This song is about someone using the tool of a conversation to affirm their own humanity while their environment, circumstances, and encounters attempt to deny them that. Based on a conversation I had with a real one-time acquaintance while volunteering as a teenager at the all-ages art space and DIY venue 1919 Hemphill. Please be as nice as you can to people you meet on the street. You really never know just what they went through before your encounter. I tried to use the literary devise of the unreliable narrator here, but for the effect of someone who's withholding information to be protective of the more naive person they're talking to. Try to see if you can spot where the character is being less than honest. It may not be where you think.
lyrics
"The Red Light"
Hello, can I come in for bit?
I'm just tryna get out the cold for a second if it's cool.
Thank you.
Can I just sit for a bit?
You know, I got somewhere in a minute or two I do need to get to.
I appreciate that.
"Cry like a baby...
I'm like a baby to you...
To you....
I may look like I'm shady, but...
All grown-up and shady, but do you...
To you..."
Been on my feet since the mornin'
Been walking while it's been stormin'
It's hard to breathe and it's pourin'
My ankles stiff, swolen, sore...
Oh, me?
I'm...
good...
Actually, yeah, I could take some water.
What is the place?
This building?
Y'all come up here havin' concerts?
Y'all jammin'? Y'all rock 'n rollin'?
Y'all slammin'? All that commotion?
You pretty boys be singing songs leavin' ladies heartbroken?
Nah, I'm just playin'...
But you know that you can't fake love, right?
You know that love is patient, it don't push, it don't shove, right?
That's good!
See, you listen.
That's sayin' somethin'.
When I was 'round your age, wun't nobody could tell me nothin'...
...Say, I'm arthritic, y'all got some motrin?
No aspirin? No advil? No nuprin? No ibuprofin?
...Hey, thank you for checkin'.
I'll be gone in a second.
There's just some drama goin' on outside and I thought that I'd step in...
Hmm?
Yeah, you know folks get to smokin'... folks get drinkin'... they don't get to thinkin...
But I don't do that...
Hmm?
Well, you know it can get tricky...
I live on the street, y'know?
Situations get sticky. I gotta sleep at SOME point.
A man said I could stay with him and stay fed...
But he wants to stay in the same bed...
...and I don't do that...
...so, I told him that I don't do that...
You're so polite.
I bet you got a good family, huh?
I bet I'm right.
What are they like?
That's nice.
Well, I guess I should be on my way, then.
Thanks for the water, the seat, and the conversation.
A joyful celebration of the sounds of Southern rap from an artist who's never felt more at home and in command of her space and vision. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 25, 2023
Having shacked up with Del and MF Doom, production powerhouse Parallel Thought now collabs with streetwise MC Bentley. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 5, 2016
