{"id":4190,"date":"2017-08-01T03:55:34","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T03:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/?p=4190"},"modified":"2017-08-01T03:55:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T03:55:34","slug":"jonius-pt-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/?p=4190","title":{"rendered":"Jonius pt. 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Around making Mingus, in interviews she spoke about the process, how she would hang with him and meditate afterward then write. She is about as inspiring as Stephen Harper never was. This song so brilliant in the tradition of vocalists finding lyrics out of pre-existing melodies, optimistic and a history lesson.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When Charlie speaks of Lester<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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You know someone great has gone<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The sweetest swinging music man<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Had a Porkie Pig hat on<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A bright star<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In a dark age<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When the bandstands had a thousand ways<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Of refusing a black man admission<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Black musician<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In those days they put him in an<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Underdog position<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Cellars and chitlins’<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When Lester took him a wife<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Arm and arm went black and white<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And some saw red<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And drove them from their hotel bed<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Love is never easy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It’s short of the hope we have for happiness<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Bright and sweet<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Love is never easy street!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Now we are black and white<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Embracing out in the lunatic New York night<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It’s very unlikely we’ll be driven out of town<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Or be hung in a tree<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That’s unlikely!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Tonight these crowds<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Are happy and loud<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Children are up dancing in the streets<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the sticky middle of the night<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Summer serenade<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Of taxi horns and fun arcades<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Where right or wrong<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Under neon<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Every feeling goes on!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For you and me<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The sidewalk is a history book<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And a circus<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dangerous clowns<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Balancing dreadful and wonderful perceptions<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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They have been handed<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Day by day<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Generations on down<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We came up from the subway<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On the music midnight makes<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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To Charlie’s bass and Lester’s saxophone<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In taxi horns and brakes<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Now Charlie’s down in Mexico<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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With the healers<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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So the sidewalk leads us with music<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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To two little dancers<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dancing outside a black bar<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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There’s a sign up on the awning<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It says “Pork Pie Hat Bar”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And there’s black babies dancing<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Tonight<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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