CONCRETE
(Bill Anderson)
« © '75 Stallion Music »
To a boy who grew up walking in the woods and the fields of South Carolina
This big ole city feels hard underneath my feet
And to a kid who ain't never heard a noise a whole lot louder than a freight train
I get scared sometimes just standing here along the street
Concrete concrete everywhere I turn there's concrete
Found in the pavement day after day I wanna go home
Where the sun shines and the tall pines and the earth and the heavens meet
I'd rather starve on a poor dirt farm than to stay here surrounded by the concrete
Cause it's turnin' me into concrete
My kids ain't never gone wadin' in a creek or cuttin' down cane for fishing
They've never seen a blackberry growin' wild
Sometimes I get to missin' it so I almost take to crying
I'm cursed with the body of a man and the heart of a child
Produced by Fred Wreck
Cube samples the 1981 smash "Heartbeat" by Taana Gardner. He turns the notorious uptempo love song into a song about the hood. The vocals for the hook even mimic how Ms. Gardner turned the words into a staccato.
A the gal them international dj comin’
Through, so yow!
Respect due all the man
Them inna the street but the gal inna me fleet
Woman you physique concrete
Can’t delete you fat
Because you buff up complete
24 hours seven days of the week
Want you listen to me voice when it come true the speaker
Move ‘pon you feet
Well I got to give thanks and praises
Fel the gal them
Fel the gal them lingerie laces
Fel the gal them quietest of faces
We take them out to hype places
And take them back to we bases
Because we wet them oasis
Wet them oasis me go so
A Sean Paul we biggin’ up the gal them
Design
we mark them out o’ten who gave
The biggest design
Me seek and me find which one ago be mine
Sent from above you know them well define
Woman you physique concrete
Can’t delete you fat
Because you buff up complete
24 hours seven days of the week
Want you listen to me voice when it come true the speaker
Move ‘pon you feet
So what is the hold up
You want your body control up
Den come and jump on me pole up
Is why you acting so cold up
Hold on make me stone up
And tiger bone up and roll up
And get me sittin’ well grown up
And den you started to monk up
Catch it woman you know you got the body
Man a watch it
And everytime you pass ‘pon the road
You a flash it
A so we get fi know say that you physically fit
You too legit to quit
Woman you physique concrete
Can’t delete you fat
Because you buff up complete
24 hours seven days of the week
Want you listen to me voice when it come true the speaker
[shabaam sahdeeq]
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah...
As the world turn, cash to earn, falonious burn
We takin ova, it's our turn, where the moss burnin?
Clear the path, we get more ass than saddle seats
Steal this wall like the alamo, standoff cowboy style
I draw first, y'all sweet like starburst
Bit more than you can chew, handle it, street's scandalous
Dynasty met, no need to pretend, mix liquor, top shelf nigga
With the marvelous blend
Oh you think you the chief now? you know how we get down
You claim to spit rounds but are you hittin shit clown?
Your aim is all off, I make your crew hit ground
Jump in your six nigga, it's time to skirt off now
You in the wrong part of town trying to lay law down
Play hard now? my niggaz gonna shut it all down
You cheap like first down got beef like ground round
We move the crowd like a pound of the sweetest indo in town
Sahdeeq and x to the z, y'all dead in the sea
We make ya face crack, like them reebok runnin cats
Niggaz be like yo run it back, bitches be like yo that's phat!
