some will bring you cheer (beep beep)…”

I like the street / I like the street
Dancing on the asphalt as it rises to my feet
Cabs burst through the steaming grills as fists shake at the sky
Some people are happy while some look like they wanna die
Some people know many tongues, some people they always lie
Now I know why Jesus went up on the hill to cry

Some like open forests, there's room enough to roam
But I like the urban think of it, well, makes me feel at home
People race to knock you down, others stop and yield
Many faces in this town, in this mission field
Some have found the big expression at the bridge where the vagrants sleep
Now I know why Jesus went up on the hill to weep

Some people trying to find the alabaster
Some people trying to make the world go faster
Babylon skyscraper scraping up the sky
I don't know why I don't know why...

credits

from I LIKE THE STREET, released November 23, 2020
JJB: bass, guitars, keyboards, percussion, production, songwriting, & all vocals
Scott Francis: mixing & suggestions
Keith Kavanaugh: drums

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Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large" San Francisco, California

"Johnny is a virtuoso"--Brian Wilson
"Pop music with a conscience.”--Goldmine
“the Harry Houdini of rock and roll.”-- Spotlight. Listen to Johnny's fast-paced mix of old school soul, psychedelia, punk/new wave, & classic pop/rock. Singer-songwriter in his own right, he was also a sideman for Davy Jones and The Monkees + performed with David Cassidy, Al Stewart, Buddy & Julie Miller, & others. ... more

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