Put it down with my fam from across the map
Chorus: shabaam sahdeeq *2x*
Rhyme for rhyme believe me we raw with it
Cash gotta get it, bag a girl when we spit it
Our team win it, drop gems for peops listenin
Put your ears to the concrete, feel the buzz on the street
[xzibit]
Yo, yo, this is dedicated to the niggaz that be hatin me
But never can face me, because they scared for their own safety
Replace me? mr. x to the z
It's b.y.o.b. cause all the pussy is free (pussy's free)
And everything else is me and my niggaz spreadin the wealth
Cross me I'll introduce you to the devil himself
See I'm the motherfuckin man layin over japan
Computer hack through your laptop
Then leave your whole soundscanned (what the fuck? !? )
And watch you panick like the bitch you are
I'm the mechanic with a pipe bomb that fits your car
Ka-boom, now I assume your homies wanna retalliate
Set em straight with a thirty-eight, the wrong cat to violate
So watch xzibit and shabaam start to dilate
Anihilate competition, some niggaz got hard heads
And just don't listen, they the ones you find missin
Better get on the right team and play your position
See I'm lost, scandalous, finest
Blew your back out because your spineless
I'm never makin music for the mindless
Cause I'm hard to the core, and I'll never go soft
Just consider us the hitmen thats knockin you off
Chorus *1x*
[xzibit]
Yeah, yeah, see I'm ready to raise a ruckus
Try to elevate you motherfuckers to the places where the law can't touch us
Walk off on your own or with the aid of crutches
Anyway you want it to happen I'm ready for action
You get shot up under my soles, call it fatal attraction
Beat you niggaz till you get it right, like joe jackson
Listen, we here to give the hardcore what they lookin for
At the same time pimp the game like a fucking whore
[shabaam sahdeeq]
In this game here, we got swift handles
Dismantle your chalkboard strategy, check the replay
Here you gets no shine we dimmin your light
Make your heart pump *echoes* when my squad's in sight
Shorty got assets and a man that ask bets
Lost it all fuckin round with the dice, you ain't nice
You a sacrifice, guinea pig, you dig?
Roast you, get a jokey smurf through the postal
In the city the heart still whispers
Flaking metal a silent witness
There's chemical fields and cathode clouds
The milky way is emasculated as exhaust fans
And smart cards shrink wrap the colored air
And send it coughing to eternity
We can see the bright light but we can't reach it
We are not afraid enough to call
Go back wrong way, you cannot stay
You cannot live here
Concrete, you don't free my soul
In the city the sound is biting
Cement fingers they are clutching
The emissary of trash decorates the way
No wild acres you can see, yearning to breathe
Concrete you don't free my soul
Blackened hands and heart of steel
No wish to consume, embellish, discard and expire
Concrete you don't free my soul
Hammer down
The sickness
Wipe it out
Of existence
Cut down infection
Cut down corruption
Scrape down
Wipe out
Concrete
Concrete [x2]
[Repeat first verse]
Scrape down
Wipe out
More than a superstition
When put in my position
Temptations and opinions
This heart's not my possession
Hold tight to your convictions
Hypocrites in all directions
Cling to the things your father taught you
Confess your sins to the One who bought you
Do you feel all alone
Faith has alway kept you strong
If you could see my fear
Should I believe or should I doubt
I believe
In the things that you never told me
I believe
In the things that you never showed me
I believe
I know my fears control me
I believe
In the things that you never told me
Aggressive passive inhibitions
Laughs before an indecision
Do I run or do I stay
When all I do may fall away
Lack of faith in what I trust
When all I measure turns to dust
When all I know decays in vain
And I am left alone again
Do you feel all alone
Faith has always kept you strong
If you could see my fear
Should I believe or should I doubt
As I kneel in sanctuary
Crosses all arouned to haunt me
Architecture so divine
Bread, the body
Reticent she returns to the streets
Where she once floated above
in hospital sheets
Hands on the walls
where small handprints still weigh
With the burden of crimson
indelible paints
Where are the hands
that once fit these young prints?
What have they grabbed at
ever since?
Nights used to be dangerous here
But now the mornings have exceeded
her deepest fears
Because that's when
the concrete creeps in
And perpetrates
with more than
the greatest sins
And weighs down
on what used to be known
as the neighborhood
Deliberate,
slow,
destructive defeat
As new corners
consolidate
the neiborhood streets
Where are the ones
she stepped with right here
Below the bar, now a bank clad
with anonymous steel?
Where are the sounds
of the childrens once heard?
Replaced with new parking
and yellowed-out curbs
Now she can only
afford to return
For a doctor,
an in-law,
or a day in the sun
Some still cling,
if the building still stands
Some sing liberation
from felonious hands
But most will get lost
in the peripheral sprawl
Where new handprints
signify on old concrete walls
Florescent excuses
for liht
Steal all the shadows
from the nights
from the nights
Parody
or progress?
You just want to tear it down
As you're standing
right in the middle
of the wrong side of town
Florescent excuses
for liht
Steal all the shadows
from the nights
from the nights
Parody
or progress?
You just want to tear it down
As you're standing
right in the middle
of the wrong side of town
You love to be in this moment
The past is the past, the future unformed
You prefer to be in this minute with me
Create it yourself on concrete
A certain place in the mythology of romance
Covered with initials of forgotten lovers
Defy the madness in front of me
It is better than reality
In the heart of my inner solitude
We will vanish into another world
Multiple layers of reflections
I walk alone like a concrete lion
In the concrete wilderness
Somewhere deep in the concrete jungle
Is a concrete lioness
Looking for love
In every single thing I see
Looking for love
But love ain't looking for me
Surrounded by millions of people
That I hope I never have to meet
Searching for a sweet lady woman
To share a little body heat
Looking for love
Concrete
Carry your egg like a concrete penguin
A concrete Emperor
A concrete man in the concrete tundra
Concrete Antarctica
Looking for love
I'm tired of playing the concrete field
Looking for love
I've got to keep my concrete eyeballs peeled
Surrounded by millions of people
That I hope I never have to meet
Searching for a sweet lady woman
To share a little body heat
Looking for love
Concrete
Surrounded by millions of people
That I hope I never have to meet
Searching for a sweet lady woman
To share a little body heat
Looking for love
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna break the concrete
Drive bulldozers down the street
We're gonna make the concrete
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna shake the concrete
Lift that slab find a beach
We're gonna make the concrete move
Darling did the earth move for you this time
Well stone me, you've certainly got an axe to grind
Mind's mixed up but the flesh is willing
I'd like to help you out but it's me you're drilling
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna break the concrete
Drive bulldozers down the street
We're gonna make the concrete
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna shake the concrete
Under the flagstone lies a beach
We're gonna make the concrete move
Time runs wild I'm up to my neck in sand
Ooh lover all I need's a steady hand
Shake it, shake it
Move it, move it
You're nobody
Move it, move it
Think I'm cracking up ev'ry word abstraction
No more thick as thieves with the violent faction
Move, love get on your feet
We're gonna break the concrete
Drive bulldozers down the street
We're gonna make the concrete
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna shake the concrete
Lift that slab find a beach
We're gonna make the concrete move
Darling did the earth move for you this time
Well stone me, you've certainly got an axe to grind
Move it, move it
You're nobody
Move it, move it
I don't care no more I've seen the cities on the coast
I watched the seasons come and bounce right off the street
Meet me down by the burned out shell of a town
And I'll take you out for something to drink
I want to fall asleep somewhere warm and not afraid
We were thrown out running
We were all so young
We were frozen over and bent like wire
I watched the shadows break through a hole in the wall
And never made a sound until they lit the fire
Pull me close with arms of steel and put me in my place
I want to fall asleep somewhere warm and not afraid
I'll be there when the morning isn't so concrete
And the condolences aren't faltering in the court yard
Thinking cold with your mother's eyes opened half
I'll be the one with the next ten years stretched on my face
Pull me close with arms of steel and put me in my place
Hold me close and tell me why, wear it on your sleeve
Pull me close with arms of steel and put me in my place
[Shabaam Sahdeeq]
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah...
As the world turn, cash to earn, falonious burn
We Takin Ova, its our turn, where the moss burnin?
Clear the path, we get more ass than saddle seats
Steal this wall like the Alamo, standoff cowboy style
I draw first, y'all sweet like Starburst
Bit more than you can chew, handle it, street's scandalous
Dynasty met, no need to pretend, mix liquor, top shelf nigga
with the marvelous blend
Oh you think you the chief now? You know how we get down
You claim to spit rounds but are you hittin shit clown?
Your aim is all off, I make your crew hit ground
Jump in your six nigga, its time to skirt off now
You in the wrong part of town trying to lay law down
Play hard now? My niggaz gonna shut it all down
You cheap like First Down got beef like ground round
We move the crowd like a pound of the sweetest indo in town
Sahdeeq and X to the Z, y'all Dead in the Sea
We make ya face crack, like them Reebok runnin cats
Niggaz be like yo run it back, bitches be like yo that's phat!
Put it down with my fam from across the map
[Chorus x2: Shabaam Sahdeeq]
Rhyme for rhyme believe me we raw with it
Cash gotta get it, bag a girl when we spit it
Our team win it, drop gems for peops listenin
Put your ears to the concrete, feel the buzz on the street
[Xzibit]
Yo, yo, this is dedicated to the niggaz that be hatin me
But never can face me, because they scared for their own safety
Replace me? Mr. X to the Z
It's B.Y.O.B. cause all the pussy is free (pussy's free)
And everything else is me and my niggaz spreadin the wealth
Cross me I'll introduce you to the devil himself
See I'm the motherfuckin man layin over Japan
Computer hack through your laptop
then leave your whole SoundScanned (what the fuck?!?)
And watch you panick like the bitch you are
I'm the mechanic with a pipe bomb that fits your car
Ka-boom, now I assume your homies wanna retalliate
Set em straight with a thirty-eight, the wrong cat to violate
So watch Xzibit and Shabaam start to dilate
Anihilate competition, some niggaz got hard heads
And just don't listen, they the ones you find missin
Better get on the right team and play your position
See I'm lost, scandalous, finest
Blew your back out because your spineless
I'm never makin music for the mindless
Cause I'm hard to the core, and I'll never go soft
Just consider us the hitmen thats knockin you off
[Chorus x1]
[Xzibit]
Yeah, yeah, See I'm ready to raise a ruckus
Try to elevate you motherfuckers to the places where the law can't touch us
Walk off on your own or with the aid of crutches
Anyway you want it to happen I'm ready for action
You get shot up under my soles, call it Fatal Attraction
Beat you niggaz till you get it right, like Joe Jackson
Listen, we here to give the hardcore what they lookin for
At the same time pimp the game like a fucking whore
[Shabaam Sahdeeq]
In this game here, we got swift handles
Dismantle your chalkboard strategy, check the replay
Here you gets no shine we dimmin your light
Make your heart pump *echoes* when my squad's in sight
Shorty got assets and a man that ask bets
Lost it all fuckin round with the dice, you ain't nice
You a sacrifice, guinea pig, you dig?
Roast you, get a jokey smurf through the postal
I'm walking down the street – something makes me unease
I seem to walk by
I'm walking down the street – something makes me unease
people seem to walk by – still I fear that someone will
hurt me and steal my freedom – cage me into the
darkness
I must not let my mind wonder – keep it out of it all
concrete – under my feet – oh, how I miss you now
concrete – a friend for me – days seem to fade now
concrete – under my feet – keep me out of it all
I'm walking down the street – keeping my mind attached
something else than yesterday – the people passing by
windows show another life – another time
I bought a paper, the date - can it be right?
concrete – under my feet – oh, how I miss you now
concrete – a friend for me – days seem to fade now
concrete – under my feet – keep me out of it all
feel the anger
see his face on the edge of your vision
hear the noise
step on the surpassed memories – don't let it flow you
will drown
face for anger
every other face that I encounter
feel the pain
where is the face for love – everything may change so
suddenly
oh, I will never be the same - never be the same
I'm walking down the street – finally the night starts
crawling
entwining me into its palm – people passing by
windows lose their light – no meaning no time
wake up from the yesterday – keep it out of it all
concrete – under my feet – oh, how I miss you now
concrete – a friend for me – days seem to fade now
concrete – under my feet – keep me out of it all... of
it all
The street guided me – another night embraces me
I gaze into the neonlight – to the door
somehow it feels like home - it's warm again
I hear a sound so profound – it calls me – ”leave the
Well he, ended up here
Came from, way out past there
And he, tried to make it something
And he, knew he had the way
But that six string was a ticket
Out of town and for a ride
To those, high rise and all those dreams
Concrete and palm trees, is all he'd seen
To those, high rise and all those dreams
Concrete and palm trees, is all he'd seen
Well he, met all bad kids
And he, fell in just fine
And all, match the road to him
He was, right there on time
But he tasted and he smoked it
Didn't know what it was for sure
To those, high rise and all those dreams
Concrete and palm trees, is all he'd seen
To those, high rise and all those dreams
Concrete and palm trees, all he'd seen
Well he, end up in jail
In a, 10 by 10 cell
Feeling, full jones withdrawl
Feeling, a lot like hell
But that six string was a ticket
Out of this mess, and our life
Well he, finally made and wound up clean
Concrete and palm trees, were pretty sweet
Well he, finally made and wound up clean
Concrete and palm trees, were pretty sweet
Pretty sweet
Ah ha ha
Pretty sweet
Ah ha ha
Pretty sweet
Ah ha ha
Pretty sweet
I am the king of indecision
Just sitting on my throne
And if you ask me my opinion
I will tell you I don't know
Nothing is complete
Nothing is concrete
Nothing is for certain
As far as I can see
Bring the knights to entertain me
Send the jester off to fight
Have the lamb cook me some supper
Ah the chef sounds good tonight
Nothing is complete
Nothing is concrete
Nothing is for certain
As far as I can see
Nothing is complete
Nothing is concrete
Nothing is for certain
November in a rainstorm, the truest truth I ever heard
The sound of babies crying in a hospital ward
Oh, like a bed of rushes, they spread love out on the concrete floor
Names, and dates, and faces I really can't remember anymore
We could hardly tell the difference between one year and another
Sun like pouring whiskey, snow like shedding skins of lovers
And, I grew up with magic; free and wild as bindweed
Pushing for the boundary, pushing through the edges of the concrete
I'm the girl that bought a round-trip cross the Rubicon
And I'm not sure that even I know where I'm coming from
Sentimental tango when I was just fourteen
I could hear Astaire and Rogers tap their way across the screen
Oh, bullied and belittled, until the sun set in the concrete
I wore my sister's black skirt, all dressed up for Halloween
We could hardly tell the difference between the shouting and the quiet
It was the path of least resistance to stage my own private riot
And the walls tumbled like Babel, down around my feet
Rhyme came in deliverance rising through the wreckage and the concrete
I'm the girl that bought a round-trip cross the Rubicon
I'm not sure that even I know where I'm coming from
For a girl who loves her words, yeah, she loves her silence more
Found a better example of what hearts and tongues are for
There is truth in your arm's love, there is truth in this song
I'm sitting in a bar
Staring that the universe that's in my drink
The motion of my straw
Is stirring anti-clockwise in the glass
I recall the moments... well
And I raise my glass to you
You held me in your arms
And saved me from despair
And as I'm older and more stupid
The years have etched stupidity into my skull
I condemn my foolishness
And I raise my glass to you
Yeah, the world is packed with murderers and madmen
They promise us a slow, slow death
Those who torturne with a smile
I don't like their idea of business at all
And in this drink I see my momentary freedom
But I know the smell of my own prison
Yes, I know it well
I know the smell of me
(Fascination won't change my mind)
I hear those telephones ringing
Everybody wants out
Ring... all those sleepless nights
And those wailing phones won't set things right
Such a state of disorder
Go one way, two ways, four
Anyway, our feet are still cramped
Oh, sure it's a concrete idea
You can say what you want
Fascination won't change my mind
You can say what you want
Fascination won't change my mind
You can say what you want
Fascination won't change my mind
You can say what you want
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna break the concrete
Drive bulldozers down the street
We're gonna make the concrete
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna shake the concrete
Lift that slab find a beach
We're gonna make the concrete move
Darling did the earth move for you this time
Well stone me, you've certainly got an axe to grind
Mind's mixed up but the flesh is willing
I'd like to help you out but it's me you're drilling
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna break the concrete
Drive bulldozers down the street
We're gonna make the concrete
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna shake the concrete
Under the flagstone lies a beach
We're gonna make the concrete move
Time runs wild I'm up to my neck in sand
Ooh lover all I need's a steady hand
Shake it, shake it
Move it, move it
You're nobody
Move it, move it
Think I'm cracking up ev'ry word abstraction
No more thick as thieves with the violent faction
Move, love get on your feet
We're gonna break the concrete
Drive bulldozers down the street
We're gonna make the concrete
Move love get on your feet
We're gonna shake the concrete
Lift that slab find a beach
We're gonna make the concrete move
Darling did the earth move for you this time
Well stone me, you've certainly got an axe to grind
Move it, move it
You're nobody
Move it, move it
